Editing Seabee (section)

== World War II ==
{{main|Seabees in World War II}}
[[File:Flag of the United States Navy (1864–1959).svg|thumb|right|The Naval Infantry Battalion Flag was mandated by Naval Regulation as the [[military colors]] for the Construction Battalions.<ref name="NTP-13">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/ntp13b.pdf|title=Flags, Pennants & Customs, NTP 13 (B), Naval Computer And Telecommunications Command, Washington, DC, section 17.11, p. 17-5|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref>]]
[[File:Peary1943BayonetCrpd6996985447 054ffcd41d k.jpg|thumb|USMC-directed fixed bayonet drill at [[Camp Peary]] NTC, VA in 1943]]
On 28 December 1941, Adm. Moreell requested authority to commission three Naval Construction Battalions. His request was approved on 5 January 1942 by [[Admiral Nimitz]].<ref name=intro/> The 1st HQ Construction Company was used to commission the 1st Naval Construction Detachment, which was assigned to [[Operation Bobcat]].<ref name="Bases Op30 p 415">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Admin-Hist/021-AdvanceBases/AdvanceBases-4.html |chapter=Chapter IV: Bobcat |title=Dept. of the Navy Office of Naval Operations: The Logistics of [[US Naval Advance Bases|Advance Bases]]: The Base Maintenance Division Op30 (Op415) |publisher=U. S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |date=1947 |via=HyperWar |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> They were sent to [[Bora Bora]] and are known in Seabee history as "Bobcats".<ref name="Bases Op30 p 415"/>

Concurrently, the other requested companies had been approved. BuDocks took Companies 2 & 3 to form the 1st Naval Construction Battalion at Charleston, South Carolina. HQ Companies 4 & 5 were used for the 2nd CB.<ref name=intro/> All four companies deployed independently. CBs 3, 4, & 5 were deployed the same way.<ref name="Seabee Unit Histories">{{cite web |url=http://nmcb62alumni.org/pdf/SeabeeUnitsHistory.pdf |title=Seabee Unit Histories |website=The NMCB 62 "Minutemen" |access-date=18 October 2017 |archive-date=25 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125024211/https://www.nmcb62alumni.org/pdf/SeabeeUnitsHistory.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> CB 6 was the first battalion to deploy as a Battalion.<ref name="Seabee Unit Histories" />

Before all this could happen, BuDocks had to address the dual command issue. [[United States Navy Regulations|Naval regs]] stated unit command was strictly limited to [[line officer]]s. BuDocks deemed it essential that CBs be commanded by [[Civil Engineer Corps|CEC]] officers trained in construction. The [[Bureau of Naval Personnel]] (BuPers) was strongly opposed. Adm. Moreell took the issue directly to the [[Secretary of the Navy]], [[Frank Knox]]. On 19 March 1942, Knox gave the CEC complete command of all NCF personnel. Almost 11,400 would become CEC during WWII with 7,960 doing CB service. Two weeks earlier, on 5 March all CB personnel were officially named "Seabees".

