This Week in Seabee History: August 23

Operation Desert Shield/Desert StormOn August 2, 1990, Iraqi armed forces began the invasion and then conquest of the Emirate of Kuwait. Under the auspices of the United Nations, the United States and other member countries responded by deploying military forces to Saudi Arabia. The immediate objective was to prevent further Iraqi aggression; the long-term goal was to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. The first allied military initiative to protect Saudi Arabia was codenamed Operation Desert Shield.

Among the U.S. forces deployed to the region was the First Marine Expeditionary Force. The Seabees were to provide support in building this force. On August 7, the Seabees began preparations to deploy four battalions to the region: Naval Mobile Construction Battalions 4, 5, 7, and 40. On August 13, the first Seabees arrived in Saudi Arabia, an element of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion. amphibious construction 1, comprising 210 people. . These men immediately went to work unloading Marine Corps equipment and supplies from the Maritime Prepositioned Force ships.

During the period of August 10-20, 100 Seabees from the 2nd Amphibious Construction Battalion departed Norfolk, Virginia, aboard amphibious ships bound for the Persian Gulf. During their time in the Gulf, these Seabees participated in numerous exercises with the Marines to prepare for an amphibious assault in the region.

The second wave of Seabees to arrive consisted of members of Construction Battalion Units 411 and 415; they built and maintained Fleet Hospital Five, a 500-bed hospital facility in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Both units had female officers in charge, marking a first for the Seabees.

August 25

2009:Groundbreaking ceremonies are being held at Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme, California, for construction of the new U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, intended to replace the old facility opened in 1956.

August 26

1943:105th NCB trained at Naval Construction Training Center (NCTC) Camp Peary, Magruder, Virginia.

1944:302^sd NCB formed in Maui, Hawaii.

1967:Captain JM Hill, CEC, relieved Cmdr. RL Foley, CEC, as Commanding Officer of the 32nd Naval Construction Regiment (NCR).

1968:Seabee William Darrah, of the State Department’s Naval Support Unit, was highly commended for his heroic efforts to extinguish what could have been a major fire at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Due to the curfew, local firefighters were not available. In response, embassy staff members, American news correspondents, and American citizens formed a bucket brigade and successfully controlled and extinguished the fire. The U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia said: “By general agreement, the person who deserves the highest praise is Seabee William B. Darrah, who knew his job thoroughly and showed great personal courage.

August 27

1965:NMCB 8 transferred to Commander, Naval Construction Battalions, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMCBPAC), from Commander, Naval Construction Battalions, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMCBLANT).

1970:Seabee Teams 0106 and 0107 departed Davisville, Rhode Island, for reassignment to OIC Construction Battalions, U.S. Pacific Fleet Detachment (CBPACDET), RVN, and deployment to Ham Tan and Tan An, respectively .

1971:Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 1 returned from the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle, Colts Neck, New Jersey.

2010:Captain Joe Grealish, CEC, relieved Captain Paul Webb, CEC, as commander of ACB 2, Joint Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia.

August 28

1942: The 21st Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) was commissioned at Camp Bradford, Norfolk, Virginia.

1943: The 117th NCB was commissioned at Camp Peary at the Naval Construction Training Center (NCTC), Magruder, Virginia.

1967: At 0608, Dong Ha Combat Base in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) came under enemy rocket attack. Three of the rockets landed in Seabee’s cantonment, Camp Barnes. One of the rockets directly hit a Company C docking hut. As a result of this direct hit, four men were killed: Builder (Concrete) 2nd Class Jerry L. Newman, Builder (Concrete) Jerome D. Patterson, builder (concrete) Anthony K. Grasso and apprentice builder (heavy) Richard. J. Bet. Between August 28 and September 25, 1967, Seabee Camp at Dong Ha Combat Base was the target of enemy artillery and rocket attacks 47 times on 13 separate days. All attacks took place between 4 a.m. and 8 p.m., with the majority occurring during the day. As a result of these daytime attacks, construction work was greatly hampered and sometimes stopped while Seabees sought cover.

1967: A man from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1 was killed by enemy sniper fire on Route 1.

August 29

1969: Seabee Team 0314 traveled to Guam, Mariana Islands, to get oriented.

2005: Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast. More than 3,000 Seabees from NMCB 18, 40, 133, Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 202, Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 2, and Mobile Utility Support Equipment Technicians ( MUSE) helped with the clean-up operations.

2013: Captain John Adametz, Civil Engineer Corps (CEC), relieved Captain Darius Banaji, CEC, as commander of Naval Construction Group (NCG) 2 during a ceremony at the Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Gulfport, Mississippi.

August 23

1943: The 87th Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) is part of ACORN 12. (Used during World War II, an ACORN was a tailor-made unit designed to carry out the rapid construction and subsequent operation of a forward base of land planes and seaplanes. Each ACORN had a construction battalion attached to it, as well as trained personnel to operate the control tower, field lighting, aerological unit, transportation, medical facilities , docking and catering. A Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) also accompanied each ACORN to maintain the base after the initial construction was completed and the Construction Battalion was withdrawn. During the war, ACORN were sent to places such as Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Green Island, Rendova, Treasure Island and Majuro.

August 24

2010: During a posthumous frock coat ceremony, the Metalworker 2^sd Class (DV) Robert D. Stethem has been promoted to the honorary rank of Chief Petty Officer aboard the USS Stethem (DDG 63) in Yokosuka, Japan. (Stethem was a victim of the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in June 1985, after being identified among the passengers as a U.S. Navy sailor and killed by members of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, when their demands for the release of 766 prisoners Lebanese and Palestinians detained by Israel were not met. He was returning home with other members of UCT 1 after completing a routine mission in Greece. Stethem was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.