| Seabees | |
|---|---|
The Seabee logo |
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| Active | 5 March 1942 – present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | US Navy |
| Role | military construction |
| Motto | Construimus, Batuimus Latin: "We build. We fight" (also unofficially "Can Do!") |
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee[1] is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, (CB) of the United States Navy. The Seabees have a history of building bases, bulldozing and paving thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips, and accomplishing a myriad of other construction projects in a wide variety of military theaters dating back to World War II.
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December 1941, with U.S. involvement in war soon expected on both oceans, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks, recommended establishing Naval Construction Battalions at a newly constructed base at Davisville, Rhode Island (part of North Kingstown). With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entrance into the war, he was given the go-ahead. The Davisville Advanced Base depot became operational in June, 1942. Camp Thomas, a personnel-receiving station on the base, was established in October of that year. It eventually contained 500 Quonset huts for personnel. On August 11, 1942, the Naval Construction Training Center, known as Camp Endicott, was commissioned at Davisville. The Camp trained over 100,000 Seabees during the Second World War.
In California in May 1942, a base for supporting the Naval Construction Force was established at Port Hueneme in Ventura County. This base became responsible for shipping massive amounts of equipment and material to the efforts in the Pacific.
The earliest Seabees were recruited from the civilian construction trades and were placed under the leadership of the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. Because of the emphasis on experience and skill rather than physical standards, the average age of Seabees during the early days of the war was 37.
More than 325,000 men served with the Seabees in World War II, fighting and building on six continents and more than 300 islands. In the Pacific, where most of the construction work was needed, the Seabees landed soon after the Marines and built major airstrips, bridges, roads, gasoline storage tanks, and Quonset huts for warehouses, hospitals, and housing.
The Seabees were officially organized in the Naval Reserve on December 31, 1947.
With the general demobilization following the war, the Construction Battalions were reduced to 3,300 men on active duty by 1950. Between 1949 and 1953, Naval Construction Battalions were organized into two types of units: Amphibious Construction Battalions (ACBs) and Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCBs).
The Korean War saw a call-up of more than 10,000 men. The expansion of the Seabees came from the Naval Reserve Seabee program where individuals volunteered for active duty. The Seabees landed at Incheon with the assault troops. They fought enormous tides as well as enemy fire and provided causeways within hours of the initial landings. Their action here and at other landings emphasized the role of the Seabees, and there was no Seabee demobilization when the truce was declared.
During the Korean War, the Navy realized they needed a naval air station in this region. Cubi Point in the Philippines was selected, and civilian contractors were initially selected for the project. After seeing the forbidding Zambales Mountains and the maze of jungle, they claimed it could not be done.
The Navy then turned to the Seabees. The first Seabees to arrive were MCB-3 on October 2, 1951; followed by MCB-5 on November 5, 1951. Over the next five years, MCB-2, -7, -9, -11 and -13 were also deployed to Cubi Point.
Seabees cut a mountain in half to make way for a nearly two-mile-long runway. Cubi Point turned out to be one of the largest earth-moving projects in the world, equivalent to the construction of the Panama Canal. The $100 million facility was commissioned on July 25, 1956, and comprised an air station and an adjacent pier that was capable of docking the Navy's largest carriers.
Following Korea, the Seabees embarked on a new mission. From providing much needed assistance in the wake of a devastating earthquake in Greece in 1953 to providing construction work and training to underdeveloped countries, the Seabees became "The Navy's Goodwill Ambassadors". Seabees built or improved many roads, orphanages and public utilities in many remote parts of the world.
Beginning in 1955, Seabees began deploying yearly to the continent of Antarctica. As participants in Operation Deep Freeze, their mission was to build and expand scientific bases located on the frozen continent. The first "wintering over" party included 200 Seabees who distinguished themselves by constructing a 6,000-foot ice runway on McMurdo Sound. Despite a blizzard that once destroyed the entire project, the airstrip was completed in time for the advance party of Deep Freeze II to become the first to arrive at the South Pole by plane.
