The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Royal Navy formed special forces with several name changes—Special Boat Company was adopted in 1951 and re-designated as the Special Boat Squadron in 1974—until on 28 July 1987 when the unit was renamed as the Special Boat Service after assuming responsibility for maritime counter-terrorism. Most of the operations conducted by the SBS are highly classified, and are rarely commented on by the British government or the Ministry of Defence, owing to their sensitive nature.
Cockles MK II
Corporal Aubrey sharpens his fighting knife as he prepares for combat in the Aegean Sea in 1944
SBS with U.S. Delta Force at the Battle of Tora Bora
Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment".
An American special forces team moves together out of an U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey aircraft on February 26, 2018
Japanese drawing of the archetypical ninja, from a series of sketches (Hokusai manga) by Hokusai.
British Army scouts in South Africa (1893): Frederick Russell Burnham (middle); Hon. Maurice Gifford (right)
General Antonio Luna of the Philippine Revolutionary Army, the founder of Tiradores dela Muerte