Many Americans know there has been a U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1991.

But the reality is that U.S. forces have been stationed there much, much longer.

The U.S. Navy first entered the Gulf in 1944 during World War II, after Italian bombers aligned with Axis forces attacked U.S.-owned oil installations in Saudi Arabia and the neighboring emirate of Bahrain.

Their main purpose then, as it is now, was to guard the oil resources of the West and its communications lines with Europe and the Far East.

Ever since, the Bahraini city of Manama has served as home port and shore base to what is now called the U.S. Fifth Fleet. There is also a military installation at Bahrain's Muharraq Airport.