Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme

Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme is the West Coast homeport of the Navy’s Seabees (from "C.B.", the initials for "Construction Battalion"). Port Hueneme (pronounced "Why-nee-mee"), supports the training and mobilization requirements for more than 2,600 active-duty personnel. The CBC also operates the 1,600-acre (6.5 km2) Naval Base Ventura County - Port Hueneme installation. The CBC is located on the vast agricultural Oxnard Plain, about 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Los Angeles, on the Southern California coast.

CBC Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme, California
CBC Port Hueneme Insignia
TypeMilitary base
Site information
Controlled byUnited States Navy
Site history
In useMay 18, 1942 - 2000 (merged into Naval Base Ventura County)
Garrison information
Past
commanders		Captain James J. McHugh, USN
Oliver O. Kessing

In 2000, the center merged with nearby Naval Air Station Point Mugu to form Naval Base Ventura County.

Tenant Commands
See also: Seabee § Organization; and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion § West Coast (Port Hueneme, California)
  • Naval Construction Group 1
  • Underwater Construction Team 2

History

"1942: The start of the Second World War sent naval survey teams up and down the Pacific coast looking for new locations for naval facilities. One team was looking for a site to build a naval base to support naval construction activities at advanced bases in the Pacific. The team came to Port Hueneme, California and recognized it as an ideal port, because it was the only Pacific deep water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Word of the discovery was sent to Admiral Ben Moreell, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, who was busily putting together the new construction battalions. Port Hueneme therefore was tentatively selected as the site for the advanced base depot on the Pacific coast. On February 16, 1942, Admiral Moreell sent his recommendations to the Chief of Naval Operations and it was speedily approved."[1] The facility at Port Hueneme was built as a temporary depot to train, stage, and supply the newly created Seabees. The base was officially established and began operating May 18, 1942 as an Advance Base Depot (ABD). In 1945 the Advance Base Depot was renamed as a Naval Construction Battalion Center.[2]

During the Korean War, almost all Navy construction equipment and supplies for the war were routed through CBC Port Hueneme.[2]

U.S. Navy Seabee Museum
See also: Seabee § Museums, and U.S. Navy Museum § Other Navy museums

Located on Naval Base Ventura County is the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, one of fifteen official U.S. Navy museums.[3] The museum is the principal repository for the Seabees’ operational history. The Seabee Archive contains various operational records, battalion histories, manuscripts, oral histories, biographies, and personal papers pertaining to the Seabees.[3]

See also

Footnotes
  1. This Week in Seabee History, Seabee online Magazine, February 11 - February 17
  2. "NBVC History". Naval Base Ventura County. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  3. U.S. Navy Seabee Museum webpage. Naval History & Heritage Command official website. Retrieved 2010-03-09.

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