Over the following years and under adverse conditions, Seabees added to their list of accomplishments such things as snow-compacted roads, underground storage, laboratories, and living areas. One of the most notable achievements took place in 1962, when the Navy's builders constructed Antarctica's first nuclear power plant, at McMurdo Station.
During the Cold War, the Seabees undertook a number of other missions, including constructing the Distant Early Warning Line in the Arctic. Again operating often under extreme conditions, the Seabees successfully completed every mission assigned to them.
Seabees were deployed to Vietnam throughout the conflict beginning in small numbers in June 1954 and extending to November 1972. By 1962, they began building camps for Special Forces. In June 1965, Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Marvin G. Shields, part of Seabee Team 1104, was actively engaged at the Battle of Dong Xoai and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions there. Shields remains the only Seabee ever to be awarded the Medal of Honor. These "Civic Action Teams" continued into the Vietnam War where Seabees, often fending off enemy forces alongside their Marine and Army counterparts, also built schools and infrastructure and provided health care service. Beginning in 1965, full Seabee battalions (MCBs) and Naval Construction Regiments (NCRs), along with other unit types, were deployed throughout Vietnam. Seabees from the Naval Reserve provided individual personnel early on to augment regular units and two battalions, MCB 12 and MCB 22.
In Vietnam, the Seabees supported the Marines and built a staggering number of aircraft-support facilities, roads, and bridges; they also paved roads that provided access to farms and markets, supplied fresh water to countless numbers of Vietnamese through hundreds of Seabee-dug wells, provided medical treatment to thousands of villagers, and built schools, hospitals, utilities systems, roads and other community facilities. Seabees also worked with and taught construction skills to the Vietnamese people.
After Vietnam, the Seabees built and repaired Navy bases in Puerto Rico, Japan, Guam, Greece, Sicily, and Spain. Their civic action projects focused on the Trust Territories of the Pacific.
In 1971, the Seabees began their largest peacetime construction on Diego Garcia, a small atoll in the Indian Ocean. This project took 11 years and cost $200 million. The complex accommodates the Navy's largest ships and the biggest military cargo jets. This base proved invaluable when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm were launched.
As the Cold War cooled off, new challenges were presented by the increased incidence of terrorism. Also there were ongoing support missions to Diego Garcia, Guam, Okinawa, Navy and Marine Bases in Japan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Guatemala, the Naval Support Facility for Polaris and Poseidon Submarines in Holy Loch Scotland, Rota Spain, Naples Italy and Suda Bay Crete.
Seabee construction efforts led to the expansion and improvement of Naval Air Facility, Sigonella Sicily, turning this into a major base for the Navy’s Sixth Fleet aviation activities.
There were combat roles as well. In 1983, a truck bomb demolished the barracks the Marines had secured in Beirut, Lebanon. After moving to the Beirut International Airport and setting up quarters there, Druse militia artillery began harassing the Marines. After consultations with the theater commander and Marine amphibious command and combat engineers, the forward deployed battalion in Rota Spain sent in a work party with heavy equipment. Construction of artillery resistant quarters went on from December 1983 until the Marines’ withdrawal in February 1984. Only one casualty occurred when an Equipment Operator using a bulldozer to clear fields of fire was wounded by an RPG attack. The Seabees were proud that the Marines had greatly improved protection from ongoing artillery harassment.
During the Gulf War, more than 5,000 Seabees (4,000 active and 1,000 reservists) served in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, Seabees built 10 camps for more than 42,000 personnel; 14 galleys capable of feeding 75,000 people; and 6 million ft² (600,000 m²) of aircraft parking apron and runways as well as 200+ Helo landing zones. They built and maintained two 500-bed Fleet Hospitals near the Port city of Al-Jubayl.
Seabees continue to provide critical construction skills in connection with the effort to rebuild the infrastructure of both Iraq and Afghanistan. All Active and Reserve Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCBs) and Naval Construction Regiments (NCRs) have been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Seabees have been deployed since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. One of their most high profiles tasks in Iraq has been the removal of statues of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. In Afghanistan, the Seabees main task has been the construction of multiple Forward Operating Bases for U.S. and coalition forces.
