This navy warfare publication describes the nature, forces, organization, and employment of naval special warfare (NSW). Naval special warfare is a relatively small, maritime special operations force (SOF) consisting of approximately 9,250 personnel: 2,700 sea-air-land commandos (SEALS), 700 special warfare combatant-craft crewmen (SWCCs), 750 Reservists, 4,000 combat support (CS) and combat service support (CSS) personnel, and more than 1,100 civilians. NSW constitutes 11 percent of special operations forces and less than 2 percent of United States Navy (USN) forces. NSW costs 3/10ths of one cent (0.3 percent) of every United States (U.S.) defense dollar.