BUILT ON Constructing the Future© BY ARTHUR G. SHARP
Planning for War
The crushing 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor created a significant benefit for all US military forces: the establishment of the first Naval Construction Battalions, which quickly became known as Seabees. Their formation was beneficial to the military’s operations throughout World War II, and set the stage for close US military inter-service alliances with the Seabees that exist today.
Prior to World War II the Navy did not need permanent overseas bases or its own construction units to build them. The wars in which it engaged were of short duration and the deployment of assets such as aircraft and submarines outside the United States was not widespread. That changed after Pearl Harbor, which amended the Navy’s philosophy about establishing foreign bases.
Collection of photos related to the construction, commissioning, and first landings at NAS Cubi Point, Subic Bay, Philippines, 1951-1956. Naval History & Heritage Command.
10
During the 1930s Navy planners realized that a war in the globe’s eastern hemisphere was inevitable and that supporting it would require a broader infrastructure and logistics chain than the US had in place. Fortunately, they had a friend in the White House in President Franklin D. Roosevelt who, on 1 December 1937, appointed Commander Ben Moreell as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks (BUDOCKS) and Chief of Civil Engineers of the Navy.
