The Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) is a staff corps of the United States Navy. CEC officers are professional engineers and architects, acquisitions specialists, and Seabee Combat Warfare Officers who qualify within Seabee units. They are responsible for executing and managing the planning, design, acquisition, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Navy's shore facilities. The Civil Engineer Corps is under the command of the Chief of Civil Engineers and Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command. On 12 August 2022, RADM Dean VanderLey relieved RADM John W. Korka, becoming the 46th commander of NAVFAC and Chief of Civil Engineers.[1]
Present day CEC ranks range from CWO4 to RADM, though the community is phasing out Chief Warrant Officer ranks in favor of Limited Duty Officers. Several Civil Engineer Corps officers, primarily those serving during or around the time of World War II, have held the rank of Vice Admiral, and one officer, Ben Moreell, has held the four-star rank of Admiral, but there are no current billets within the US Navy that require Civil Engineer Corps officers of either rank. The worldwide CEC Active- and Reserve-Component authorized end strength is shown below.
Authorized end strength, as of October 2023 (510X, 653X, 753X designators)
WWII Naval Officers from the Civil Engineer Corps, Medical Corps, Dental Corps and Supply Corps assigned to Naval Construction Battalions had a Silver Seabee on their Corps insigniaCapt. John N. Laycock (CEC) discussing his modular pontoon box system with Admiral MoreellLt Cmdr. Edward Swain Hope CEC was the most senior African American officer in the United States Navy during WWII.
Civil engineers were employed by the Navy Department as early as 1827, when Mr. Loammi Baldwin was appointed to superintendent of the construction of dry docks at Boston and Norfolk.[2] Prior to the passage of the Act of 2 March 1867 civil engineers were appointed by the Secretary, but under authority of that act they were to be commissioned by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; they were appropriated for as part of the civil establishment at the several navy yards and stations under the control of the Bureau of Yards and Docks until 1870.[2] At that time their pay was regulated by section 3 of the Act of 15 July 1870 that "fixed" the annual pay of officers of the Navy on the active list.[2] Appropriations for their pay have been made since 1870 under the head of "Pay of the Navy".
The discretionary authority given to the president by the Statute of 3 March 1871, to determine and fix the relative rank of civil engineers was not exercised until the 24th of February 1881, when relative rank was conferred upon them and fixed as follows: One with the relative rank of captain (Capt), two with that of commander (Cdr), three with that of lieutenant-commander (Lcdr), and four with that of lieutenant (Lt).[2]
The Navy Regulations for 1876 failed to list civil engineers among the staff officers of the Navy, and the uniform regulations for that year did not prescribe a uniform or a corps device for that class of officer. In 1881, after having had relative rank conferred upon them, civil engineers were instructed by Uniform Circular dated 24 August to wear the uniform of officers of the line with whom they had relative rank - omitting the star, but with the distinctive letters C.E. (Old English) embroidered in silver in the center. The same letters to be similarly embroidered on frogs of epaulets.
In 1905, two crossed silver sprigs, each composed of two oak leaves and an acorn (sometimes called "Crossed Bananas"), was adopted as the insignia of the Civil Engineer Corps replacing the Old English letters C.E. These were to be worn on the epaulets, shoulder straps and collar of the service coat.[2] While the pattern of this corps device remained the same, uniform regulations issued in 1919 specified that it was to be embroidered in gold instead of silver and worn on the sleeve of frock, evening dress, and blue service coats, above the gold lace strips, and on shoulder marks for white service coat and overcoat. By these same regulations the light blue cloth worn under the sleeve strips, and worn on the shoulder marks since 1899, was abolished as a distinction of the corps, however is still present in the light blue color of the stripes worn by enlisted, pay grades E-3 and below in the Navy's construction field.
In 1939 the CEC was composed of 126 active officers. By VJ day that number had grown to only 200. However, there were over 10,000 reservists providing the leadership of the Construction Battalions.[2] In December 1941 Admiral Ben Moreell proposed the creation of three Naval Construction Battalions. A problem then confronted BuDocks, who would command the Construction Battalions? Naval regulations stated that military command of naval personnel was strictly limited to line officers, yet BuDocks deemed it essential that these Construction Battalions be commanded by officers of the Civil Engineer Corp, who were trained in the skills required for construction work. The newly formed Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers), successor to the Navy's Bureau of Navigation, strongly opposed this transgression of Naval tradition. Admiral Moreell took the question personally to the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, who, on 19 March 1942, gave authority for officers of the Civil Engineer Corps to exercise military authority over all officers and enlisted men assigned to construction units otherwise known as the Seabees. For those engineers assigned to the Seabees a silver Seabee was mounted to the center of the CEC crossed oak leaves insignia. The Seabee logo incorporated the CEC insignia, with one on each arm of the Seabee, just above each glove.
