What Does SEAL Stand For?

What does SEAL stand for in Navy SEALs?

Each letter names one place the teams can start a mission from:

Notice that sea uses two letters, S and E. That choice lets the short form spell a real English word, which makes it easy to remember. Since SEAL is pronounced like a word instead of spelled out, it fits the textbook definition explained in what is an acronym, much like SCUBA.

What Navy SEAL teams do

SEALs are part of Naval Special Warfare, the Navy's special operations community. Their work is usually done in small groups and can include:

• Gathering information behind the lines without being seen
• Direct action raids on specific targets
• Hostage rescue and recovery of people in danger
• Clearing obstacles from beaches and waterways
• Training and advising the forces of partner countries

Many details of current missions are not public, so news stories often describe SEAL work in general terms. What is well known is that the teams are built to reach places that larger units cannot.

Where the SEAL acronym came from

During World War II, the Navy used Underwater Demolition Teams, often called UDTs or frogmen, to scout beaches and blow up obstacles before landings. Those swimmers became the base for something broader.

In 1962 the Navy created the first two SEAL teams, one on each coast. The new name made the point that these sailors would not stay in the water. They would also jump from aircraft and fight on land. Over the following decades the UDTs were folded into the SEAL teams.

How people become SEALs

Training is long and has a very high dropout rate. The best known stage is BUD/S, short for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, held in Coronado, California. It tests swimming, running, cold water endurance and teamwork, and includes a famously hard stretch called Hell Week.

After that come further courses in parachuting, diving and combat skills before a sailor earns the SEAL insignia, a gold badge often called the Trident. Only Navy members can become SEALs, so a person must first join the Navy, either as enlisted or as an officer.

Writing SEAL correctly

• Use all capitals when you mean the military teams: SEAL, SEALs, a SEAL team.
• Write "Navy SEAL" or "Navy SEALs" when readers may not know the branch.
• The plural adds a lowercase s with no apostrophe: SEALs.
• Lowercase seal means the animal or a stamp, so the capitals matter.
• "Seal Team Six" in casual use refers to one well known unit; official names for such units change over time and are not always public.

Sentences that use the term naturally:

• "Her brother trained for two years before he became a SEAL."
• "The SEAL team practiced boat landings at night."
• "He wrote a book about life after serving with the SEALs."

Other military acronyms said as words

The SEAL acronym belongs to a family of military names that turn into words. A few with their own pages here:

• SCUBA: self contained underwater breathing apparatus, gear that grew out of military diving.
• SWAT: special weapons and tactics, used by police rather than the military.
• SNAFU: old soldier slang for a situation that has gone wrong.
• MRE: meal, ready to eat, the packaged field ration.

Navy, Army and agency letters of every kind fill the government and military acronyms section, from ATF to USDA.