MORE ABOUT THE SEABEES

 

When World War II began, the Navy hired civilian contractors who were professional carpenters, electricians, etc, to build anything the various branches of the military needed. This meant that Seabees were needed to build overseas bases and depots, as well as roads, bridges and airfields in various war zones. The use of civilian contractors by the Navy worked well for a time, except that these workers were not armed or trained to fight, despite frequent enemy attacks in the early stages of the war. In addition, these workers were prevented from resisting any attack, being that under international law, civilians could be executed by enemy forces if they attempted to fight back. In essence, these non-combat personnel were subject to being punished for administering self-defense. It was obvious that the U.S. Navy had to come up with a better ideas for how it constructed the various bases and depots that it needed to supply and house its troops.

 

In response, civilian contract workers were taken out of war zones, as the Navy devised a plan to have all their construction needs supplied by bonafide navy personnel. To accomplish this feat, the Navy actively recruited civilians that possessed the needed skills to build large scale military projects...and the Seabees were officially born. As a result of being classified as navy personnel, all Seabees were required to attend basic military training (3-4 weeks), as well as additional firearms training that prepared them for combat, should the need arise. In other words, even though Seabees had their own specialized training camps in Virginia, they were trained exactly like any other group of seamen, being that most of them would eventually end up working in an active war zone. Given the hazardous conditions they were expected to face once they were shipped to the South Pacific and elsewhere, Seabees were provided with firearms once they entered combat zones.