July 4th, 1776 is the greatest day in world
history. Not only is it the day America was born, it's the day freedom was invented. But that
precious freedom was hardwon, and nearly lost, in a bitter revolutionary war that would
change the course of world history. What if to ensure victory though, the United
States sent a squad of its most elite soldiers back in time to serve under
George Washington himself- how would a single squad of Navy SEALs have changed
the course of American, and global, history? The roots of the Revolutionary
War are, as most conflicts, steeped in money issues. At the
end of the French and Indian War, the British kicked the French and their
croissants out of the American territories known as New France. Quickly populating them with
English-speaking settlers to secure its hold, Britain was set to rule the new world- but
there were a few problems. Most importantly was the fact that securing all that new territory
was going to be pretty expensive, and this came at a time when Britain was pretty strapped for
cash despite its status as global superpower. The biggest problem was that settlers
wanted to expand to fertile lands west of the Mississippi river, which now served as
a dividing line between British and Spanish possessions in America. This would not
only put Britain into conflict with Spain, but the settlers themselves would need to be
protected from the native American tribes who had unknowingly illegally inhabited European-claimed
territory for thousands of years. Establishing an exhaustive system of outposts and garrisons to
secure the frontier cost more money than Britain was willing to spend on the colonies, and thus it
enforced a royal proclamation that refocused all expansion into Nova Scotia and south into Florida,
territories already firmly in British control. There was just one problem: Nova Scotia is
cold as hell, and Florida is... well, Florida, so naturally settlers did not want to move into
either region. Instead, they wanted the fertile valleys and plains west of the Mississippi.
Encroachment proved impossible to prevent, forcing Britain to create garrisons along the
frontier which it funded directly by taxing the colonies themselves. The colonies chafed at
the idea that they should have to pay taxes for something they fundamentally disagreed
with, and after the heavy taxation to support the Seven Years' War against France,
they expected fewer taxes, not more. To make up for the heavy cost of the Seven
Years' War, the British expected the colonies to fund their own defense, and to add a little
on top for good old King George by enforcing custom duties in American ports. The Sugar
Act, Molasses Act, and Stamp Act all proved wildly unpopular with the colonists, culminating
in the Boston Tea Party where $1.7 million worth of tea was dumped into the Boston Harbor.
Ultimately this open revolt would lead to a series of events culminating in the Declaration
of Independence, when the colonies told the world they had a right to self-rule and to measure
things with anything but the metric system. After inventing freedom and telling King George
where to stick his precious meters, the newly born American nation prepared for a war that had
actually already been raging for around a year. The odds were firmly stacked against the new
colonies, and King George was determined to turn all Americans into limp-wristed tea-drinkers.
Not only were the rebels facing 48,000 troops from the best military in the world at the time,
but they also had to contend with an additional 25,000 loyalists who hated liberty. King George
also brought in nearly 30,000 German mercenaries, and perhaps unsurprisingly as many as 13,000
Native Americans were more than happy to take up arms against the colonists when Britain
promised them that totally for sure trust me bro, the crown would respect their own claims to
their land if they helped them win the war. The US fielded an army of 40,000 volunteers
and would eventually receive support from an additional 10,800 French troops and 12,000
Spanish soldiers. Both France and Spain were more than eager to make Britain suffer, and the
American Revolutionary War proved an exceptional opportunity to do just that. The biggest
problem however was not the numbers disparity, but the fact that the colonists suffered from
serious equipment shortfalls. While the British were well armed and equipped, the colonists
largely relied on donated arms and what they could seize from British garrisons. On top of
that, a British naval blockade made resupply from the French or Spanish difficult, so the colonists
would be under gunned for much of the fighting. The advantage they did have was much higher
morale. The Americans were fighting for the right to not call cookies 'biscuits' and
good oral hygiene, but for the British, this was largely an administrative conflict- the
truth is the loss of the colonies was more about prestige than any actual harm to the British
empire. The Americans had proven themselves absolutely difficult and annoying to rule,
arguably costing the crown more than what value it got back in return. Thus, despite
having the military advantage, Britain would inevitably decide the return on investment
simply wasn't worth it, and if the colonists wanted to make firearms the leading cause of death
amongst children 18 and younger, then so be it. But even with what was largely a
token force in the American colonies, the British still nearly succeeded in crushing the
revolution and ending liberty forever, everywhere around the world. What impact then, would the
current and sole global superpower have on its own revolutionary war if it could send a single
squad of its most elite soldiers back in time? US Navy SEALs are widely regarded as the most
capable and elite soldiers on the planet. For the duration of the Cold War and decades after
it, their only real competition was their bitter Soviet and Russian Spetsnatz rivals, but
judging by their performance in the Ukraine war, the claims about the Spetsnatz seem
outlandish at best. Estimates vary, but on average it costs about $36,000 to
train the average US soldier. A Navy SEAL however costs as much as $2 million to take from
trainee to operator, and then an additional $1 million a year to upkeep for the duration of their
service. This makes the SEALs perhaps the single most expensive soldiers on earth, and to be fair,
you're getting quite a bit of bang for your buck. SEALs have a staggering dropout rate of between
70 and 85%, and serious injuries- even death- are not unheard of during training.