Since 2002, Seabees have provided critical and tactical construction skills in an effort to win the hearts and minds of locals. Their efforts have begun to deter the rising influence of radical terrorists in the southern Philippines, most notably the Abu Sayyaf's jungle training area. Seabees work along with Army, Marines, and Air Force under Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.
Seabees supported disaster recovery efforts for victims of the Northridge earthquake of 1994.
In summer 1992, Seabees were called on to provide recovery assistance for Homestead, Florida following Hurricane Andrew. Seabees were also vital to the humanitarian efforts in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope in 1992-1993. In 1994, they were again called on to provide assistance to the Haitian Relief effort at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. On Christmas Day 1995, Seabees arrived in Croatia to support the Army by building camps as part of Operation Joint Endeavor, the peacekeeping effort in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
On September 23, 1998, Hurricane Georges plowed through the Caribbean Islands causing millions of dollars in damage and generating thousands of DRT (disaster recovery team) man hours for the Seabees. The Navy provided generators and water trucks that were taken to nearby cities and damage assessment teams were sent to the local islands.
Shortly after Hurricane Georges ravaged Puerto Rico and most of the Caribbean, the Seabees immediately turned their focus towards Hurricane Mitch, which was the most powerful hurricane of the 1998 season. Mitch left more than 17,000 people dead due to the high winds and heavy rains that Mitch produced creating mud slides that buried thousands in Central America. The Seabees deployed to Honduras participating in operations with Joint Task Force Bravo providing capabilities to conduct engineer reconnaissance, repair roads and bridges, clear debris, remove bridges and build base camps. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 was the first Navy element to arrive in Central America taking part in their second humanitarian mission on the deployment.
Seabees deployed in September 2004 in response to Hurricane Ivan’s destruction to the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The Seabees cleared hurricane debris, repaired roads, erected tents, and otherwise assisted fellow service members.
The Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi suffered damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Seabees were tasked to rebuild the base and the Gulf Coast.
Seabee units have also been deployed to provide construction support and disaster relief to Haiti following the earthquake in 2010.
Seabees from NMCB-133 deployed to Japan as part of the relief effort after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
There are also three special Navy units that are primarily Seabee units. Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) units deploy worldwide to provide power, water purification and technical support at a moment's notice for military and humanitarian missions. Naval Support Unit State Department is where Seabees work, rehab and maintain security areas at US Embassies and Consulates overseas and Presidential Support Duty, which is located at Camp David. While assigned to the State Department, a Seabee reports to a Department of State Security Engineering Officer or directly to a Department of State Regional Security Officer, who both work for the Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Along with the Marine Security Guard (MSG) program, this is a rare example of an active-duty uniformed member of the U.S. armed forces who is operationally controlled through a civilian, albeit law enforcement, head.
There are currently around 17,000 Seabees, active and reserve, serving in the United States Navy.
The nomenclature of Seabee units has changed over time. From WWII until 1949, the main Seabee units were designated as Naval Construction Battalions (NCB); from then until 1974, they were Mobile Construction Battalions (MCB); and from 1974 until the present they have been Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCB). Individual units are distinguished by numbers before the letters (WWII era) or after them (all others).
