Consolidated by Dr. Frank A. Blazich Jr., Historian, Naval History and Heritage Command
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Port Hueneme, California, April 1944. Two years earlier on July 15, the 7th Naval Construction Battalion left Advance Base Depot, Port Hueneme, for San Francisco, the first battalion to stage through this location. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum)
July7
1968: Cmdr. L.D. Lawson, CEC, relieved Cmdr. R.B. Wilson, CEC, for NMCB 7.
2009: NMCB 11 presented the battalion colors at Camp Mitchell, Rota, Spain, reestablishing the base after closing down Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
2011: Cmdr. James (Gordie) Meyer, CEC, relieved Cmdr. Jayson Mitchell, CEC, as commanding officer of NMCB 7 during a change of command ceremony at Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi.
July8
1945: The 50th NCR was commissioned.
2016: Cmdr. James Cho, CEC, relieved Cmdr. Jeffrey Lengkeek, CEC,as commanding officer of NMCB 4 during a
change of command ceremony aboard Camp Shields in Okinawa, Japan.
July9
1942: The 12th NCB was commissioned at Camp Bradford, Norfolk, Virginia.
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1943: Seabees with Construction Battalion Detachment 1006 crossing the Mediterranean onboard LST 388 taking part in the Sicilian Invasion. Causeways that aided the troops ashore can be seen as they are strapped alongside the LST. Pontoons and causeways, a new invention at the time which had yet to be tested in wartime efforts, were about to make their debut in the Atlantic Theater. This was the first use of causeways in war and showed there versatility and indispensability in amphibious landings. CBD 1006 also took part in the Normandy Invasion in June 1944. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy Seabee Museum)
1967: At a dedication ceremony, the NMCB 9 campsite was named in honor of Utilitiesman Plumber 2
nd Class James Miller, who was mortally wounded on February 6, 1967.
July10
1943:The Seabees introduced their secret weapon on the beaches of Sicily: the famed magic boxes, steel pontoon sections which revolutionized the strategy of amphibious warfare. The German and Italian defenders were dug in along the northern coastline of Sicily where the best beaches were located. There was only one thing wrong with the German strategy. They had not heard of the new development for joining pontoons to form invasion causeways. Capt. John N. Laycock, CEC, developed a method to join pontoons together by angle iron and bolting pads so that a string of these connected pontoons became a solid structure of cantilevered integrity. OnJuly 10, 1943the Allied armada appeared off the southern coast between Scoglitti and Licata, and sent infantry ashore across long strings of steel pontoons. Other pontoon structures constructed by the Seabees included the rhino ferry and the landing tug. Each was made by simply putting together a couple dozen pontoons and an outboard motor.
1945:The 6th Special Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) inactivated at Oahu, Hawaii.
1951: Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5 was activated.
1958:When dissident elements in Lebanon threatened to overthrow the government of that country, the U.S. 6
th Fleet cruising in the Mediterranean was sent to Beirut to establish and maintain order, at the request of the Lebanese government. Seabees of Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 2 attached to the fleet participated in the action with their pontoon causeways when U.S. Marines landed, and again when the Marines re-embarked several months later. The men of ACB 2 not only participated in the landings, but the battalions Beach Salvage Teams also reclaimed broached boats and swamped vehicles, and improved beaches and roads. In addition, the Seabees in Lebanon built a road from the beaches to the Beirut airport.
July11
1944:ACORN 10 was decommissioned. (Used during World War II, an ACORN was a tailored unit designed to carry out the rapid construction and subsequent operation of a landplane and seaplane advance base. 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, berthing and messing facilities. A Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) also accompanied each ACORN to maintain the base after the initial construction was completed and the construction battalion had been withdrawn. During the war, ACORNs were sent to such places at Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Green Island, Rendova, Treasury Island and Majuro.)
1945:The 73rd NCB was inactivated on Peleliu.
July12
1966:NMCB 4 advance party departed Chu Lai for the continental U.S. (CONUS).
1968:Capt. Charles C. Heid, Civil Engineer Corps (CEC), relieved Cmdr. Paul R. Gates, CEC, as commander, 21st Naval Construction Regiment (NCR).
1968:NMCB 3 relieved NMCB 121 at Camp Faulkner, Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam (RVN).
1972:Camp Hill, an advanced base training camp, was dedicated in honor of the late Capt. James M. Hill Jr., CEC. The camp is situated on a 575-acre plot of land under lease to the Navy in the DeSoto National Forest, 15 miles north of the Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Gulfport, Mississippi. Hill was a former commanding officer of the Center.
July 12-20, 1968:NMCB 3 main body arrived at Camp Faulkner, RVN, by government aircraft.
2010: Cmdr. La Tanya Simms, CEC, relieved Cmdr. Dean Vanderley, CEC, as commanding officer, NMCB 4, at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Deh Dadi II, Afghanistan.
2013: Capt. Eric Aaby, CEC, relieved Capt. Richard Whipple III, CEC, as commanding officer of ACB 1 at Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California.
July13
1942:The 13th and 14th NCBs were commissioned at Camp Allen, Norfolk, Virginia.
1965:NMCB 7 boarded USNS
General Simon B. Buckner in Davisville, Rhode Island, and arrived in Rota, Spain, 13 days later.
1968:Seabee Team 5801 deployed from Chau Phu to Camp Haskins North, Da Nang, RVN.