Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5

With pressing construction needs in the Pacific, Naval Construction Battalion 5 was "rushed" in its formation. With its ranks full of qualified tradesmen the battalion was quickly given its military indoctrination and processed in less than a month for transit to Port Hueneme, Ca. From there the battalion boarded ship and was the first CB into the Hawaiian Territory.[3] "NAS Honolulu" was actually Naval Air Station Barbers Point and it was on CB 5's work list.[3] Also on the list was Midway Atoll. Sand Island had another airfield in need of attention.[3] Rounding out the first deployment were projects on French Frigate Shoals, Canton Island, Johnston Atoll and Palmyra atoll.[3] At French Frigate shoals an island had to be made for the base and airfield to be constructed upon. CB 5 was rotated CONUS on 19 March 1944, arriving Camp Parks, Ca on March 24.[3] Five's Midway replacement was the 50th CB who arrived on April 4.[4] From Camp Parks the battalion was transferred to Port Hueneme. While there the battalion was given its next assignment and attached to Cub-16. That was canceled with the battalion attached to the 7th Fleet and General MacArthur. On January 10, 1945 CB 5 departed Port Hueneme for Leyte where it arrived February 15. Nine days later the battalion would land at it new job site on Calicoan, Samar. The main projects would be an ABCD,[5] ACEPD,[5] NSD[5] and roads and water supply for all of it.[3] At Calicoan CB 5 had divers doing shallow water work for a seaplane ramp.[6] There were several detachments, one to both Advance Base Unit 10(NABU-10) and NABU-12. Able Company went to Balikpapan, Borneo to help the Aussies joining Detachments from the 111th and 113th CBs. On 13 August the battalion learned it was assigned Operation Olympic the first element of Operation Downfall. Downfall was the plan for the invasion of Japan. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the Japanese island of Kyūshū. This was to be followed by Operation Coronet, the second element, which was planned to land near Tokyo. VJ-day terminated these Operations leaving NCB 5 in the Philippines.[3] CB 5 was then listed to be tasked to the Operation Beleaguer mission in China, but received notice mid-October that was canceled too.[3] Naval Construction Battalion 5 was deactivated on December 3, 1945.[3]

On July 15, 1951, CB 5 was reactivated as a MCB.[2] The Korean War had begun and the Navy realized it had a need for an air station in the region. Cubi Point in the Philippines was selected, and civilian contractors were initially approached for the project. After seeing the Zambales Mountains and the surrounding jungle, they claimed it could not be done. The Navy then turned to the Seabees and was told no problem, Can do. The first Bees to arrive were surveyors of CBD 1802. MCB 3 arrived on 2 October 1951 to get the project going and was joined by MCB 5 in November. Over the next five years, MCBs 2, 7, 9, 11 and CBD 1803 also contributed to the effort. They leveled a mountain to make way for a nearly 2-mile long (3.2 km) runway. NAS Cubi Point turned out to be one of the largest earth-moving projects in the world, equivalent to the construction of the Panama Canal. Seabees there moved 20 million cubic yards (15 million cubic metres) of dry fill plus another 15 million that was hydraulic fill. The $100 million facility was commissioned on 25 July 1956, and comprised an air station with an adjacent pier capable of docking the Navy's largest carriers. Adjusted-for-inflation, today's price-tag for what the Seabees built at Cubi Point would be $906,871,323.53. The Philippine government did not renew the base's lease with the United States in 1992. The airfield now Subic Bay International Airport.

From 1965 to 1972, NMCB FIVE made six consecutive deployments to Vietnam.[2]

• September 1965 - May 1966, Danang ~ Camp Hoover[7]
• October 1966 - June 1967, East Danang ~ Camp Adenir, assigned to III Marine Amphibious Corps[8]
• November 1967 - July 1968,Camp Barnes Dong Ha Combat Base, assigned to III Marine Amphibious Corps[9]
• January - October 1969, Danang ~ Camp Hoover[10]
• January - October 1970, North Danang ~ Camp Haskins, During this deployment the battalion was visited by many flag officers some of whom visited multiple Detachments multiple times.[11]
  • VADM E.R Zumwalt Jr., Chief of Naval Operations[11]
  • VADM J.H. King Jr., Commander U.S. Naval Force Vietnam[11]
  • RADM J. G. Dillon, Commander 3rd Naval Construction Brigade[11]
  • RADM A.R. Marschall, Commander 3rd Naval Construction Brigade[11]
  • RADM Combs COMSERPAC[11]
  • RADN Bonner NAVSUPPAC Danang[11]
  • RADM W.H.Heman COMCBPAC[11]
  • RADM Adamson, Commander Naval Support Activities, Siagon[11]
  • RADM H.S. Mathews Deputy U.S. Naval Force Vietnam[11]
  • Lt. Gen H. Nickerson Jr. USMC Commander III Marine Amphibious Corps[11]
  • Lt. Gen; Buss USMC Commander FMFPAC[11]
  • BGEN E.P. Yates USA MACVDC[11]
  • Commodore Chou RVN Navy Chief of Naval Operations[11]
• Mar - Nov 1971, North Danang, Camp Haskins ~ Eight detachments in Vietnam plus dets to the Philippines, Guam , and Alaska.[12] NMCB 5 was the last battalion to deploy to Vietnam March to November 1971.[2] The battalion had numerous incidents with mines on that deployment. NMCB 5 also had an unusual number of flag officer visits again on this deployment.

