seabees revised

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U.S. Navy Seabees

During World War II

Can Do

J. David Rogers



ADM Ben Moreell was Chief ofthe Navy’s Bureau of Yards andDocks and the Civil EngineeringCorps. He was promoted in1937, skipping the rank of

CaptainBSCE degree from WashingtonUniversity in St Louis in 1913

and commissioned as a LTJG inthe Navy CE Corps in 1917,during World War I. He servedin the Azores with Navy Under-

secretary Franklin Roosevelt

He attended École Nationaledes Ponts et Chaussées in

France in 1932-33, as a LCDR Admiral Ben Moreell (1892-1978) was Chief o f the Navy’sBureau of Yards & Docks and of the Civil Engineering Corps



BuDocks developed warplans in the 1930s which

envisioned a massivebuild-up of Navyconstruction battalions

Moreell requestedactivation of these warplans in Dec 1941, after theattack on Pearl Harbor.

The first battalion wasformed in Jan 1942, andinitial Seabee deploymentsbegan in March 1942

258,000 officers and menserved in the Seabeesduring World War II

80% of these forces servedin the Pacific Theater

Moreell was promoted to VADMin 1944 and was the first staffcorps officer and the first

Jewish American to attain 4-starrank in the Navy in June 1946.



Navy Recruits “ Cream of the Heavy

Construction Industry”Personnel had prior experience with projects like:

Boulder Dam

National HighwaysNew York Skyscrapers

Mines, Quarries, and Subway Tunnels

Ship Yards, Docks, Wharfs, even Aircraft Carriers

Experience Comes with age (average age 37)

Battalions Designed to be:“ Completely equipped and self-sustaining able to

construct airfields, roads, bridges, and buildings at an

advance base and to install operate and maintain itspublic uti lities.”



350 Seabee units

were formed duringthe Second WorldWar, many fromexisting heavy

construction firmsacross the USA

They were provided

with mili tarytraining anddiscipline,including basic useof weapons, shownhere.

Military

Training



First projects were construction of patrol base facil itiesin Iceland and construction of graving docks at PearlHarbor, critical to the war effortThe first Naval construction battalion, the Bobcats,were deployed on 5 Mar 1942 and the NCB was officially

named “ Seabees”Their motto was “ Construimus, Butuimus”

Birth of

theSeabees

early

1942



The romanticimage ofSeabees

appealed toconstructionworkers, who

were eager tocontribute to thewar effort in a

worthwhile way -overseas



•

Moreell posed the idea for Seabee construction battalions to bedrawn from the ranks of civi lian heavy construction firms in hisinitial proposal, in late 1941. Construction trade and labor unionswere dubious of the concept. Seabees were the highest paid group

in the military and fought in every theatre of WWII• Crucial in Pacif ic island hopping during World War II



Roles in the Atlantic in WWIIPanama CanalPuerto Rico- “ Pearl Harbor of the Caribbean”North AfricaLandings at SicilyD-Day: Demo units

Pontoon CausewaysHarbor Restoration



Seabee Unit

Compositions



During World War II350,000 men served inthe Seabees

There were 151 NavalConstructionBattalions (NCBs) and39 special battalions;each comprised ofseasoned workers.

The average age of aSeabee was 37 years



164 Special Detachments- Anything from tirerepair shops to Quarrying

Most units were capable of constructing pontooncauseways, roads, bases, airfields and wharf facilities



The Navy also formed 136 SeabeeMaintenance Battalions

Repairing Marston Mats (PSP) at Henderson Field onGuadalcanal



39 Special (stevedore) Battalions



5 Pontoon Assembly Detachments



Each Seabee unit had its own surveyors



Seabees also built their own floating

dry docks –



THE NAVY’S

UBIQUITOUSSTEELPONTOONS

(Naval Lighterage)



Origins of the Seabee’s

Steel Pontoons

Captain Laycock invites Admiral Moreell to leanon a cigar-box model of a string of pontoons.

• A better way to bridge the gap from ship to shorewas needed, known as Naval Lighterage, or simply“N.L.”

