Editing Seabee (section)

===Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT)s===
[[File:Seabee Demolition UDT 3.jpg|thumb|Seabees in both UDT 3 and 4 made signs to greet the Marines assaulting Guam. Lt. Crist confiscated this sign.<ref name="Fane"/> However, Team 4 was able to leave theirs on the beach for the Marines to see that the Seabees had been there first.]]
[[File:Lt Luehrs CO UDT 3.jpg|thumb|Lt Luehrs was one of the 30 Officers from the 7th NCR that Lt. Crist staged for UDTs 1 & 2. He and Chief Acheson were the first UDT swimmers.]]
[[File:Charp W. H. Acheson CEC.jpg|thumb|Carp. W. H. Acheson Silver Star ceremony for UDT 1 action at Engibi where he stripped down to swim trunks and did reconnaissance in broad daylight on a hostile beach becoming a role model of UDTs being swimmers.]]
[[File:80-G-244701 Lt Crist, Lt Cmdr. Kauffman, and Lt Carberry awards.jpg|thumb|Lt. Crist(CEC), Lt. Cmdr. Kaufmann, and Lt. Carberry right to left at Silver and bronze stars awards]]

Prior to [[Operation Galvanic]] and Tarawa, V Amphibious Corps had identified [[coral]] as an issue for future [[amphibious operations]]. RADM [[Richmond K. Turner|Kelly Turner]], commander V Amphibious Corps had ordered a review to get a grip on the problem. VAC found that the only people having any applicable experience with the material were men in the Naval Construction Battalions. Lt. Thomas C. Crist, of CB 10, was in Pearl Harbor from [[Canton Island]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.viewoftherockies.com/UDT1andUDT2.html|title=UDT1and2|website=www.viewoftherockies.com|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref><ref>UDTs 1 & 2, The Marshall Islands, Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, Eniwetok, U. S. Naval Special Warfare Archives]</ref> where he had been in charge of clearing [[coral|coral heads]]. His being in Pearl Harbor was pivotal in [[Underwater Demolition Team|UDT]] history. While there he learned of the Adm. Turner's interest in coral blasting and met with him. The Admiral tasked Lt. Crist to develop a method for blasting coral under combat conditions and putting together a team to do it.<ref name="UDT Cold"/> Lt. Crist started by getting men from CB 10, but got the remainder from the 7th Construction Regiment.<ref name="CB301">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/seabee/explore/wwii-cruisebooks/cruisebooks-ncb.html|title=Naval Construction Battalions|website=NHHC|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> By 1 December 1943 he had close to 30 officers and 150 enlisted at [[Waipio]] Amphibious Operating Base on Oahu.<ref name="UDT Cold"/>

In November the Navy had a hard lesson with coral and tides at [[invasion of Tarawa|Tarawa]]. It prompted Adm. Turner to request the creation of nine [[Underwater Demolition Teams]] to address those issues.<ref>[https://visitpearlharbor.org/the-underwater-demolition-teams-of-the-pacific/ The Underwater Demolition Teams of the Pacific, Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906165016/https://visitpearlharbor.org/the-underwater-demolition-teams-of-the-pacific/ |date=6 September 2019 }},</ref> Six teams for VAC in the Central Pacific while the other three would go to III Amphibious Corps in the South Pacific. UDTs 1 & 2 were formed from the 180 men Lt. Crist had staged. Seabees make up the majority of the men in teams 1–9, 13 and 15.<ref name="Rockies">{{cite web |url=http://www.viewoftherockies.com/UDTWWII.html |title=The Teams in World War II |website=View of the Rockies |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> How many Seabees were in UDTs 10 and 12 is not listed, for UDT 11 they composed 20% of the team.<ref name="Rockies"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.66145/transcript?ID=sr0001|title=Interview Transcript: Wright S. Travis: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress|website=memory.loc.gov|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref>
UDT officers were mainly CEC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/09/12/this-week-in-seabee-history-week-of-sept-11/ |first=Frank A. |last=Blazich |title=This Week in Seabee History (Week of September 11) |date=12 September 2016 |website=Seabees Online |publisher=NavFac Engineering Command |access-date=18 October 2017 |archive-date=13 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013172300/http://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/09/12/this-week-in-seabee-history-week-of-sept-11/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> UDT 10 had 5 officers and 24 enlisted originally trained as OSS [[Operational Swimmer Groups|Maritime Unit: Operational Swimmer Group II]],<ref name="UDT10">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/oss-in-action-the-pacific-and-the-far-east.htm|title=OSS in Action The Pacific and the Far East (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> but the OSS was not allowed to operate in the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater]]. Adm. Nimitz needed swimmers and approved their transfer from the OSS to his control. The MU men brought with the [[swimfins]] they had trained with and the Seabees made them a part of UDT attire as quickly as the [[Navy Supply Corps|Supply dept]]. could get them.<ref name="UDT10"/> In the Seabee dominated teams the next largest group of UDT volunteers came from the joint Army-Navy [[Scouts and Raiders]] school that was also in Fort Pierce. Additional volunteers came from the [[Explosive ordnance disposal (United States Navy)|Navy's Bomb disposal School]], Marine Corps and U.S. Fleet.<ref name="UDT Cold"/><ref name="Rockies"/>

