Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11,
20011, terrorist attacks in the United States, was killed by U.S.
forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan.

The notorious, 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist
network of Islamic extremists, had been the target of a nearly
decade-long international manhunt.

The raid began around 1 a.m. local time (4 p.m. EST on May 1,
2011 in the United States), when 23 U.S. Navy SEALs in two
Black Hawk helicopters descended on the compound in
Abbottabad, a tourist and military center north of Pakistan’s
capital, Islamabad. One of the  helicopters crash-landed into
the compound but no one aboard was hurt.

During the raid, which lasted approximately 40 minutes, five
people, including bin Laden and one of his adult sons, were
killed by U.S. gunfire. No Americans were injured in the
assault.

Bin Laden’s body was flown by helicopter to Afghanistan for
official identification, then buried at an undisclosed location
in the Arabian Sea less than 24 hours after his death, in
accordance with Islamic practice.

The grounds of the compound are seen after US Navy Seal
commandos raid.

In 1942, the Battle of Midway ended in a decisive victory for
American naval forces over Imperial Japan, marking a turning
point in the Pacific War.

The U.S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which
was established during the American Revolutionary War and
was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter.

After suffering significant loss of goods and personnel at the
hands of the Barbary pirates from Algiers, the U.S. Congress
passed the Naval Act of 1794 for the construction of six heavy
frigates, the first ships of the U.S. Navy.