The first volunteers were tradesmen that received advanced rank for their trade skills. This resulted in the Seabees being the highest-paid group in uniform.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/umrcourses/ge342/SeaBees-Revised.pdf |first=J. David |last=Rogers |title=U.S. Navy Seabees During World War II |website=[[Missouri University of Science and Technology]] |page=8 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> To recruit these men, age and physical standards were waived up to age 50. Until November 1942 the average Seabee was 37, even so, all received the same [[physical training]].<ref name="dailypress.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailypress.com/features/history/dp-nws-evg-camp-peary-seabees-20171110-story.html|title=Training the Fighting Seabees of WWII at Camp Peary, Daily Press, E-newspaper 3 Dec 2017, Mark St. John Erickson, Newport News, VA.|accessdate=May 11, 2022|archive-date=5 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805112612/http://www.dailypress.com/features/history/dp-nws-evg-camp-peary-seabees-20171110-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In December, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]] ordered the [[Selective Service System]] to provide CB recruits. Enlistees could request CB service with a written statement certifying that they were trade qualified.<ref name="Bases.Ch6"/>{{rp|136}} This lasted until October 1943 when voluntary enlistment in the Seabees ceased until December 1944.<ref name="Bases.Ch6"/>{{rp|136}} By war's end, 258,872 officers and enlisted had served in the Seabees. They never reached the Navy's authorized quota of 321,056.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6oLtZBuRZH4C|title=The King Bee: A Biography of Admiral Ben Moreell|first=Olsen|last=Olsen|date=November 24, 2011|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=9781612511085 |accessdate=May 11, 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1942, initial CB boot was at [[Camp Allen]] in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], which moved to Camp Bradford, which moved to [[Camp Peary]] and finally moved to [[Camp Endicott]] in [[Quonset Point, Rhode Island]]. CBs 1–5 were sent directly overseas for urgent projects. CBs that followed were sent to [[US Naval Advance Bases|Advance Base Depots]] (ABDs) for deployment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kshs.org/index.php?url=archives/47223|title=129th Seabees collection - State Archives - Kansas Historical Society|website=www.kshs.org|access-date=2020-04-20}}</ref> Camp Rousseau at Port Hueneme became operational first and was the ABD to the Pacific. The Davisville ABD became operational in June with NTC [[Camp Endicott]] commissioned that August.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Schroder|first1=Walter K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFoJ2b0nTowC&q=seabees+The+Davisville+AND+became+operational+in+June+1942&pg=PA7|title=Davisville and the Seabees|last2=Emma|first2=Gloria A.|date=1999|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738501062|language=en}}</ref> Other CB Camps were [[Camp Parks]], Livermore, Ca.,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-smAQAAIAAJ&q=CB+Camps+were+Camp+Parks%2C+Livermore%2C+Ca+seabees&pg=RA6-PA46|title=Navy Civil Engineer|date=1962|publisher=NAVFAC Engineering Command|language=en}}</ref> and Camp Lee-Stephenson, Quoddy Village, [[Eastport, Maine]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Battalion, 30th|first=United States Navy Construction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ChtqwRfiKvEC&q=Camp+Lee-Stephenson%2C+Quoddy+Village%2C+Eastport%2C+Maine.&pg=PA261|title=The 30th Log, 1942-1944|date=1945|publisher=U.S. Navy Seabee Museum|language=en}}</ref> and Camp Holliday, [[Gulfport, Mississippi]].

CBs sent to the Pacific were attached to one of the four Amphibious Corps: I, III, and V were USMC. The [[VII Amphibious Force]] was under General [[Douglas MacArthur]], [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers|Supreme Commander]]. MacArthur said the only problem he had with the Seabees was that he didn't have enough of them.

'''Advance Bases'''

