Amphibious Construction Battalion One
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Amphibious Construction Battalion One is one of only two amphibious construction battalions in the United States Navy. The other one is in Little Creek, Virginia.
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[edit] History
ACB-1 was originally commissioned in 1943 as the 104 th Naval Construction Battalion. In 1950, the unit was re-designated Amphibious Construction Battalion One. Through the years, ACB-1 has participated in all major conflicts. ACB-1 was the first Seabee unit ashore in Vietnam and the first Naval Construction Force unit to deploy during Operation Desert Shield
The assignment to build the emergency landing strip on Yo Do fell to ACB 1's Det. George. Led by Lt. T.E. Rowe, Det. George was composed of one warrant machinist, six chief petty officers and 69 Seabee enlisted men. Six of these Seabees proudly wore the blue, yellow and red ribbon for the Presidential Unit Citation, which was awarded to ACB 1 for the landing at Inchon almost two years earlier.
A month after the September 15, 1950 landing at Inchon, ACB 1 moved to the east coast of Korea and again supported the 1st Marine Division. This time they landed at the port city of Wonsan as part of the 1st Marine Division's shift from the Inchon-Seoul area to the northeast coast of Korea. While the Marines moved north to positions in the Chosin Reservoir area, the Seabees built piers and unloaded ships.
On 13 August the first Seabees arrived in Saudi Arabia, an element of Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, comprising 210 personnel. These men immediately went to work unloading Marine Corps equipment and supplies from Maritime Pre-positioned Force ships.
On 10 December 1992 Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 arrived at Mogadishu as part of the Naval Support Element in Somalia. Within a short time ACB 1 unloaded five of the U.S. Marines' Maritime Pre-positioning Force ships, refurbished the port, and provided fuel and water for military forces in Somalia.[1]
[edit] Mission
ACB-1's primary mission is to provide Ship to Shore transport of fuel, Amphibious Ready Group, Marine Expeditionary Force, Brigade sized operations, and Maritime Prepositioined Forces (MPF) Operations.
