List of notable deployments of U.S. military forces overseas

This article provides a list of "notable deployments of U.S. military forces overseas" from 1798 through April 2023, as reported by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS), an office of the United States Congress.

Highlights of the data

 * 481 "instances in which the United States has used military forces abroad in situations of military conflict or potential conflict to protect U.S. citizens or promote U.S. interests."
 * It does not include "covert actions or the many occurrences in which U.S. forces have been stationed abroad since World War II in occupation forces or for participation in mutual security organizations, base agreements, or routine military assistance or training operations."
 * Of the 226 years from 1798 through 2023, deployments occurred in 207 ( all but 1811, 1826, 1828 to 30, 1834, 1837, 1845, 1850, 1861, 1862, 1869, 1872, 1897, 1947, 1957, 1961, 1977, and 1979 ).
 * The largest number of deployments in any one year was 29 in 2017, followed by 16 in 2019, 15 in 2014, and 14 in 2018.
 * A few deployments were not for combat, including three evacuations in 1974 and 75 and typhoon relief in 2012 and 13.
 * From the descriptions ( See report; full descriptions not included in table below. )
 * Some of the descriptions start with more details about the timeframe of the deployments, as shown in column "Time preface" below.
 * For 47 deployments, the descriptions state specifically that they were "to protect American interests [or property]," as indicated by "Y" in column "US interest" below.)
 * Of the 481 deployments, five were declared wars. The column "Decl'ns" below indicates how many war declarations were made in each of those five, totaling eleven.
 * The report cites sources for some of its data with 157 footnotes, as indicated in the "Footnotes" column below ( mostly for deployments after 2013 ).

The report explains, "The instances vary greatly in size of operation, [duration,] legal authorization, and significance. ... [I]nclusion in this list does not connote either the legality or the level of significance of the instance described. ... Because of differing judgments ..., other lists may include more or fewer instances." Footnote 1 of the report cites three sources of alternative lists, as well as a source for a discussion of the evolution of such lists.

The CRS report is updated approximately annually. The data in this article are from version 41, published on June 7, 2023.