Capt. Brockenbrough (CEC) CB 71, Third Marine Division Shore Party Commander on Bougainville
Besides providing the command leadership and engineering skills needed by the Naval Construction Force (NCF), the CEC made a major contribution to the war effort. CAPT. John N. Laycock created the Seabee's "magic box".[4] Today's Navy lighterage pontoon is a direct descendant of his creation.
LVT-2 doodlebug going through tests on Saipan. It was a CEC assault concept vehicle."NCDU 45", Ensign Karnowski CEC Chief Carpenters Mate Conrad C. Millis, MM2 Equipment Operator Lester Meyers and three sailors. The unit received a Presidential Unit Citation (United States) with Ens. Karnowski earning the Navy Cross & French Croix de Guerre with Palm, while MM2 Meyers received a Silver Star.
Early in 1943 the Navy began training its first African American officers. In May, MIT graduate Edward Swain Hope, was the first to enter the CEC. He went through training at Camp Endicott and was posted as the Public Works officer at Manana Barracks, Hawaii Territory as a Lieutenant. Manana Barracks was the largest "black installation" the U.S. military had. He eventually was promoted to Lieutenant Commander which made him the Navy's highest ranking African American during WWII.
The first CEC killed in Pacific combat were Lt. Irwin W. Lee and Lt. (jg) George W. Stephenson along with 23 enlisted of the 24th CB. They died in an air raid on 2 July 1943 on Rendova Island. The Seabees named their Naval Training Center at Quoddy Village Eastport, Maine, Camp Lee-Stephenson in honor of them.[7]
The first CEC killed in the Atlantic combat was Lt. Carl M. Olson of St Paul, Minnesota, on 10 September 1943 at Salerno, Italy. His design for the landing end of pontoon assemblies was used throughout the war.[8]
Capt. Wilfred L. Painter (CEC) was awarded four Gold Stars to the Legion of Merit (plus the Combat "V" for each of the additional stars).[9] Lt. Painter received his first award for his leadership in the salvage of the USS California and the USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. For the West Virginia Lt. Painter got 120 seabees from the 16th CB to expedite the operation including pouring 650 tons of marine concrete to seal the hull.[10]
USMC
U.S. Naval insignia, brass subdued per USMC regulation for CEC in CBs transferred to the CorpsChCarp. W. H. Achenson (CEC) awarded Silver Star for UDT 1 actions.
During WWII the Seabees had a number of battalions transferred to the Marine Corps.[11][12][13] Those battalions were then given USMC designations and the men were given standard Marine Corps issue in addition to their dress naval uniform. For CEC the standard gold and silver officer corps insignia was replaced by a brass subdued one on the garrison hat. The battalions involved were the 18th, 19th, 25th, 53rd and 121st.(see 17th Marine Regiment, 18th Marine Regiment, 19th Marine Regiment, and 20th Marine Regiment) The 31st and 133rd CBs were issued USMC fatigues and attached to the shore parties of the 4th Marine Division and 5th Marine Division for Iwo Jima. The CEC involved would have worn the subdued insignia also. Other battalions were tasked with Marine Corps shore party assignments both prior to and post-Iwo Jima.
Tasked as combat engineers, the CEC of the 18th and 121st CBs designed a detachable ramp mounted on a LVT-2.[5] Its purpose was to enable the Marines to land on Tinian's beaches bordered by coral embankments up to 15 feet high. Ten LVTs were modified using iron beams salvaged from a sugar factory on Saipan.[5] The commanding General Harry Schmidt was skeptical of the design. He ordered that a vehicle test one, a hundred times, before he would use it in combat. The ramps not only stood up, but they allowed the Marines to land where there were no defenses as a landing there had been thought impossible.[5] The astonished Japanese were overwhelmed and outflanked due to the ramps. The LVTs were nicknamed "doodlebugs".
