Because so few commercial ships fly the American flag and employ American mariners, the U.S. faces a critical shortage of civilian sailors needed to crew Navy support vessels.

From the American Revolution to modern battles, take a look back at the full toll of U.S. deaths in war this Memorial Day.

Cost of war: U.S. death tolls in major conflicts since the American Revolution From 1775 to 2025, hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers have been killed in domestic and global conflicts.

In September 1814 on the waters of Lake Champlain, American sailors won an improbable victory that not only turned back the largest British invasion force of the War of 1812 but also helped secure ...