Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Seven

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Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7
Operation Iraqi Freedom

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion SEVEN (NMCB 7) was a Navy

homeported at Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport Mississippi
. [1] Nicknamed the "Magnificent Seven", it is one of the first ten Naval Construction Battalions formed by the U.S. Navy in 1942.

History

Naval Construction Battalion 7 first unit insignia
USN 325972 Seaplane Base at Okinawa being constructed by CB 7
CB 7 Divers working on Okinawa seaplane ramp
CB 7 diver working on the salvage of a minesweeper
USMC field inspection at Camp Lejeune for MCB 7 in 1965

United States Naval Construction Battalion 7 (NCB 7) was commissioned on 17 June 1942 at the Naval Construction Training Center, Camp Allen,

USNR
.

WWII through 1970s

During World War II, NCB 7 made two deployments. The first was to Samoa and

frogmen
". The battalion was decommissioned on 30 October 1945 in Okinawa.

On 22 August 1951, MCB 7 was commissioned for a second time at the U.S. Naval Yards and Docks Supply Depot in Davisville, Rhode Island, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Robert F. Smart, CEC USNR. Seabee battalions assigned to the Atlantic fleet did not deploy to the Korean conflict. The battalion's first two deployments were back to back to Naval Air Station Port Lyautey, Morocco.

From October 1957 to August 1959, MCB 7 set a record by remaining deployed to three islands in the West Indies, completing the largest construction project ever undertaken by a peace time Atlantic Construction Battalion, two complete

Coast Guard LORAN
Stations.

In 1961 the battalion was ordered to

Battle Efficiency "E"
for fiscal year 1963.

In 1965 the battalion's deployment was split with the first half at

Danang East was home to the main body in 1967-68 at Camp Adenir. Besides fielding Seabee teams the battalion sent a 28 man detachment the Royal Thai Air Force Base, at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand that deployment. The 1969-70 deployment took NMCB 7 to the combat base at Chu Lai. In August 1970 the battalion was decommissioned at the Construction Battalion Center, Davisville, Rhode Island
.

While in Vietnam CB 7 had eight Seabee teams all in the south and

Mekong delta
.

1980s through 2010s

NMCB 7 was commissioned for a third time on 1 August 1985 aboard

Naval Station Rota Spain with details sent to Bermuda, Greece, Crete, Scotland, Italy, and Germany
.

On 8 August 1990, the Battalion was ordered to mobilize for redeployment to the Middle East in direct support of

Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa for the Middle East
to begin setting up Camp Sierra India Bravo, followed by the advance party on 29 September, and the main body on 10 October.

From 1991 through 2002 NMCB 7 completed ten deployments to Naval Station Rota, Spain;

Roosevelt Roads
Naval Station, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Camp Shields,Okinawa.

In 2003, NMCB 7 deployed to Southwest Asia in support of

Operation Iraqi Freedom, NMCB Seven was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation
.

In 2005 NMCB 7 provided the initial response to

Coast Guard
, Gulfport Sheriff's Department, and Fish and Wildlife Commission gaining access to water assets in order to conduct search and rescue operations. The scope soon expanded to include demolition of old buildings, clearing railroad tracks around the Port of Gulfport, and building temporary shelters for fuel tanks. In all, NMCB 7 removed 250 damaged trees, 3000 tons of steel and scrap metal, and 600 tons of other debris.

NMCB 7 was selected as the Atlantic Fleet Naval Construction Force Battle Efficiency "E" winner.

In February 2006 NMCB 7 deployed to

Global War on Terrorism
(GWOT). The battalion was on 4 continents, in 13 countries, at 25 work sites.

In June 2007, NMCB 7 deployed to Okinawa, Japan operating the main body from Camp Shields. The majority of NMCB Seven's Seabees were located in the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) area of operations, from San Clemente Island on the California coast to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. An additional 50 Seabees from NMCB 7 were detached to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in Afghanistan.

On 1 October 2008, NMCB 7 deployed to

Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan to construction the new base code named Tombstone 1 which eventually became Camp Leatherneck, the headquarters of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. NMCB 7 also pushed out multiple detachments in preparation for joint spring offenses including Camp Dwyer
.

In January 2010, NMCB 7 Air-Det was dispatched to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to assist with disaster relief amidst the devastation 7.0 earthquake that struck the country. A month later, the battalion deployed to multiple work sites throughout Europe, Africa, and South America as part of its scheduled 2010 deployment providing contingency construction, humanitarian and civic assistance and recreation related construction projects. By the end of deployment, the battalion had successfully completed projects in 33 sites in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Central and South America. The Battalion had more than 120 Seabees continually assigned to Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, as an enduring Detachment, with smaller Detachments completing projects in Kenya, Comoros, Ethiopia, and the Djibouti countryside.[2]

Decommissioning

On 5 September 2012, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 was decommissioned at CBC Gulfport, Mississippi. Joining CDR. James G. Meyer, last Battalion commander, were the Commander 1st Naval Construction Division (1 NCD) RADM Mark A. Handley qs well as the Commander Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), RADM Christopher J. Mossey for the decommissioning.[3]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7.

References

  1. ^ "Naval Mobile Construction Battalion SEVEN".
  2. ^ "Pages - history". Archived from the original on 15 January 2013.
  3. ^ "NMCB 7, NMCB 40 Stand Down", The Seabee Quarterly, 18 (4), CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation: 10, November 2012

External links

  • [1] Official Website
  • NAVDOCKS-100, January 1944, U.S.Naval Construction Battalion Administration Manual [2]
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