Bougainville: 3rd Marine Division Cmdr. Brockenbrough CEC 71st CB with detachments from the 25th, 53rd, and the 75th CBs (and as well as the Marines).[3] beaches: Blue 1,2,3 Yellow 1,2,3,4 Green 1,2 Red 1,2,3
Operational Naval Demolition Unit No. 1. was the very first USN "demolitions" unit. In early May 1943, a two-phase "Naval Demolition Project" was directed by the Chief of Naval Operations "to meet a present and urgent requirement". The first phase began at Amphibious Training Base (ATB) Solomons, Maryland with the establishment of Operational Naval Demolition Unit No. 1. Six Officers and eighteen enlisted men reported from NTC Camp Peary dynamiting and demolition school, for a four-week course. Those Seabees, led by Lt. Fred Wise CEC, were immediately sent to participate in the invasion of Sicily.[14][15] When the unit returned to Camp Peary most of the men were assigned to the new Naval Combat Demolition Units being formed there.
Naval Combat Demolition Units were led by junior CEC officers.[16] There were over 200 NCDUs formed with all but five being requisitioned for the UDTs.
UDTs
Lt. Crist (CEC), Lt. Cmdr. Kaufmann and Lt. Carberry right to left at awards ceremony
V Amphibious Corps had identified coral as an issue for Amphibious landings in the Pacific and determined Naval Constructions Battalions had the only people with any experience with the material. Lt. Thomas C. Crist CEC, from NCB 10 was in Honolulu from Canton Island where he had been involved in a lagoon coral head clearance project.[17] His being in Pearl Harbor turned out to be pivotal in UDT history. Admiral Turner and V Amphibious Corps were interested in dealing with coral and had identified the Seabees as the only people with any applicable knowledge. The Admirals staff learned of Lt. Crist's presence in Pearl Harbor and ordered him to report. The Admiral commissioned Lt. Crist with developing a method to blast coral under combat conditions and staging qualified men in Pearl to form a unit for that task. Lt. Crist had staged 30 officers and 150 enlisted from the 7th Naval Construction Regiment when the disaster at Tarawa happened. With Kwajalein the next operation, Lt. Crist's 180 men were used to form UDT 1 and UDT 2. Cmdr. E. D. Brewster (CEC) was selected to command UDT 1 and Lt Crist was picked for UDT 2. That did not last as Admiral Connelly wanted a commander with combat experience. So, Lt. Crist was made ops officer for team 2. At Kwajalein Ensign L. Leuhrs and Carp. W. Acheson CEC anticipated that they may not to get the intel Admiral Turner wanted just paddling a dinghy and wore swim trunks under their fatigues. They decided to strip down and go in the water in broad daylight on a hostile beach to get what the Admiral wanted. Doing that changed the UDT mission model and made them the predecessors of the Navy's special ops. Upon returning to Hawaii Lt. Crist was named as the first Training Officer of the UDT program. He was in the position only a short time when he was selected as commander of UDT 3. For the Marianas operations of Kwajelein, Roi-Namur, Siapan, Tinian, Eniwetok, and Guam. Admiral Turner recommended sixty silver stars and over three hundred bronze stars with Vs for the Seabees and others of UDTs 1-7,[18] which was unprecedented in U.S. Naval and Marine Corps history.[18] For UDTs 5 and 7 every officer received a silver star and all the enlisted received bronze stars with Vs for Operation Forager (Tinian).[14] For UDTs 3 and 4 every officer received a silver star and all the enlisted received bronze stars with Vs for Operation Forager (Guam).[14] Admiral Richard Lansing Conolly felt the commanders of teams 3 and 4 (Lt. Crist and Lt. W.G. Carberry) should have received Navy Crosses.[14] When UDT 3 returned from Leyte in November 1944 it became the training instructors of the Maui school and Lt. Crist was made base Training Officer again.[19] The team would remain in these jobs until April 1945 when it was sent to Fort Pierce to do the same job there. Lt. Crist had been promoted to Lt. Cmdr. and was sent back to Hawaii but his Team 3 Seabees would train teams 12–22.[19]
Diving masks were not common in 1944 and a few men had tried using goggles at Kwajalein.[20] They were a rare item in the Hawaiian sports stores so Lt. Crist and Seabee Chief Howard Roeder and put in a request to the Supply Corps for them.[20] Fortuitously, a diving mask ad was spotted in a magazine. That prompted a priority dispatch to the States appropriating the store's entire stock.[20]
In 1944 the Navy created an unheralded program to dredge harbors to increase accessibility and stevedoring productivity at advance bases. The 301st CB was created for the job and given two ex-NCDU (CEC) and two ex-UDT (CEC) to assist. Between them they had three Silver Stars and a Bronze Star for valor.