The first team commanders were Cmdr. E.D. Brewster (CEC) UDT 1 and Lt. Crist (CEC) UDT 2. Both Teams were "provisional" totaling the 180 men Lt Crist had put together from the 7th NCR.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.viewoftherockies.com/UDT1and2.html |title=WWII UDT One & WWII UDT Two |website=View of the Rockies |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="CB301"/> Those men were put through five weeks of training by a [[United States Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion|Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion]]. They wore fatigues, life-vests and were expected to stay in their rubber boats like the NCDUs. At Kwajalein Adm.Turner ordered daylight [[reconnaissance|recon]]. It was apparent to the Seabees that staying in the boats would not get the Admiral the [[military intelligence|intel]] he wanted. Cmdr. Brewester's men all wore swim trucks under their [[Combat uniform|fatigues]]. [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] Lewis F. Luehrs, and Charp. Bill Acheson spent 45 minutes in the water in broad daylight and were the first team members recovered.<ref name="UDT Cold"/> Still wet and in their trunks they reported directly to Adm. Turner. He concluded what they had done was the only way to get accurate intelligence on submerged obstacles and conveyed that opinion to [[Chester Nimitz|Adm. Nimitz]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoyt |first=Edwin P. |title=SEALs at War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fDvNvnMrc1QC&q=seabee+dynamiting+and+demolition+school&pg=PT25 |year=2011 |publisher=Random House Publishing |page=25|isbn=9780307570062 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> At [[Engebi]] Cmdr. Brewster was wounded.<ref name="UDT Cold"/> The success of UDT-1 not following USMC Recon protocol rewrote the UDT mission model and training regimen.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kelly |first=Orr |title=Brave Men, Dark Waters: The Untold Story of the Navy SEALs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3c-1AwAAQBAJ&q=Lewis+F+luehrs&pg=PT30 |date=24 June 2014 |publisher=Open Road Media |page=30 |isbn=9781497645639 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> Ens. Luehrs and Charp. Acheson were each awarded a [[Silver Star]] for their initiative while unintentionally creating the UDT "naked warrior" image.<ref>The Water is Never Cold), James Douglas O'Dell, Brassey's, Dulles, VA, 2001, p. 136</ref> Diving masks were uncommon in 1944 and some men had tried using goggles at Kwajalein.<ref name="Fane1">Naked Warriors, Cdmr. Francis Douglas Fane USNR (Ret.), St. Martin's Press, New York, 1996, p. 828</ref> Diving masks were a rare item in Hawaii so Lt. Crist and CB Chief Howard Roeder had requested supply get them.<ref name="Fane1"/> A fortuitous observation by one of the men spotted a magazine [[advertisement]] for diving masks. A priority dispatch was made to the States that appropriated the store's entire stock.<ref name="Fane1"/> The UDTs adopted goggles independent of the OSS. When UDTs 1 and 2 returned to Hawaii Chief Acheson and three other UDT Officers were transferred to the 301st dredging CB.<ref name="CB301"/> The 301st had 12 dredges saving Teams from blasting channels, but needed divers to get the job done. Ensign Leuhrs made Lt. and was a member of UDT 3 until he was made XO of team 18. Commander Brewster's purple heart got him out of the UDTs and elevated to Commander 7th NCR instead of back to CB 10.

