History[edit] World War II[edit] Main article: Seabees in World War II In December 1941, with U.S. involvement in war soon expected on both the Pacific and Atlantic 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 United States' entry into the war, he was given the go-ahead. The Davisville Advanced Base Depot became operational in June 1942. 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. Camp Thomas, a personnel-receiving station on the base, was established in October of that year. 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 WWII 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. They often operated under fire and frequently were forced to take part in the fighting to defend themselves and their construction projects. In the Pacific Theater they built 111 major airstrips and 441 piers, tanks for the storage of 100 m gallons of fuel, housing for 1.5 million men and hospitals for 70,000 patients.[3] The Seabees were officially organized in the Naval Reserve on December 31, 1947. With the general demobilization following the war, the Naval Construction Battalions (NCBs) 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 Mobile Construction Battalions (MCBs), which were later designated Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCBs) in the early- to mid-1960s to eliminate confusion with Marine Corps Base (MCB) in Vietnam. Korean War[edit] 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 Inchon 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. Antarctica[edit] 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. Vietnam War[edit] Naval Mobile Construction Battalion One (NMCB-1), 2006 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. From the Cold War to terrorism[edit] A U.S. Navy Seabee mans a vehicle-mounted machine gun while travelling through Al Hillah, Iraq in May 2003. 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, NMCB-1 in Rota Spain sent in a 70 man AirDet working 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 Seabee, EO2 Kirt May was awarded the first Purple Heart awarded a Seabee since Vietnam. The Seabees were proud that the Marines had greatly improved protection from ongoing artillery harassment. Robert Stethem was murdered by the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah when they hijacked TWA Flight 847 in 1985. Stethem was a Steelworker Second Class (SW2), a Seabee diver and member of Underwater Construction Team ONE. The USS Stethem (DDG-63) is named in his honor. On August 24, 2010, onboard USS Stethem in Yokosuka, Japan, Stethem was posthumously made an honorary Master Chief Constructionman (CUCM) by the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. Persian Gulf War[edit] A Seabee maintains security by manning an M60 machine gun while his convoy drives through Al Hillah in Iraq. During the Persian 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. Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan[edit] Seabees continue to provide critical construction skills in connection with the effort to rebuild the infrastructure of 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. Operation Enduring Freedom Southern Philippines[edit] 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. Disaster relief and recovery[edit] In 1969 when Hurricane Camile hit the gulf coast, the MCB-121 battalion stationed at Gulfport were called upon for cleanup, rescue, and community outreach for months to come. They fed displaced families and supported the community. Seabees set up tents to house displaced victims of a devastating flood that hit Ethiopia. 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. NMCB 40 played a pivotal role serving with the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division "The Big Red One", in assisting with the dismantling of FOB's during the IFOR/SFOR phase. 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, which led to 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 in 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. Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Seven deployed to provide construction support and disaster relief to Haiti following the earthquake in 2010. Seabee divers from Underwater Construction Team One along with ACB-2 and the Army Engineer divers made repairs to the heavily damaged port facilities in Port-au-Prince. This resulted in the re-opening of the port to allow humanitarian supplies into the country. Seabees from NMCB-133 and Underwater Construction Team Two deployed to Japan as part of the relief effort after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Eleven Air Detachment deployed for roughly two weeks to support federal, state, and local authorities in disaster recovery operations in the New Jersey and New York areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. The Air Detachment mounted out 90 personnel and 94 pieces of civil engineering support equipment including front-end loaders, backhoes, pumps, generators, storage containers, and other equipment which was convoyed to the disaster area.[4]