Amphibious Construction Battalion 1

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Amphibious Construction Battalion 1
NAB Coronado, San Diego
, California
Nickname(s)PHIBCB ONE; "Acey Bone"; "The Bone"
Motto(s)"We put the 'Sea' in Seabees."
Engagements
Commanders
Current
commander		Captain Andy Litteral
104th NCB WWII insignia (Seabee Museum)

Amphibious Construction Battalion ONE (ACB1 or ACB-1 or PHIBCB 1 or PHIBCB One) is an amphibious construction battalion in the

Little Creek, Virginia
.

Mission

ACB-1's primary mission is to provide Ship to Shore transport of combat cargo, bulk fuel and water, and tactical camp operations supporting Amphibious Ready Group,

Maritime Prepositioning Force
(MPF) Operations.

History

World War II – 104th Naval Construction Battalion

ACB-1 was originally commissioned at

Philippine Islands, 1945. During these two years, the 104th completed numerous land based construction projects ranging from an airfield on Los Negros Island, in the Admiralties, to Naval Air Station Cubi Point on island of Leyte in the Philippines. The battalion was eventually deactivated in Dec 1945.[2]

In January 1947, the 104th was reactivated and first began their Amphibious mission when the unit was tasked with "the assembly and placement of pontoon structures, beach rehabilitation, harbor development, salvage, and training of reservist in these operations". In October 1950, it was recognized by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Forrest Sherman, that the 104th and 105th NCBs had specialized capabilities that separated them from the other Naval Construction Battalions and were re-designated Amphibious Construction Battalion One and Two.[2]

Korean War – Amphibious Construction Battalion ONE

Yo Do Island ACB 1 refueling Corsairs 15 July 1952 (USN)
helopad
at the U.S. Embassy compound December 1992. (NARA)
Camp Patriot, Kuwait (4 Apr 2003) It was the first time the ELCAS/M (length 1,400-feet) was assembled in a combat operation.[3]
ACB -1 loading cargo 2005 (Seabee Museum)

During the Korean War several detachments were deployed to the Western Pacific in support of amphibious operations. In the September 1950, invasion of Inchon a pontoon causeway was brought into Inchon Harbor on D-Day plus 1 to be used a tide level landing. General Douglas MacArthur came ashore over this pier on D plus 2.[2]

A month after 15 September 1950, landing at Inchon, ACB-1 moved to the east coast of Korea and again supported the

Chosin Reservoir
area, the Seabees built piers and unloaded ships.

  • On 21 September 1950 a detachment from ACB 1 went into Seabee history. Aerial reconnaissance reported eight locomotives trapped by broken rail lines in the Yong Dong Po switch yard eight miles North of Inchon. The 10 Seabees, led UT Chief Bloomer, volunteered to attempt to liberate the engines from behind enemy lines. Adjacent to the switch yard was a Kirin Beer Brewery where the Seabees liberated cases of beer to be returned to the South also. They fired the engines and repaired the rails as they went returning to American lines.
    U.S. Army Transportation Corps
    .

Operation Crippled Chick: The assignment to build the emergency landing strip behind enemy lines on Yo Do island, fell to ACB-1s Detachment George. Led by Lt. T.E. Rowe, Detachment George was composed of one warrant machinist, six chief petty officers and 69 Seabee enlisted men. Six of these Seabees had landed at Inchon two years earlier. The seabees named the runway Briscoe Field for the Commander of the fleet Admiral Robert P. Briscoe[6]

Vietnam

ACB 1 was the first CB to deploy to Vietnam as a component of

Communist government of North Vietnam which allowed for people residing in the North to move South before 15 May 1955. Both ACBs were assigned to TF-90.[8] Nine years later, in 1964 ACB 1 would return as the first CB in the Vietnam War
.

Gulf War – Somalia – Persian Gulf

In August 1990, PHIBCB ONE was the first Naval Construction Force (NCF) unit to deploy to

First Marine Expeditionary Force and provided some limited technical support to other joint units operating in the area.[2]

On 10 December 1992, ACB-1 arrived at Mogadishu as part of the Naval Support Element in Somalia. Within a short time ACB-1 unloaded five of the Marines' Maritime Pre-positioning Force ships, refurbished the port, and provided fuel and water for military forces in Somalia.[9]

In August 1994 and again in August 1995, the command deployed the Offload Preparation Party (OPP) for Maritime Prepositioning Squadron TWO in support of Operation Vigilant Warrior and Operation Vigilant Sentinel in the Persian Gulf due to the threat of resurgence of Iraqi aggression. In each case the personnel returned home after a couple months but were in a 48hr standby until March 1996.[2]

Iraq War

Seabee (barge)s
.
US Navy 100811-N-4044H-378 The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) ACB 1 was with the ship to Papua New Guinea for the Pacific Partnership 2010[10]

The Battalion was the first Naval Construction Force unit to deploy during

Operation Desert Shield
.

Most recently, in January 2003, ACB-1/2 was deployed to

C-5 Galaxy aircraft, the PHIBs constructed the largest Logistics Support Area (LSA) in ACB history, housing over 4,500 personnel. Additionally, ACBs were instrumental with the complete download of 13 MPF ships encompassing three MPSRONs. ELCAS-M was also deployed to move thousands of ammo containers from ship to shore. A small detachment from ACB-1 also moved forward in Iraq to assist the NMCBs with the anchoring of a floating bridge.[2]

In 2005 ACB 1 took part in the U.S. military's

Indian Ocean tsunami
.

Unit Awards

In recognition of outstanding services rendered in the Korean War, personnel of the Battalion received three

Secretary of the Navy, John Howard Dalton, Letter of Commendation for meritorious service from 1994 to 1996.[2]

Unit awards in order of precedence:

Campaign and Service Awards

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-313-31906-5
  2. ^ a b c d e f g US Navy.
  3. ^ Navy Elevated Causeway System to Lend Big Hand to Big Operation Story Number: NNS030424-10Release Date: 24 April 2003, story By Journalist 1st Class Joseph Krypel, Camp Patriot Public Affairs, U.S.Navy website [1]
  4. ^ 104 NCB The Korean War: The Inchon landing,Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum,[2]
  5. ^ Seabee Train Kidnapers,Adapted from a Seabee Coverall article, 1967,Seabee Log – No. 5 (Winter 1999), Dept of the Navy [3]
  6. ^ Operation Crippled Chick, ACB 1 Builds Emergency Airstrip Behind Enemy Lines,By Steve Karoly, The seabeecook webpage [4]
  7. ^ Operation Passage to Freedom First Seabees in Vietnam Evacuate Citizens to South, An operational report by Cmdr. L.N. Saunders, Jr.,Seabee Log Index web-page [5]
  8. ^ " Seabee History: Southeast Asia", NHHC online reading room, published 16 April 2015 [6]
  9. ^ This week in Seabee History, December 9–15, Seabee Magazine, NHHC Seabee Museum Port Hueneme, CA. [7]
  10. ^ U.S. Navy News Service Website, Story Number: NNS100827-09Release Date: 27 August 2010 9:01:00 AM, 1200 Navy Pentagon, Washington, DC.[8]
  11. ^ Naval History and Heritage Command webpage, Seabee History: Southeast Asia [9]
  12. ^ US Navy Awards, Chief of Naval Operations, 2000 Navy Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20350 [10] Archived 28 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ List of Award Abbreviations, Chief of Naval Operations, 2000 Navy Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20350 [11] Archived 31 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

Online resources

External links

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