The Office of Naval Operations created a code identifying Advance Base (AB)<ref name="AdvanceBases-6">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Admin-Hist/021-AdvanceBases/AdvanceBases-6.html |chapter=Chapter VI: AB Units – Lions, Cubs, Acorns |title=Dept. of the Navy Office of Naval Operations: The Logistics of ABs: The Base Maintenance Div. Op30 (Op415) |publisher=U. S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |date=1947 |via=HyperWar |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> construction as a numbered metaphor for the size/type of base. That code was also used to identify the "unit" that would be the administration for that base.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaEWw_itW80C&pg=PA120|chapter=Chapter XXVI: Bases in the Southwest Pacific |title=Building the Navy's Bases in WWII: History of the BuDocks and the CEC 1940–1946 |volume=I |publisher=U.S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |date=1947 |page=120 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> These were Lion, Cub, Oak and Acorn with a Lion being a main Fleet Base (numbered 1–6).<ref>{{cite book |last=Rottman |first=Gordon L. |title=World War II Pacific Island Guide: A Geo-military Study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ChyilRml0hcC&pg=PA78|date=2002 |location=[[Westport, CT]] |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=78 |isbn=9780313313950 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> Cubs were Secondary Fleet Bases 1/4 the size of a Lion (numbered 1–12).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cI7rEUDQ6lEC&pg=PA264|title=Building the Navy's Bases in WWII: History of the BuDocks and the CEC 1940–1946 |volume=II |publisher=U.S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |date=1947 |page=264 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> Oak and Acorn were the names given air installations, new or captured (airfield or airstrip).<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Building_Bases/bases-5.html |chapter=Chapter V: Procurement and Logistics for ABs |title=Building the Navy's Bases in WWII: History of the BuDocks and the CEC 1940–1946 |volume=I |publisher=U.S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |date=1947 |via=HyperWar |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> Cubs quickly gained status. The speed with which the Seabees could make one operational led the Marines to consider them a [[Military tactics|tactical]] component. Camp Bedilion shared a common fence-line with Camp Rousseau at Port Hueneme and was home to the Acorn Assembly and Training Detachment (AATD)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/CBCPtHueneme.html|title=Historic California Posts: Naval Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme|website=www.militarymuseum.org|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> As the war progressed, BuDocks realized that logistics required that Advance Base Construction Depots (ABCDs) be built and CBs built seven.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaEWw_itW80C&pg=PA120|title=Building the Navy's Bases in WWII: History of the BuDocks and the CEC 1940–1946 |volume=I |publisher=U.S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |page=130 |date=1947 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> When the code was first created, BuDocks foresaw two CBs constructing a Lion. By 1944 an entire Regiment was being used. The [[invasion of Okinawa]] took four Construction Brigades of 55,000 men. The Seabees built the infrastructure needed to take the war to Japan. By war's end CBs had, served on six continents, constructed over 300 bases on as many islands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.navy.mil/navydata/personnel/seabees/seabee1.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140606081111/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/personnel/seabees/seabee1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 June 2014|title=Seabees, U.S. Navy Official website, 12 August 2009|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> They built everything: airfields, airstrips, [[pier]]s, [[wharves]], [[breakwaters]], [[PT boat|PT]] & [[seaplane]] bases, bridges, roads, com-centers, fuel farms, hospitals, barracks and anything else.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Building_Bases/bases-25.html |chapter=Chapter XXV: Campaign in the Solomons |title=Building the Navy's Bases in WWII: History of the BuDocks and the CEC 1940–1946 |volume=II |publisher=U.S. GPO |location=Washington, DC |date=1947 |via=HyperWar |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>

In the Atlantic the Seabees biggest job was the preparations for the [[Normandy landing]]. After which CBMUs 627, 628, and 629 were tasked to facilitate the crossing of the [[Rhine]]. For CBMU 629 it was front-line work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/building-the-navys-bases/building-the-navys-bases-vol-2.html|title=Building the Navy's Bases, vol. 2 (part III)|website=NHHC|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> The Pacific is where 80% of the NCF deployed.

===African American Service: the Seabee stevedores===
[[File:"Group of CBs acting as stretcher bearers for the 7th Marines. Peleliu.", 09-1944 - NARA - 532537.jpg|thumb|"17th Special" Seabees with the 7th Marines on Peleliu made national news in an official U.S. Navy press release.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_peleliu|title=Antill, Peter (2003), Peleliu, battle for (Operation Stalemate II) – The Pacific War's Forgotten Battle, September–November 1944, "Hitting the Beach 3rd paragraph"|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> NARA-532537]]
[[File:Lt Cmdr. Edward Swain Hope CEC.jpg|thumb|[[MIT]] grad Lt Cmdr. [[Edward S. Hope]] CEC was the most senior African American officer in the United States Navy during WWII.]]
In February 1942 [[Chief of Naval Operations|CNO]] Admiral [[Harold Rainsford Stark]] recommended African Americans for ratings in the construction trades. In April the Navy announced it would enlist African Americans in the Seabees. Even so, there were just two CBs that were "[[colored]]" units, the 34th and 80th.<ref name="AACB"/> Both had white Southern officers and black enlisted. Both battalions experienced problems with that arrangement that led to the replacement of the officers. The men of the 34th went on a hunger strike which made national news. The Commander of the 80th had 19 enlisted dishonorably discharged for sedition. The [[NAACP]] and [[Thurgood Marshall]] got 14 of those reversed.