Even after initial training however, many would-be SEALs either drop out or are
forced out by injuries or other factors before they get to their first operational
units- and no SEAL can earn their trident and a place on a team without the approval of
the rest of said team. The SEALs are so elite, that even the CIA's Special Activities Center
recruits almost exclusively from their ranks. When the US needs the impossible done, it
calls on its SEALs. Taking their name from their ability to be delivered by sea, air,
or land, SEALs specialize in infiltrating deep into enemy territory to carry out extremely
sensitive missions against high-value targets. Their missions can range from capturing high-value
enemy VIPs or rescuing friendly ones, to sabotage, and even the clearing and demolition of
man-made or natural obstacles before an amphibious landing. Sometimes though the SEAL's
strength is their ability to remain undetected, providing critical intelligence
deep behind the front lines, or reconnaissance that opens up pathways
for other special operators to infiltrate to a target area. To accomplish their missions,
they make use of the absolute best and most highly classified American reverse-engineered
UFO technology, hence the hefty price tag. So what value would a single squad of
SEALs have in the Revolutionary War? Despite the first true American special
forces arising only in the Second World War, their forebearers were already in action in
the very first battles of the US’ struggle for independence. US Army Rangers, Delta Force,
and other elite American special forces units all trace their lineage back to one specific company
of light infantry in the Revolutionary War known as Knowlton's Rangers. This group was primarily
tasked with reconnaissance and used as a flexible, maneuverable force to attack enemy rear areas-
often with great success. However, the colonists had a long history of asymmetrical warfare, dating
all the way back to King Philip's War of 1675, during which the Plymouth Colony created a company
of men who would train and operate like the natives to attack their war parties and raid their
camps. The endeavor would prove so successful, that it would influence the creation of the famous
Roger's Rangers during the French and Indian War. Roger's Rangers would specialize in what
might be known today as counter-special forces, attacking the irregular French and Indian forces
that often ambushed British and American regulars. SEALs are normally formed into platoons of 16 men,
further divided into smaller squads. On average, that would give the continental forces a squad
of 4 highly skilled men along with all their modern gear. This would include night vision and
thermal equipment, satellite communications gear, emergency medical equipment, and various odds
and ends tailored for the specific mission. Given that the only satellites in the sky at
the time would be UFOs, that equipment would be useless- but our SEALs would still get great
benefit from standard long-range communications gear. All of that fancy night vision and
thermal tech would also be very power-hungry, so extra batteries are high on the gear tier-
as well as a portable recharging system based on solar power. Given advances in portable solar
power technology for special operations forces, our SEALs are set to keep their modern
tech in working order for quite a while. The question is how can our SEALs
be employed for maximum impact, or where can they provide the best value
to the continental army? The bread and butter of the SEALs is deep infiltration and
direct action against high-value targets, but the advantage of sending a team of
SEALs back in time is their flexibility. Mission priority will determine the specific
SEALs sent back in time, and their equipment. Despite specializing in deep reconnaissance, this
is probably the least effective way to employ our SEALs. The colonial army had a large network of
spies and sympathizers who fed them a steady diet of information, and warfare in the Revolutionary
War was far less mobile than modern war. This makes using SEALs to report on enemy movements
and troop composition an inefficient use of their capabilities- this is work best left to the real
spies and scouts of the time. Though of course, their long-range communications gear
would be extremely useful in this role. Instead, our SEALs are best suited for direct
action missions against high-value enemy targets. The British proved themselves extremely vulnerable
to irregular raids and attacks as the territory of the colonies was largely unknown to most of
them. At the time, America was still pretty wild, largely free of large urban settlements and with
a healthy population of Bigfoot and other wild animals. The British would often be forced to move
their troops through thick wilderness to reach their destination. With almost zero regard for