• Idea came from a report written in 1935, followed byobservations of segmented steel pontoonssupport ing the gold dredge Yuba, buil t by BethlehemSteel in California in 1937, for shipping to a remotesite.

• Captain John Laycock began experimenting withcigar boxes and kite sticks in 1940-41.

At left: In September 1941,

the first segmented steelpontoons were deliveredto the Navy at davisvil le,along with the requisite“ attachment jewelry,”

(shown at r ight) used toconnect the units.

Wedge, bol t, and nutattachment employedbetween pontoon cornersand angle stiffeners



The ubiquitous

T-6 box Pontoon

Tapered Type 7pontoons wereattached to the ends of

pontoon barges,intended to navigatethrough open water.

The T-6 displaced 175 cubic feet Couldfloat in 1.5 ft of water Each pontoon could support about 5.5

tons through buoyancy

The standard Type 6pontoon boxes were 5 ft x7 ft x 5 ft. These were

shipped flat, thenassembled in-theater.

Link pin beingdriven into topangles connecting

adjacent strings ofpontoons

Link pin (left) andlink (right), intowhich it was driven

Breech Plug sp lices used to jo in adjacent angle st if feners

“ Pontoon strings” were fabricatedby employing steel angle stif fenersalong each corner.



7-12-7 tugboat (shown above and

at bottom left) was assembledfrom Type 6 and Type 7 steelpontoons, with two 1-AT marine

tractor motors for propulsion



Outboard Motors for

pontoon barges• The Navy used the world’slargest outboard motors; eitherGeneral Motors O2D or Gray-Marine diesels, generating 350 HP.These were about the size of alarge tractor engine.

• The propeller shaft could berotated and turned upward, asshown here. This helped tofacilitate clearance in shallow

water and allow on-boardmaintenance of the props, shouldthey get damaged or fouled. Thisproved to be a wise precaution in

wartime, when uncharted sunkendebris was a daily hazard.



Pontoon

BargesForward deployedPontoon

Detachments withinthe NCBs usuallyassembled the

pontoons, whichwere shipped flat onfreighters to save

cargo spaceThis shows 3 x 7pontoon barges,

commonly used aslighters, in-theater



Pontoon Barges and Lighters

• Pontoons were often usedas offloading lighters; they

could haul tons of suppliesashore quickly

• Able to navigate in very

shallow water

• In this view members ofthe 4th Special StevedoreBattalion unload drums ofgasoline and diesel fuelfrom a cargo ship onto a

pontoon barge atGuadalcanal.



The Navy’s Advance Base Proving Ground at Davisville, RhodeIsland was established in the spring of 1942. This facilitydeveloped and experimented with the steel pontoons that were

used in by Allied forces in the European, Middle Eastern, andPacific Theaters.



PontoonDrydocks

Pontoons were configured ina variety of combinations toconstruct in-theaterdrydocks, like those shownhere.

P t



Pontoon

Drydocks intheater

• Drydocks are crucial to hull,shaft, and rudder

maintenance and repair.•Lifted ships out of the waterso that they could be repaired

• Lower Left: A small pontoondry dock being used to effectmaintenance on a PT boat at

Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands

Standard 7 x 30 pontoondry dock; the mostcommonly used in thePacific Theater



6 x 12 pontoon seaplane barge, carrying aMartin PBM Mariner patrol bomber

Standard pontoon warping barge, used toassemble larger pontoon barge assemblies

6 x 12 pontoon seaplane barge underway,without seaplane. Note ramp at one end.

Load tests on two self-propelled 3 x 1250-ton barges, their maximum capacity



• 36 Rhino Ferries were assembledfrom steel pontoons. They 42 ft wide

and 176 ft long and fitted with a 14 by20 ft loading ramp

• They could carry 600 tons ofmaterial, about half the cargo load ofan LST (Landing Ship Tank)

•Used by the British and Americans inthe Normandy D-Day landings

• Advantage: could float in shallowerwater than an LST

Rhino Ferries

A rhino ferry carrying truckloads of supplies and equipment, heads for one ofthe Normandy beaches.

Rhino Ferries were powered by Grey-Marine350 HP outboard motors, the largest ever made

P t T



Above: “ Pontoon Tows” were enormousbarges that were towed to landing beaches, toform landing causeways.

