The King Bee
The King Bee

Author: Allen N Olsen

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2011-11-24

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 1612511082

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Ben Moreell was the first non-Naval Academy graduate to be awarded the four stars of an Admiral. He is still the only staff corps officer to be promoted to Admiral. The history of the U.S. Navy Seabees and the biography of Admiral Ben Moreell are inseparable. Immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he began forming the construction units that ultimately became known as the Seabees. The first battalion of Seabees deployed from the U.S. on 27 Jan. '42. This instantaneous effort to recruit, train, organize, equip and deploy a military unit is still recognized as an amazing achievement. Ultimately over 300,000 Seabees were involved during WW II. The Seabees built and operated the equipment needed to get troops, equipment and supplies ashore in every amphibious landing of WW II. Beginning in North Africa and continuing to Sicily, Italy and Normandy, they were an essential element of the invasions of Europe. But their island-hopping campaign throughout the Pacific with the Marines really made their reputation. They participated in every Pacific invasion together with the Marines with the exception of Guadalcanal, where they arrived about three weeks after the First Marines went ashore. Following the invasions, the Seabees built every sort of facility required by the Marines and the Navy; piers, runways, fuel storage, hospitals, ammo storage, dry docks, and more. The accomplishments of the Seabees continued through Korea, Viet Nam and the middle east. The unique aspect of the fighter-builder Seabees generated a need for a command structure that could respond to both elements at any time. Recognizing this critical feature Moreell achieved a major change to Navy Regulations and obtained the authorization for Civil Engineer Corps officers to be given command of the Seabees. They are still the only staff corps officers who enjoy the privilege of commanding fleet units. Moreell also directed the massive mobilization and construction effort for the Navy and Marine Corps throughout the war as well as dealing with unions, congress, manufacturers, and an ever-growing federal bureaucracy. His open and honest dealings were recognized by all and contributed to the successful accomplishments of the Bureau of Yards and Docks during that time. But it Seabees remain his crowning military achievement. Their success in WW II was recognized by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz in a Seabee birthday anniversary letter to Moreell in which he stated, "....without them we could not have beaten the (Japanese)." An advisor to four Presidents, Ben Moreell's actions forever placed the Civil Engineer Corps and the Seabees solidly in Navy history and tradition

United States Army in WWII - the Pacific - Campaign in the Marianas
United States Army in WWII - the Pacific - Campaign in the Marianas

Author: Philip A. Crowl

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2014-08-15

Total Pages: 946

ISBN-13: 1782894039

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[Includes 2 tables, 14 charts, 33 maps and 89 illustrations] In the capture of the southern Marianas during the summer of 1944, Army ground and air forces played an important, though subordinate, role to that of the Navy and its Marine Corps. Marine personnel constituted the bulk of the combat troops employed. The objective of this campaign was "to secure control of sea communications through the Central Pacific by isolating and neutralizing the Carolines and by the establishment of sea and air bases for operations against Japanese sea routes and long-range air attacks against the Japanese home land." Its success would provide steppingstones from which the Americans could threaten further attack westward toward the Philippines, Formosa, and Japan itself, and would gain bases from which the Army Air Forces’ new very long range bombers, the B-29’s, could strike at Japan’s heartland. Recognizing and accepting the challenge, the Japanese Navy suffered heavy and irreplaceable losses in the accompanying Battle of the Philippine Sea; and the islands after capture became the base for all the massive air attacks on Japan, beginning in Nov. 1944. In the operations described in the present volume, landings against strong opposition demonstrated the soundness of the amphibious doctrine and techniques evolved out of hard experience in preceding Pacific operations. Bitter inland fighting followed the landings, with Army and Marine Corps divisions engaged side by side. The author’s account and corresponding Marine Corps histories of these operations provide ample opportunity to study the differences in the fighting techniques of the two services. Dr. Crowl also deals frankly with one of the best-known controversies of World War II, that of Smith versus Smith, but concludes that it was the exception to generally excellent interservice co-operation.