The presidential retreat is officially Naval Support Facility Thurmont. The CEC staffs the base command. The Marine Corps provides base security while Seabees oversee base operations and maintenance. The current base commander is Capt. Christopher S. Casne (CEC) while the executive officer is Lcdr. Christopher L. Adcock (CEC).[22]
The Naval Special Warfare Command building at the U.S.N. Seal base at Fort Pierce is named for LTJG Frank Kaine CEC commander of NCDU 2.
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon context, "Seabee" can refer to all enlisted personnel in the USN's occupational field 7 (OF-7), all personnel in the Naval Construction Force (NCF), or Construction Battalion. Seabees serve both in and outside the NCF. During World War II they were plank-holders of both the Naval Combat Demolition Units and the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). The men in the NCF considered these units to be "Seabee". In addition, Seabees served as elements of Cubs, Lions, Acorns and the United States Marine Corps. They also provided the manpower for the top secret CWS Flame Tank Group. Today the Seabees have many special task assignments starting with Camp David and the Naval Support Unit at the Department of State. Seabees serve under both Commanders of the Naval Surface Forces Atlantic/Pacific fleets as well as on many base Public Works and USN diving commands.
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or kill high-level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. SEAL team personnel are hand-selected, highly trained, and possess a high degree of proficiency in unconventional warfare (UW), direct action (DA), and special reconnaissance (SR), among other tasks like sabotage, demolition, intelligence gathering, and hydrographic reconnaissance, training, and advising friendly militaries or other forces. All active SEALs are members of the U.S. Navy.
The Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized missions. They were predecessors of the Navy's current SEAL teams.
The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as NAVSPECWARCOM and WARCOM, is the naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the unified command that oversees and conducts the nation's special operations and missions.
This is the order of battle for the Guadalcanal Campaign, called Operation Watchtower, the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II. The campaign lasted from the initial American landings on 7 August 1942 until the final Japanese evacuation on 9 February 1943, a period of six months, far longer than was expected by Allied planners.
A United States Navy diver may be a restricted fleet line officer, Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) officer, Medical Corps officer, an Unrestricted Line Officer who is qualified in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Warfare (1140) or an enlisted who is qualified in underwater diving and salvage. Navy divers serve with fleet diving detachments and in research and development. Some of the mission areas of the Navy diver include: marine salvage, harbor clearance, underwater ship husbandry and repair, submarine rescue, saturation diving, experimental diving, underwater construction and welding, as well as serving as technical experts to the Navy SEALs, Marine Corps, and Navy EOD diving commands.
Admiral Ben Moreell was the chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks and of the Civil Engineer Corps. Best known to the American public as the father of the Navy's Seabees, Moreell's life spanned eight decades, two world wars, a great depression and the evolution of the United States as a superpower. He was a distinguished naval officer, an engineer, an industrial giant and a national spokesman.
When World War II broke out the United States Naval Construction Battalions (Seabees) did not exist. The logistics of a two theater war were daunting to conceive. Rear Admiral Moreell completely understood the issues. What needed to be done was build staging bases to take the war to the enemy, across both oceans, and create the construction force to do the work. Naval Construction Battalions were first conceived at Bureau of Yards and Docks (BuDocks) in the 1930s. The onset of hostilities clarified to Radm. Moreell the need for developing advance bases to project American power. The solution: tap the vast pool of skilled labor in the U.S. Put it in uniform to build anything, anywhere under any conditions and get the Marine Corps to train it. The first volunteers came skilled. To obtain these tradesmen, military age was waived to age 50. It was later found that several past 60 had managed to get in. Men were given advanced rank/pay based upon experience making the Seabees the highest paid group in the U.S. military. The first 60 battalions had an average age of 37.
Amphibious Construction Battalion ONE is an amphibious construction battalion in the United States Navy based in Coronado, California, and last in type unit. Amphibious Construction Battalion TWO was its sister unit based in Little Creek, Virginia.
The US employs divers in several branches of the armed forces, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard.
The 18th Marine Regiment was a composite engineer regiment of the United States Marine Corps subordinate to the 2nd Marine Division. It was disbanded during the war, with the 1st and 2nd battalions remaining in the Division.