Designations of other Seabee units have included Construction Battalion Unit (CBU), Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU), Underwater Construction Team (UCT), and Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB), all with numbers following the letters. Seabee units with numbers preceding the letters are or have been Naval Construction Regiments (NCR), Seabee Readiness Groups (SRG), and Naval Construction Divisions (NCD).[2]
The newcomers begin "A" School (preliminary training) fresh out of boot camp, or they come from the fleet after their service term is met, spending about 75% of the twelve weeks immersed in hands-on training. The remaining 25% is spent in classroom instruction. From "A" School, new Seabees most often report to an NMCB command for their first tour of duty. For training, the new Seabees attend a four-week course known as Expeditionary Combat Skills (ECS) at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, and Port Hueneme, California. ECS is also being taught to all personnel who report to a unit in the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command. ECS is a basic combat-skills course where the students spend time in a classroom environment learning map reading and land navigation, battlefield first aid, how to lay out defensive plans, how to conduct patrols, vehicle egress, and many other combat-related skills. Half of each course is spent at a rifle range where students learn basic rifle marksmanship and then qualify with the M-16A2 and A3 service rifles. ECS students also learn fundamentals of the M9 service pistol and qualify. At the end of training, new Seabees are ready to perform with their new battalion. During their tenure with an NMCB, personnel may be assigned to a crew-served weapon, such as the MK 19 40 mm grenade launcher, the M2HB .50-caliber machine gun, or the M240 machine gun. Many reserve units still field variants of the M-60 machine gun. Unlike most navy personnel, Seabees wear the M81 Woodland camouflage uniform or the legacy tri-color Desert Camouflage Uniform. Seabees use ALICE field gear as well as some units working with Marines use USMC issue ILBE gear.
About one-third of new Seabees are assigned to Public Works Departments at Naval installations both within the U.S. and overseas. While stationed at a Public Works Department, a Seabee has the opportunity to get specialized training and extensive experience in one or more facets of their rating.
There are seven source ratings for the Seabee community:[3]
The military qualification badge for the Seabees is known as the Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist insignia (SCWS). It is issued to both officers and enlisted personnel and recognizes those who have been fully trained and qualified as a member of the various Naval Construction Force (NCF) units. Only members attached to a qualifying NCF unit are eligible for the SCWS pin. The qualifying units include: Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCB), Amphibious Construction Battalions (ACB), Naval Construction Force Support Units (NCFSU), Underwater Construction Teams (UCT), and, since the end of 2008, Naval Construction Regiments (NCR).
The SCWS insignia has been in existence since it was officially approved for use in 1993.
The ranks of E-1 through E-3 in the Navy include Seaman (white stripes), Airman (green stripes), and Fireman (red stripes). E-1 through E-3 Seabees use the designation Constructionman and wear sky-blue stripes on their dress and service uniforms.
Frank J. Iafrate, a civilian plan file clerk at Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island, was the artist who designed the original Seabee logo ("Fighting 'Bee") in early 1942. The logo has remained in use, unchanged. In late 1942, after designing the logo, he enlisted in the Seabees.[4]
During World War II, artists working for Walt Disney designed logos for about ten Naval Construction units, including the 60th Naval (Canal) Construction Battalion[5] and the 133rd Naval Construction Battalion,[6] in 1943.
The "Song of the Seabees" was written in 1943. The lyrics were composed by Sam M. Lewis, and the musical composition was written by Peter DeRose. The first verse of the song, however, is usually the only verse to be sung or played at official functions.
The U. S. Navy Seabee Museum is located at Naval Base Ventura County, California. The new museum – built by Carlsbad-based RQ Construction – opened on 22 July 2011, located outside the base itself, near the entrance to the Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme, California. Due to the location, visitors are able to visit the museum without having to enter the base itself.
The design of the single-story, 38,833 square foot structure was inspired by the Seabee Quonset Hut. Inside are galleries for exhibition space, a grand hall, a theater for 45 people, collections storage, and research areas.
On February 7th, 2011, the Museum was certified as LEED Silver for utilizing a number of sustainable design and construction strategies. Features include the use of low-maintenance landscaping; a “cool” roofing system with high solar reflectance and thermal emittance; use of photocell controlled light fixtures and energy-efficient lighting fixtures; 30% use of regional materials and 80% construction debris was recycled and diverted from landfills; low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs); and, use of dual-flush toilets and low-flow aerator faucets.
The Seabee Museum and Memorial Park, in Davisville, Rhode Island, was opened in the late 1990s by a group of former Seabees. The Fighting Seabee Statue is located here.
The Seabee Heritage Center is located at Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Mississippi.
The 1944 War film The Fighting Seabees, staring John Wayne, tells a heavily fictionalized story of the formation of the Seabees and their first taste of combat.