irregular warfare, this often made them extremely vulnerable to American rangers and other forces
who specialized in quick hit-and-run attacks. Even with just four SEALs though, the impact
they could have would far outstrip anything the colonists could hope for. Armed
with weapons like the HK 416 carbine, with a 40mm grenade launcher slung underneath,
and the MK48 machine gun, our SEALs are packing as much firepower on their own as a significant
portion of any British force they face. And they would be able to deliver that firepower from
ranges that far exceed anything the British could hope to counter. Even brief ambushes by a pair
of Mk48 gunners backed up by 40mm grenade fire from their two teammates would exact an extremely
heavy toll on marching British forces, with our SEALs disappearing into the wilderness before
any sort of counterattack could be organized. Then there's the ability to simply delete
high-value enemy personnel through the use of long guns. The McMillan TAC-338 carried by
a SEAL sniper can reach out and touch someone at a range of over 1600 meters. If the US felt
like trolling the British redcoats, they could send a SEAL back in time with the M82 .50 caliber
anti-material rifle. Despite there being literally no target worth using a .50 caliber sniper
rifle on, the sight of British officers having their chests imploded from over a mile away
would be hugely demoralizing to enemy forces, and destabilizing to the war effort at large
by the elimination of highly trained British officers- something the Americans were already
doing with their own, far less effective snipers. But as much fun as it would be to see SEALs
carrying out ambushes with fully automatic weapons and grenade launchers, even this is probably
not the best use of their talents. Instead, our time-traveling SEALs can be put to far greater
use by... never firing a gun in the first place. One of the biggest hurdles to the revolutionary
struggle was the British blockade of American ports. This had a strangling effect on the
American economy, already struggling to finance a very costly war, and it kept badly
needed European military aid out- or forced it to take far more circuitous and time-consuming
routes that often left rebel forces under gunned. Like their animal kingdom counterparts, SEALs
love the water- and destroying high-value targets in water is basically a wet dream
for any SEAL. The first specialty of any Navy SEAL is underwater demolition, and it's
why the service's ancestors existed in the first place during World War II. Armed with a
variety of limpet mines and other explosives, and personal underwater mobility devices,
our SEALs could easily infiltrate out to British ships sitting at anchor completely
undetected and attach demolition charges or mines to their hulls. Then it's as simple as
returning to shore and watching the fireworks. Even more than eliminating enemy VIPs or mowing
down rows of Redcoats with modern machine guns, the sinking of very expensive warships
would be a critical blow to the British war effort. With France joining the war in
1778, the British Royal Navy was in crisis- it could no longer afford to concentrate its
naval forces on the conflict in America. The French had already begun to wreak havoc across
vital British trading lanes in the Caribbean, and now there was a pressing need to secure
home waters and other vital trade lanes abroad. The surrender of Lord Charles Cornwallis at
Yorktown in October 1781 is largely seen as the nail in the coffin for the British effort
to make Americans drive on the wrong side of the road. The truth however, is that naval defeats
at the hands of the French had already decided the outcome of the American revolutionary struggle.
Our SEALs could hasten that inevitable end by targeting British warships earlier in the war and
systematically sinking them one by one. Even while far from shore, SEALs could reach their targets
under cover of darkness using quick, agile sloops- and then diving from them while a few miles
away. Personal underwater mobility equipment would power them all the way to their target and
back again for pickup. The only time British ships wouldn't be vulnerable was when at sea or on the
move, but they could only stay away from ports and coastal waters for so long before needing
resupply, making them vulnerable once again. The loss of multiple high value warships would
be a devastating military and economic blow to the maritime British empire. It would also
open up American ports to friendly shipping, but even more importantly, rather than
win the war on its own, it would likely invite France to join the effort far sooner
than they did, and with far greater effect. Now go check out “What if an F-22 time traveled to Germany in World War I!” Or
click this other video instead!