Adm. Turner also requested the formation of a Demolition Training Center at [[Kihei]]. It was approved. The actions of UDT 1 provided the training model, making UDT training distinctly different from Fort Pierce's NCDU program. Lt. Crist was briefly the first training officer and emphasized swimming and recon until he was made CO of UDT 3. When UDT 3 returned from Leyte in the fall of 1944 it became the school instructors with Lt. Crist again OIC of training.<ref name="Rockies"/> The classes now included: [[Night operations (military)|night ops]], weapons, [[bivouacking]], small [[Military tactics|unit tactics]], along with coral and [[lava]] blasting. In April 1945, team 3 was sent to Fort Priece to instruct there. Lt. Crist was promoted to Lt. Cmdr. and sent back to Kihei. Team 3 would train teams 12–22.<ref name="Rockies"/> UDT 14 is called the first "all fleet team" even though it had Seabees from Team Able and the CO and XO were both CEC. UDT 15 was the last team formed of NCDUs. Teams 12–15 were sent to Iwo Jima. Three cleared the shoreline for five days, D+2-D+7. After July 1944 new UDTs were only USN. In 1945, CBMU 570 was tasked to the UDT coldwater training center at ATB Oceanside, CA.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/UnitListPages/CBMU/CBMU%20570.pdf|title=CBMU 570 Records, Seabee Museum Archives, Port Hueneme, CA|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref>

On Guam team 8 requested permission to build a base.<ref name="UDT8">{{Cite web|url=http://www.viewoftherockies.com/UDT8.html|title=UDT8|website=www.viewoftherockies.com|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> It was approved by AdComPhibsPac, but disapproved by Island Command.<ref name="UDT8"/> Team 8 turned to the CBs on the island and got everything needed.<ref name="UDT8"/> Coral paving got placed the night before Admiral Nimitz inspected, giving teams 8 & 10 a glowing review.<ref name="UDT8"/>

By V-J day 34 teams had been formed.
Teams 1–21 saw actual deployment with the Seabees providing over half of the men in those teams. The Navy did not publicize the existence of the UDTs until post-war and when they did they gave credit to Lt. Cmdr. Kauffman and the Seabees.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah194510.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617175403/http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah194510.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 June 2015|title=Underwater Demolition, "All Hands", The Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, October 1945, NAVPERS-0 Number 343 pp. 12–15|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> During World War II the Navy did not have a rating for the UDTs nor did they have an insignia. Those men with the CB rating on their uniforms considered themselves Seabees that were doing underwater demolition. They did not call themselves "UDTs" or "[[Frogmen]]", but rather "Demolitioneers"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://navysealmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/6A9D1E48-3FAE-48BC-94F3-951428987292|title=2018.0033.2 - B&W photo of NCDU216, Morrow's Demolitioneers in combat uniforms. These men became part of WWII UDT-15 &#124; UDT-SEAL Museum Association|website=navysealmuseum.pastperfectonline.com|accessdate=May 11, 2022}}</ref> reflecting where Lt. Cmdr. Kauffman had recruited them from, the CB dynamiting and demolition school.

UDTs had to be of standard recruiting age, Seabees older could not volunteer. Mid-year 1945, in preparation for the cooler waters around Japan, a cold water training center was created. With it came a more demanding [[physical examination|physical]]. Team 9 lost 70% of the team to this change.

Postwar, MCB 7 was tasked with projects at the UDT training facility on [[St. Thomas, Virgin Islands]]

see Notes