In early 1943 the Navy commissioned its first African American officers.<ref name="Hope">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/seabee/explore/civil-engineer-corps-history/lcdr-edward-s--hope.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507002604/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/seabee/explore/civil-engineer-corps-history/lcdr-edward-s--hope.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2017|title=LCDR Edward S. Hope|website=NHHC|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> The first to enter the Seabees officer corps was [[MIT]] graduate [[Edward S. Hope]].<ref name="Hope"/> In May 1943 he completed CEC training at Camp Endicott and was posted as the Public Works officer at Manana barracks Hawaii Territory.<ref name="Hope"/> That same year, the Navy drew up a proposal to raise the number of colored CBs to 5 and require that all non-rated men in the next 24 CBs be colored. The proposal was approved, but not acted on.

The lack of stevedores in combat zones was a huge issue for the Navy. Authorization for the formation of cargo handling CBs or "Special CBs" happened mid-September 1942.<ref name="CBHistory">[http://seabeemagazine.navylive.dod live.mil/326-2/ This week in Seabee History, Sept 17–23, Seabee Online Magazine, NAVFAC Engineering Command, Wash. Navy Yard, DC.]{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> By wars end 41 Special CBs had been commissioned of which 15 were "colored". Neither the Navy or NCF used that label, the units were simply segregated in the men assigned to them. The Special CBs were the first fully integrated units in the U.S. Navy.<ref name="AACB">{{Cite web|url=https://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/06/building-for-a-nation-and-equality-african-american-seabees-in-world-war-ii/|title=Building for a Nation and Equality: African American Seabees in World War II|first=Seabee|last=Magazine|access-date=7 August 2019|archive-date=10 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510055729/https://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/06/building-for-a-nation-and-equality-african-american-seabees-in-world-war-ii/|url-status=dead}}</ref> V-J Day brought the decommissioning of all of them. The Special CBs were forerunners of today's [[Navy Cargo Handling Battalion]]s of the [[Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (United States)]]. The arrival of 15 African American Special CBs in Pearl Harbor made segregation an issue for the [[14th Naval District]].<ref name="CCB">[https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/shpd/files/2018/11/Quonset-Hut-33-Naval-Aviation.pdf Historical Content Significance, Naval Aviation Supply Depot Hut 33 at Waiawa Gulch, Peral City, U.S. Dept of Interior, Nat. Park Service, p. 10 ]</ref> For a protracted period the men lived in tents, but the disparity of treatment was obvious even to the Navy.<ref name="CCB"/> The 14th Naval District Command felt they deserved proper shelter with at least separate but equal barracks.<ref name="CCB"/> Manana Barracks and Waiawa Gulch became the United States' largest "colored" installation with over 4,000 Seabee stevedores barracked there.<ref name="CCB"/> It was the site of racial strife to the point that the camp was fenced in and placed under armed guard.<ref name="CCB"/> The Seabees were trucked to and from the docks in cattle trucks.<ref name="CCB"/> Two naval supply depots were located at Waiawa Gulch. At wars end 12,500 African Americans would serve in the Construction Battalions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/04/building-for-a-nation-and-for-equality-african-american-seabees-in-world-war-ii/#:~:text=Over%2012%2C500%20African%20Americans%20served,a%20group%20largely%20forgotten%20today|title=Building for a Nation and for Equality: African American Seabees in WWII, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, Naval History and Heritage Command, Dr. Frank A. Blazich Jr., March 4, 2014|accessdate=May 11, 2022|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501025525/https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/04/building-for-a-nation-and-for-equality-african-american-seabees-in-world-war-ii/#:~:text=Over%2012%2C500%20African%20Americans%20served,a%20group%20largely%20forgotten%20today|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The 17th Special CB was one of the segregated Specials and was at [[Battle of Peleliu|Peleliu]] in September 1944. The unit is not listed in the USMC order of battle at [[Battle of Peleliu|Peleliu]] despite being attached to the 1st Marine Pioneers. On D-day, the [[7th Marines]] had a situation where they did not have the men to man the [[front line|lines]] and [[Medical evacuation|get the wounded to safety]]. Coming to their aid were the 2 companies of the 16th Marine Field Depot (segregated) and the 17th Special CB. The Japanese mounted a [[Banzai charge|banzai]] [[counter-attack]] at 0200 hours that night. By the time it was over, nearly the entire 17th had volunteered to carry [[ammunition]] to the [[front lines]] on the [[stretchers]] they brought the wounded back on. They filled the line where the wounded had been, manned [[37 mm gun M3|37mm guns]] that had lost crews and volunteered for anything the Marines needed. The 17th remained with the 7th Marines until the [[Flanking maneuver|right flank]] had been secured D+3.