Left: triple pontoon “ teeth,” which wereemployed to conjoin adjacent tows, andthereby extend the causeways

Pontoon Tows



Boot Causeways

Boot causeways were assembled from pontoons to allow large landingcraft, such as LCTs, LCIs, LSMs, and LSTs to offload their equipment welloffshore, and tapered platforms known as “ blisters,” shown here.

Close-up of an LSM unloading onto theboot causeway blister shown at right

Pontoon landing



Pontoon landingcauseways

Assembly protocols were developed by theSeabee pontoon assembly detachmentsduring the war to accommodate

increasingly sophisticated landingcauseway systems to effect more rapidunloading of amphibious assault vessels.

An LST is guided tothe end of a tapered‘landing boot’ by

LCM and LCVPlanding craft, whilean LCI unloads itscargo on theopposite boot

blister (1945)

Above: An LSM is coaxed into pos it ion on a tapered

pontoon ‘boot b lister,’ whi le an LCT is being unloadedon the opposing blister.



Project Sock -1943

The most ambitious pontoon craft of the war was the mobile floating airfield shown here, code-named“ Project Sock.” After testing this concept was deemed impractical to handle sustained pounding bywave action that could expected in forward deployed areas of the Pacif ic.

S lf ll d li h b i l



Self-propelled lighter barges were crucialto the logistical support crit ical toamphibious operations. This view shows

lighters at IeShima, Okinawa in April 1945.



Segmented

steel boxpontoons wereused as lighters

and strungtogether as aloading wharffor an LSTduring theinvasion ofGuam in June

1944

Pontoon

lighters

60 t M bil C h i ti t



60-ton Mobile Crane hoisting pontooncauseways onto an LST

A huge crane on a pontoon barge, ishoist ing a pontoon causeway to lash it tothe side of an LST.

Cutting a pontoon causeway loose from thestarboard side of an LST, prior to deploymentat the beachhead



In the Pacific Theater, coral reefs preventedthe deeper draft landing vessels frombeaching.

By mid 1944 most Pacific-based LSTs werefit ted with two pre-assembled 2 x 30pontoon causeways, lashed to the side ofthe vessels, as shown at left.

These were then used to allow the LST tounload their cargoes directly onto thebeach, as shown above.

P t t i



Pontoon stringswere even

employed ashighway bridges

A 3 x 18 pontoon bargewas placed on timberpil ings over the UpperLunga River onGuadalcanal to createa temporary highway

bridge, after thewooden trestlestructure was

destroyed by floods inMay 1944.

Pontoon



Pontoon

stockpiles Dozens of sub-

contractors

produced theubiquitous Type 6steel pontoonsshown here at Port

Hueneme, whichwere 5 x 7 x 5 ft

Each pontoon

weighed 2000 lbsand were shippedflat, thenassembled onsite



SEABEES

WERE

RENOWN ASINNOVATORS



Floating Filling Station

During the assault onTinian Atoll in the MariannaIslands, Seabees of the302nd Battalion operatedpontoon barges as fil lingstations to refuelamphibious alligators

(Amtracs fitted with speciallanding ramps)



INNOVATION:One of 10 “ doodlebug”landing ramps built bythe Seabees mountedon an Amtracs

The Seabees fashionedthese ramps from scrapsteel taken out of aJapanese Sugar Mill onSaipan.

They allowed Marine Amtracs to scale the 8-foot high clif fs along theWhite Beach landing zone

on Tinian Island, shown atright



Clearing Jungles

A Seabee uses a special jigframe used to uproot coconutpalm trees.

Men of the 6th Naval

Construction Battalion layingMarston Mat (PSP) atHenderson Field onGuadalcanal.



Bridge Repairs

On Okinawa an army truckrolls across a batteredJapanese bridge

temporarily repaired by theSeabees with logs andcoral fill .

Men from the 7th Battalionassemble the tower of a pile

driver for use in constructionwork on Okinawa.



A Cumshaw Pile Driver

Seabees of the 14th NavalConstruction Battalion use apile driver and heavy timbersto build a sturdy highwaybridge across a river onGuadalcanal in the SolomonIslands.