Rear Admiral Katherine Louise Gregory is the first female flag officer in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps (CEC). She assumed command of Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific on July 9, 2010, and took command of all NAVFAC as the highest-ranked civil engineer in the navy in 2012. In November 2015, RADM Gregory was succeeded by RADM Bret J. Muilenburg.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion THREE is a United States Navy Seabee that was one of the three original Construction Battalions authorized to be formed in 1942. In May 1942 Naval Construction Battalion 3 deployed to the Territory of Hawaii and designated Brigade Headquarters Battalion for the Hawaiian Area NCF. After seeing service in the South Pacific, the battalion was decommissioned mid-1944. In 1950 the battalion was reactivated and today is home-ported at Port Hueneme, California.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 is a United States Navy Construction Battalion, otherwise known as a Seabee battalion, homeported at the Naval Construction Battalion Center. The unit was formed during WWII as the 133rd Naval Construction Battalion. It saw action and was decommissioned shortly after the war ended. The unit was reactivated as Mobile Construction Battalion 133 for the Vietnam War and remains an active unit today.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion SEVEN (NMCB 7) was a Navy Seabee battalion last homeported at Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport Mississippi. Nicknamed the "Magnificent Seven", it is one of the first ten Naval Construction Battalions formed by the U.S. Navy in 1942.
Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit THREE ZERO TWO (CBMU-302) of the U.S. Navy was commissioned on 31 March 1967. Along with a sister unit, CBMU-301, was also commissioned. They were the first CBMUs commissioned since the two that came and went with the Korean War. The official commissioning ceremony of CBMU-301 and CBMU-302 was held at the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme, CA on 7 April 1967. LT Mel Harper was the first Commanding Officer.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 or NMCB 25 is a Navy Reserve Seabee unit that is headquartered at Port Hueneme, CA. Its World War II predecessor was one of three CBs transferred to the Marine Corps in the late summer of 1942 as combat engineers. Those three battalions were attached to composite Marine Engineer Regiments as the third battalion of their respective regiment. All of them remained with the Marine Corps for the next two years before they were released and returned to the Navy. At the end of World War II the battalion was decommissioned. In 1961, it was recommissioned in the Naval Construction Force Reserve where it remains today.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11 is a United States Navy Construction Battalion, otherwise known as a Seabee Battalion, presently home-ported at the Naval Construction Battalion Center. The unit was formed during World War II as the 11th Naval Construction Battalion at Camp Allen on 28 June 1942. On 1 July, she moved to the new Seabee base Camp Bradford. Seabee battalions were numbered sequentially in the order they were stood up. The battalion lost one man during the war to a construction accident. The 11th CB was inactivated on 1 December 1945, at Subic Bay, Philippines.
Naval Construction Battalion 5 was commissioned on May 25, 1942 at Camp Allen Va. The battalion went to Port Hueneme and shipped out for the first of two deployments in the Pacific. When the war ended CB 5 was decommissioned in the Philippines. On July 10, 1951 the Battalion was re-commissioned as a MCB and remains an active unit today.
Underwater Construction Teams (UCT) are the United States Navy Seabees' underwater construction units numbered 1 and 2 that were created in 1974. A team is composed of divers qualified in both underwater construction and underwater demolition. Possible tasks can be: battle damage repairs, structural inspections and assessments, demolition of waterline facilities or submerged obstructions, installation of submerged surveillance systems, or harbor and channel clearance. As needed, teams may test and or evaluate new or existing aquatic systems or equipment. Extending construction, whether vertical or horizontal, beyond the shoreline and waterline is their specialty. Reflecting Seabee tradition, teams are expected to execute underwater construction anywhere, anytime, under any conditions.
↑ CAMP LEE-STEPHENSON MONUMENT AT QUODDY VILLAGE, EASTPORT, MAINE, CEC / Seabee Historical Foundation PO Box 657, Gulfport, MS 39502, (228) 865-0480, info@seabeehf.org
1 2 3 4 Naked Warriors, Cdt. Francis Douglas Fane USNR (Ret.), St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, 1996, pp. 122, 131, ISBN0-312-95985-0
1 2 3 Naked Warriors, Cdr. Francis Douglas Fane USNR (Ret.), St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, 1996, p. 82, ISBN0-312-95985-0
1 2 3 4 CEC WWII prisoners of war, Civil Engineering Corps History, Naval History Heritage Command, Seabee Museum Archives,Port Hueneme,CA
↑ Biographies, CNIC, Naval Support Facility Thurmont web page, Commander, Navy Installations Command, 716 Sicard Street SE, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20374-5140
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