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/Cruisebooks/wwiicruisebooks/specials-cruisebooks/17%20Special.pdf |title=17th Special NCB cruisebook |website=NHHC |pages=29, 30 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1431 |title=Seabees of 17th Special Naval Construction Battalion wait to assist wounded of 7th Marines |website=World War II Database |access-date=18 October 2017 |archive-date=15 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815100834/http://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1431 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1429 |title=African-American Marines of 16th Field Depot Rest on Peleliu |website=World War II Database |access-date=18 October 2017 |archive-date=15 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315222635/http://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1429 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicperiodicals.princeton.edu/historic/cgi-bin/historic?a=d&d=MarineCorpsChevron19441202-01.2.34&e=-------en-20--1--txt-IN-----|title=Marine Corps Chevron 2 December 1944 — Historical Periodicals|website=historicperiodicals.princeton.edu|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref><ref>Peleliu, 33rd Seabee Cruise-book, p.23, Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme, CA. 2024 [https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/Cruisebooks/wwiicruisebooks/ncb-cruisebooks/33rd%20NCB%2C%201943-1945.pdf]</ref> There is nothing comparable in USMC history. According to the Military History Encyclopedia on the Web, "were it not for the Black Marine shore party---the (banzai) on the 7th Marines would not have been repulsed".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_peleliu.html|title=Peleliu, battle for (Operation Stalemate II) - The Pacific War's Forgotten Battle, September-November 1944|website=www.historyofwar.org|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref>
* On Peleliu, shore party detachments from the 33rd and 73rd CBs received Presidential Unit Citations as did the primary shore party (1st Marine Pioneers).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/n/navy-mc-awards-manual-rev1953/pt2-unit-awards.html|title=Pt. 2 - Unit Awards|website=NHHC|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> The Commander of the 17th Special CB received the same commendatory letter as the Company Commanders of the 7th Marine Ammunition Co. and the 11th Marine Depot Co. Before the battle was even over, [[William H. Rupertus|Maj. Gen. Rupertus, USMC]] wrote to each: {{blockquote|text="The [[Negro|negro race]] can well be proud of the work performed [by the 11th Marine Depot Co./ 7th Marine Ammunition Co./ 17th Special CB]. The wholehearted co-operation and untiring efforts which demonstrated in every respect that they appreciated the privilege of wearing a Marine uniform and serving with the marines in combat. Please convey to your command these sentiments and inform them that in the eyes of the entire division they have earned a 'well done'."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003132-00/sec10.htm|title=The Right to Fight: African-American Marines in World War II (Peleliu and Iwo Jima)|website=www.nps.gov|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=arI0HSFXwLkC&dq=commendation+letter+16th+Marine+Field+Depot+on+Peleliu&pg=PA480|title=African Americans at War: An Encyclopedia|first=Jonathan|last=Sutherland|date=May 11, 2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781576077467 |accessdate=May 11, 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Department of the Navy made an official press release 28 November 1944 of the 17th CB's copy of this letter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/Cruisebooks/wwiicruisebooks/specials-cruisebooks/17%20Special.pdf |title=17th Special NCB cruisebook |website=NHHC |page=29 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>}}
* African American Seabees<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/04/building-for-a-nation-and-for-equality-african-american-seabees-in-world-war-ii/|title=The Sextant, Building for a Nation and for Equality: African American Seabees in World War II – 4 March 2014, Dr. Frank A. Blazich Jr., U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, NHHC|accessdate=May 11, 2022|archive-date=6 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506035342/http://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/04/building-for-a-nation-and-for-equality-african-american-seabees-in-world-war-ii/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://seabeemuseum.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/breaking-down-barriers-the-34th-naval-construction-battalion/|title=Breaking Down Barriers: The 34th Naval Construction Battalion|date=February 7, 2018|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref>