“ Cumshaw” is a nautical termfor the procurement of neededmaterial outside the supplychain, usually by swapping,

barter, or mutual back-scratching. Often involvedbartering with coffee or otherfood items. Officially frowned

upon.



Cumshaw Washing Machine

A Seabee on a Pacificisland loads his

“ cumshaw” washingmachine. The clothes gointo the drum, which is

then placed on the plankunder the tower. As thewindmill spins, the plunger— an inverted funnel—

goes up and down to sloshthe clothes about in thewater.

Scrounging a flagpole for



Scrounging a flagpole forthe Marines at Iwo Jima

At the summit of Mt.Suribachi on Iwo

Jima, U.S. Marinesand a Navy corpsmanhastily tie an

American flag to thetop of a steel flagpole hastily

fashioned by theSeabees for theoccasion.



ROAD

CONSTRUCTION

Roads Across Mangrove



Roads Across MangroveSwamps and Rivers

Roadway after draining and fill ing



Roadway after draining and fill ing

of the swamp

C



Road Construction

M i Th t



Movie Theatres

When the urgentconstruction work was

finished, Seabeesfrequently built open airtheatres in their camp

areas.Here is one of thetheaters they constructedon the island ofGuadalcanal in theSolomon Islands.



Pipelines



TYPICAL

AIRFIELD

CONSTRUCTIONin World War II



Day 1



Day 4



Day 6



Day 8



Runway Subgrade Compaction

Sheepsfoot rollers packdown coral fil l for anairf ield runway

A 107th Battalion road gradersmoothes out a hardstand for oneof the giant B-29 airdromes on

Tinian Atoll.



Setting off demo charges in coral reef to

allow collection of live coral for pavingairstrips



Tracked shovel excavating live coral for

use as pervious runway paving onairfields and roads.



Day 12



Seabee pontoons rigged as sprinklertanks to irrigate live coral with seawater

for runway construction on Okinawa.



Day 14



Completed coral runway supporting long

range Army Air Corps B-24 bombers

The World’s Largest Airdrome



The World s Largest Airdrome

Seabee trucks on Tinian Atoll

deposit their load of crushedcoral.

North Field with three of its

four 8,500 ft long runways,parking aprons, hardstands,quarters for aircrews androadways.

R l i th P ifi i WWII



Roles in the Pacific in WWIIBora BoraGuadalcanal (First construction in combat)KwajaleinGuam

Aleutian Islandsetc

111 Major Airstrips

441 Piers

2258 Ammo Magazines

and more…

Seabees furnished the pole for the flag raising atop Mt Suribachi

It was said of the Seabees: They are soldiers in sailors



It was said of the Seabees: They are soldiers in sailors

uniform, with marine training, doing civilian work at

WPA wages

Nothing New under the sun –



gSeabees at work today

Playing Santa for kids then and now



Playing Santa for kids- then and now



Building

schools

Di i ildlif



Discovering wildlife

CONCLUSION



CONCLUSION

“ The only trouble with your Seabees is that

I do not have enough of them.”Gen MacArthur’s remark to Admiral Moreell

Australia 1944



A Proud Heritage

References



References1 of 2

Navy Department, Bureau of Yards and Docks.Building the Navy’s Bases in WWII, v. 1, GPO,1947.

Castillo, Edmund L. The Seabees of World WarII. New York: Random House, 1963.

Cruise Book for Advanced Base ConstructionDepot, Navy 2305: The Admirality Islands,Compiled under the direction of William W.Olmstead, Officer in Charge: 1945.

Seabees at FT Leonard Wood. U.S. Army. 19min. 56 sec. PIN 711014, 1997. Videocassette.

References



References2 of 2

Alan Goldstein. U.S. Navy-The Seabees. 5 December2001.

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/personnel/seabees/seabee1.html (9 December 2002)

SuBee Enterprises. Seabee Journal: Newsletters

From the Pacific. 1997.http://www.subee.com/seabee/home.html (9December 2002)

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/personnel/seabees/seabee1.html


http://www.subee.com/seabee/home.html

http://www.subee.com/seabee/home.html



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