Consolidated by U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, Naval History and Heritage Command
To learn more abou the baby named after the Seabee's, please visit the article from the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum here.
October 1989
An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude shook the San Francisco Bay Area on 17 Oct. Both civilian communities and Navy facilities in the area suffered heavy damage. Following the earthquake, Seabees from Construction Battalion Unit 416 at the Naval Air Station, Alameda; and Construction Battalion Unit 421 from Mare Island began providing immediate disaster relief. The following day Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3's Air Detachment arrived on the scene, and convoys of men and equipment from Construction Battalion Unit 406 at the Naval Air Station, Lemoore; and Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 in San Diego, set out to bring relief to the bay area. Disaster relief was provided to both damaged naval and civilian facilities in the area. The latter effort included helping to outfit Federal Emergency Management Administration offices and bringing warehouses in San Francisco up to habitable standards for those left homeless by the earthquake.
October 25
1945: 6th NCB inactivated. 11th Special NCB inactivated at Okinawa.
1963: U.S. Naval Ship Missile Systems Engineering Station officially dedicated at CBC Port Hueneme, California.
1967: Main body of NMCB 71 arrived at Davisville, Rhode Island from Chu Lai, RVN.
October 26
1966: Capt. Greer A. Busbee, Jr., relieved Capt. Spencer R. Smith as commander, Atlantic Fleet Naval Construction Battalions; NMCB 1 main body left Da Nang, RVN for Davisville, Rhode Island by C-141 aircraft via Japan and Alaska.
2012: Rear Adm. Katherine (Kate) L. Gregory assumed duties as commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) and chief of Civil Engineers, the first woman in Navy history to hold either position.
October 27
1943: During the invasion of Mono Island in the Treasury group of the Solomon Islands, a party of Seabees from NCB 87 landed within an hour after the assault began. The party, headed by Lt. Charles E. Turnbull, CEC, U.S. Naval Reserve, also included Machinist Mate 1st Class (Construction Battalion Equipment Operator) Aurelio Tassone and his 20-ton bulldozer. The assaulted troops were being held down by fierce Japanese gunfire from cannon and machine guns hidden in a strongly built pillbox. After some discussion, it was decided that Tassone would see what his dozer could do to it. Raising his blade for protection, and supported by Turnbull, who was armed with a carbine, Tassone rushed the pillbox. When he reached the obstruction, he exerted down pressure on the blade and tore into the barricade, covering the defenders with logs and tons of earth. None of the enemy troops emerged alive. Both Tassone and Turnbull were awarded the Silver Star Medal for their bravery.
1970: Seabee Team 0319 deployed to Xuan Loc, RVN, via government aircraft.
October 28
1942: 1st NCR commissioned; 37th NCB commissioned at Camp Endicott, Davisville, Rhode Island.
1965: At Marble Mountain, Da Nang East, RVN, Viet Cong bands with mortars and satchel explosives blasted an air facility and a badly-needed advanced base hospital being built by NMCB 9. The assault killed two Seabees and wounded over 90. Eight Quonset huts housing surgical, laboratory, X-ray and other wards lay in shambles. The Seabees paused to honor their dead and then set about rebuilding the hospital. They erected and outfitted the surgical and clinical wards, added living quarters, and opened the 400-bed hospital in less than three months.
October 29
1943: 132nd NCB inactivated at Camp Parks, Shoemaker, California.
1944: 9th NCR inactivated.
1945: 8th Special NCB inactivated at Port Hueneme, California.
1967: Seabee Team 1010 departed Thailand and arrived at 31st NCR for leave and debriefing.
October 30
1945: 7th Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) inactivated at Okinawa.
1964: Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3 main body aboard USNS Patrick arrived at Guam.
1966: In a ceremony at the Sands Point Naval Air Station (NAS), Seattle, Washington, Rear Adm Lewis C. Coxe, commander of the Southwest Division of Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), presented the Perry Award to the commanding officer of Reserve Mobile Construction Battalion (MCB) 18. This was the first year the Perry Trophy was awarded. The Perry Trophy competition provides a yardstick for measuring the mobilization capability of each Reserve MCB. Military and operational readiness, manning level, overall proficiency, leadership and morale are considered in the selection process.
1966: Personnel of NMCB 7 assembled to pay tribute to one of their own. In a brief ceremony, the battalion camp at Phu Bai, Republic of Vietnam (RVN), was dedicated in memory of a lost shipmate, Steelworker (Erector) 3rd Class Stanley Claus Campbell. On August 25, 1966, Campbell gave his life on the defensive perimeter of the camp which now bore his name.
October 31
1941: The Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Rear Adm Chester W. Nimitz, authorized the Bureau of Yards and Docks to establish a Headquarters Construction Company of 99 men. Resident Officers in Charge of Construction (ROICC) were to utilize the men as engineering aids and administrators, and as inspectors and supervisors to oversee the work of civilian construction contractors at overseas bases. It was not contemplated that the company would do any actual construction work.
1945: 4th NCB inactivated. 50th NCB inactivated on Tinian. 74th NCB inactivated on Okinawa. 41st Special NCB inactivated at Hollandia.
1950: 104th and 105th NCB s re-designated as Amphibious Construction Battalions (ACB) 1 and 2, respectively.
1966: NMCB 8 advance party arrived at Chu Lai, RVN.