===Seabee North Slope Oil Exploration 1944===
[[File:Winterized wildcat Seabee 1 in NPR 4,at Umiat, Alaska.jpg|thumb|Winterized [[Wildcat well|wildcat]] Seabee#1 at Umiat]]

Construction Battalion Detachment (CBD) 1058 was formed from "screening Camp Peary and the NCF for [[geologist]]s, [[petroleum engineer]]s, [[driller (oil)|oil drillers]], [[tool pusher]]s, [[roustabout]]s and [[roughneck]]s" and later designated 1058.<ref name="NPR4">[https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0301/report.pdf Exploration of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 and Adjacent Areas Northern Alaska, 1944–53 Part 1, History of the Exploration By John C. Reed, CDR, USNR, Geological Survey Professional Paper 301 Prepared and published at the request of and in cooperation with the U. S. Dept. of the Navy, Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves, US GPO, Washington: 1958, pp. 4, 23]</ref><ref name="CBD1058">{{cite web| url = https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/Cruisebooks/wwiicruisebooks/cbd-cruisebooks/1058%20%20CBD.pdf| title = ComIcePac, CBD 1058, 1945, Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme, CA}}</ref> Additional personnel were chosen for their [[arctic]] experience with CBs 12 and 66.<ref name="NPR4"/> They mustered at Camp Lee Stephenson for Operation Pet 4. Congress put $1,000,000 aside to wildcat for oil in U.S. Navy Petroleum Reserve No. 4 (NPR-4) in 1944. NPR-4 had been created and placed in the [[Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves|oil reserve]] in 1923.<ref name="NPR4"/> Today NPR-4 is the [[National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska]]. The detachment's mission was:
* Do a detailed geologic study at Umiat and [[Smith Bay|Cape Simpson]]
* Drill test and core holes
* Drill a deep well
* Do complete aerial and overland [[Pipeline transport|pipeline]] surveys for NPR 4.<ref name="NPR4"/>
* Build a base camp with a runway at Point Barrow
* Build field camp runways at Umiat and [[Bettles, Alaska|Bettles]]

