The Secretary's decision, which was incorporated in Navy regulations, removed a major roadblock in the conduct of Seabee operations. On 19 March 1942, after due deliberation, the Secretary gave authority for officers of the Civil Engineer Corps to exercise military authority over all officers and enlisted men assigned to construction units. However, the Bureau of Naval Personnel (successor to the Bureau of Navigation) strongly objected to this proposal.ĭespite this opposition, Admiral Moreell personally presented the question to the Secretary of the Navy.

The bureau proposed that the necessary command authority should be bestowed on its Civil Engineer Corps officers. Yet it was deemed essential that the newly established construction battalions should be commanded by officers of the Civil Engineer Corps who were trained in the skills required for the performance of construction work. By Navy regulations, military command of naval personnel was limited to line officers. Admiral Moreell personally furnished them with their official motto: Construimus, Batuimus - 'We Build, We Fight.'Īn urgent problem confronting the Bureau of Yards and Docks was who should command the construction battalions. This is the actual beginning of the renowned Seabees, who obtained their designation from the initial letters of Construction Battalion.

On 28 December 1941, he requested specific authority to carry out this decision, and on 5 January 1942, he gained authority from the Bureau of Navigation to recruit men from the construction trades for assignment to a Naval Construction Regiment composed of three Naval Construction Battalions. Therefore, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell determined to activate, organize, and man Navy construction units. The need for a militarized Naval Construction Force to build advance bases in the war zone was self-evident. Resistance meant summary execution as guerrillas. Under international law civilians were not permitted to resist enemy military attack. After the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into the war, the use of civilian labor in war zones became impractical.

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