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This Week in Seabee History: September 25 - October 1

Sept. 25, 2023 | By MC1 Adam Brock

Consolidated By U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, Naval History and Heritage Command

September 25

1951: Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 8 was activated.
1965: Cmdr. W.F. Russell, Civil Engineer Corps (CEC), commanding officer of NMCB 5, assumed command of Camp Hoover, Republic of Vietnam (RVN).
1967: Advance party of NMCB 133 departed Da Nang, RVN for Construction Battalion Center (CBC), Gulfport, Mississippi.
1969: Seabee Team 0314 deployed from Agana, Guam, to Rota Island, Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands (TTPI).
 

September 26

1967: NMCB 10 headquarters unit arrived at Gia Le, RVN.
 

September 28

1945: 39th Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) inactivated on Saipan.
1967: NMCB 9 main body, consisting of 18 officers and 652 Seabees, deployed to Da Nang, RVN, on seven C-141 aircraft.
1968: NMCB 3 main body convoyed from Camp Faulkner to Camp Haskins South, Da Nang, RVN.

September 29

1943: 136th NCB established at Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCTC) Camp Peary, Magruder, Virginia.
1945: 66th NCB inactivated on Okinawa.

September 30

1942: Aviation, Construction, Ordnance, Repair, Navy (ACORN) 1 arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia. (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each ACORN to maintain the base after the initial construction was completed and the construction battalion had been withdrawn.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.)
1963: Commander Naval Construction Battalions, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CBPAC) Seabee Technical Assistance Team (STAT) Detachment, RVN established under commander of LCDR J.A. Wright, CEC, with its headquarters in Saigon, RVN.
1965: The last echelon of NMCB 8 s main body arrived at Da Nang, RVN, to establish a new Seabee camp. NMCB 8 was the first battalion to send a construction detail out from a battalion.
1967: NMCB 4 main body moved from Da Nang, RVN to Port Hueneme, California.
1969: NMCB 5's Lt. Cmdr. W.S. Smyth, CEC, acting commanding officer, changed Operation Control (OPCON) from 30th Naval Construction Regiment (NCR), Da Nang, RVN to 31st NCR, Port Hueneme, California.

October 1

1944: ACORN 38 was decommissioned and Naval Air Base Saipan commissioned.
1945: ACORN 24 was decommissioned; the 29th, 30th, 49th NCRs were inactivated.
1951: Commander Naval Construction Battalions, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (CBLANT) was established. This activity was placed under the command of the Commander of the Service Force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet so he could effectively fulfill his responsibility as construction battalion type commander.
1952: 103rd NCB was disestablished on Guam, and NMCB 10 commissioned the same day on Guam.
1965: Two Atlantic Fleet Seabee Teams were assigned to Project Demo, a project in support of the Department of State at embassies behind the Iron Curtain.
1967: NMCB 9 relieved NMCB 4 and commenced its third consecutive deployment to the RVN near Da Nang.
1967: Seabee Teams 0601 and 4001 graduated from Seabee Team Training and were assigned to Officer in Charge (OIC), Construction Battalions, Pacific Detachment, RVN, deploying to Tu Duc and Lei Thieu, respectively.
1970: NMCB 5 Detail Yankee transferred from Camp Haskins North to Camp Haskins South, Da Nang, RVN. Detail Yankee was relieved at Camp Haskins North by elements of the Third Marine Amphibious Force.
1970: Seabee Team 0317 deployed to Yap, TTPI via government aircraft.
1985: Command status of UCT s upgraded to commanding officer