In 1972, the battalion moved all its troops and equipment to Thailand.[2] The project there was the construction of Nam Phong Air Base.[2]

• 0501 DanPau, Jan 1963[13]
• 0501 Buom Me Ga, Apr 1963 7th Special Forces airstrip[13]
• 0502 Tri Ton Jan 1963[13]
• 0502 Chau Lang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~5th Special Forces airstrip[13]
• 0502 Dan Chau, Jun 1963 ~ ~5th Special Forces Camp and airstrip[13]
• 0503 Minh Thanh, Jan 1964 ~ 5th Special Forces[13]
• 0503 Moc Hoa, Mar 1964 ~ ~ 5th Special Forces[13]
• 0503 Bu Gia Map, Jun 1964 ~ 5th Special Forces[13]
• 0504 Pleiku, Jan 1964 ~ ~ ~ ~5th Special Forces Camp and airstrip[13]
• 0504 Kannack Special, Feb 1964 5th Special Forces Camp and airstrip[13]
• 0504 Dong Ba Thin, May 1964 5th Special Forces Camp and airstrip[13]
• 0504 Nha Trang, May 1964[13]
• 0505 Quang Tri, Oct 1964[13]
• 0505 Phar Rang, Dec 1964[13]
• 0506 Quang Ngai, Oct 1964[13]
• 0506 Da Nang, Mar 1965[13]
• 0507 Dran, Nov 1965[13]
• MTT#5 Pleiku, Oct 1965 (Well drilling team)[13]
• 0509 Thoai Son, Dec 1966[13]
• 0510 Tan An, Jan 1967[13]
• 0511 Bao Trai, Sep 1967[13]
• 0511 Go Dau Ha, Jan 1968[13]
• 0513 Tan Son Nhut, 0Dec 1968[13]
• 0513 Ben Tre, Jan 1969[13]
• 0514 Phu Vinh, Feb 1969[13]
• 0517 Ben Tre, Apr 1970[13]
• Det. Ba To 1970 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Special Forces Camp runway upgrade
• 0518 Soc Trang, Mar 1971[13]

NMCB 5 history[14]

Suspension bridge built by NMCB 5 CCAD in Timor-Liste 2015(Seabee Museum)

US Navy 081014-N-1205P-121 Chiefs and officers of NMCB 5 practice setting up a triple-strand concertina wire fence during 5's field exercise at Camp Pendleton in 2008.

• On August 7, 1990 CBs 4, 5, 7, and 40 were ordered to start preparations for Operation Desert Shield. From January through March, 1991 NMCB Five provided support to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force for both Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.[2] There were projects at Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Ali Al Salem Air Base and Camp Moreell.
• On March 21, 2003, Five's Seabee Engineering Reconnaissance Team SERT-5 along with four other SERTs crossed from Kuwait into Iraq with Task Force Tarawa.[2] They were an element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group(1MEF) and the lead SERT for the 2nd Marine Division. Their assignment was to evaluate Road 16 from An Nasiriyah to Amarah and from there Road 17 on to Qalat Sukkar and ultimately to the outskirts of Ad Diwaniyah as well as all the bridges along the way. It is believed that the team was the first Seabees to come under fire since the Vietnam war.[15] SERT-5 was augmented by three members of UnderwaterConstruction Team 2.[15] SERT-5 was relieved by the SERT-4 at the airfield outside Qalat Sukkar.

• NMCB Five was called into action again in support of the Global War on Terrorism during its 2005 deployment. Personnel from NMCB Five were integrated with reserve unit NMCB TWO SEVEN sending over 330 personnel to various locations throughout Southwest Asia. Majority of the work was in support of Special Operations Command with many sites being classified. Many personnel provided direct support to the Iraqi Army by constructing bases and facilities to support their ongoing struggle for stability.
• NMCB FIVE was deployed to Afghanistan from February to August in 2009 to work on Camp Leatherneck.[2] The battalion returned again in 2010.

• 1962 Typhoon Karen Guam Naval Base, MCB 5 set up 500 tents for the islanders
• 1989 Hurricane Hugo Charleston, SC, Antigua and Puerto Rico
• 1995 Hurricane Luis Antigua, St. Thomas, St. John[14]
• 1995 Hurricane Marilyn Antigua, St. Thomas, St. John[14]
• 1993 Ventura County fires
• 2000 Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash[14]