On July 19 the [[USS Spica|USS ''Spica'']] headed north with the [[List of Liberty ships (Je–L)|SS ''Jonathan Harrington'']] for [[Point Barrow]] and [[Cape Simpson]]. The det's base camp was constructed at [[Point Barrow]]. Four [[Caterpillar D8|D-8]]s with twenty sleds of supplies were prepped for the 330-mile trek to Umiat once the [[tundra]] had frozen.<ref name="Kiska">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Building_Bases/bases-23.html|title=HyperWar: Building the Navy's Bases in World War II [Chapter 23]|website=www.ibiblio.org|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> The first tractor train delivered supplies, the second, heavy well equipment.<ref name="Kiska"/> The D8s would make eight trips total. When summer arrived a wildcat was drilled to 1,816' before the cold shut down operations. The hole was designated [[Oil wells#By purpose|Seabee#1]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://certmapper.cr.usgs.gov/data/pubarchives/of00-200/WELLS/SEABEE1/SE1DOC.HTM|title=Dept. of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Selected Data from Fourteen Wildcat Wells in the NPR in Alaska, USGS Open File Report 00-200, Wildcat Well Seabee 1, Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Central Region Energy Resources Team, Denver, CO|accessdate=May 11, 2022|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211005952/https://certmapper.cr.usgs.gov/data/PubArchives/OF00-200/WELLS/SEABEE1/SE1DOC.HTM|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was near four known [[petroleum seep|seeps]] at [[Umiat]] in the very south-east of NPR 4.<ref name="NPR4"/><ref name="Kiska"/> The rock strata there was from the [[Upper Cretaceous]] and a [[stratum]] of it was named the "Seabee Formation".<ref name="Geolog">[http://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/dggs/pir/text/pir2008_001.pdf Div. of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Preliminary Interpretive Report 2008-1, Preliminary Results Of Recent Geologic Field Investigations in the Brooks Range Foothills and North Slope, Alaska by Marwan A. Wartes and Paul L. Decker, March 2008, Released by State of Alaska, Dept. of Natural Resources, Div. of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, Fairbanks, AK.]</ref> On the coast the Seabees drilled test holes at Cape Simpson and Point Barrow.<ref>[https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0301/report.pdf Exploration of the Petroleum Reserve No. 4 and Adjacent Areas, Northern Alaska 1944–53, Part 1, History of the Exploration, John C. Reed, Cdr, CEC, Geological Survey Professional Paper 301, U.S. Gov. Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1958, pp. 21–46 ]</ref> Once the runways were completed additional supplies were flown in. In March 1946 civilians took over the project. Some Seabees of CBD 1058 were hired immediately upon discharge to continue doing the work they had been doing"<ref name="Geolog"/> The Navy applied the cold weather experience from CBD 1058 for [[Operation Highjump]] and [[Operation Deep Freeze]]. Seabee #1 remains a [[USGS]] monitor well today.<ref>[https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/PublicRoom_Alaska_Legacy_Wells_Summary_Report_2004.pdf Alaska Legacy Wells Summary Report:NPR Alaska, Rob Brumbaugh, Stan Porhola, BLM/AK/ST-05/004+2360+941, November 2004, U.S. Dept. of Interior Bureau of Land Management ]</ref>

'''Land surveys'''

Twice the Seabees have been tasked with large-scale land surveys. The first was done by CBD 1058 for a proposed NPR 4 pipeline route to Fairbanks. The [[Trans-Alaska Pipeline System|Trans-Alaskan pipeline]] follows a portion of their survey from roughly the [[Arctic Circle]] to Fairbanks. The second would be done by a Seabee team from MCB 10. They went to Vietnam in 1956 to survey and map the existing [[road network]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Koejt5WIaFAC&dq=Seabee+team+1956+survey+of+Vietnam+roads&pg=PA16|title=Southeast Asia: Building the Bases: The History of Construction in Southeast Asia|first=Richard|last=Tregaskis|date=May 11, 1975|publisher=U.S. Navy Seabee Museum|accessdate=May 11, 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref> That survey was extensively used during the [[Vietnam War]].

'''Malaria and Epidemic Control Group'''

[[Bureau of Medicine and Surgery|Navy Medicine]] created the Malaria and Epidemic Control Group to deal with insect-borne diseases. Between August 1942, and February 1943, American troops in the Pacific averaged 10 [[malaria]] cases for every combat injury. Seabees oiled, drained and sprayed mosquito breeding areas and inspected and fumigated ships and aircraft transiting malaria-infested areas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmrc/Pages/NMRD.aspx|title=News Releases, R & D Chronicles - The Mosquito Fighters, Part VIII: Malaria Control in the Pacific War, BUMED, Naval Medical Research and Development Enterprise Laboratories, André B. Sobocinski Released: 11/18/2016|accessdate=May 11, 2022|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118005725/https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmrc/Pages/NMRD.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was an important task that absolutely needed to be done in order for the United States to field an effective combat force. On Guadalcanal the 63rd CB had malaria control as its primary task.<ref>[https://archive.today/20121212033725/http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/Malaria/chapterVIII.htm Malaria Control, Chapt. 8, Office of Medical History, U.S.Army Medical Department, P.A. Harper MD, W.C. Downs MD, P.W. Downs MD, N.D. Levine MD.]</ref> At Gulfport a school was established to train Battalions for the Malaria and Epidemic Control Group.