Seabees Repair Snafu in Celebration Plan

Plans for the Seabees’ 50th anniversary celebration sprang a leak Thursday, as a Navy frigate got stranded in San Diego Bay.

But Navy officials insisted that the party, dubbed Seabee 50 Fest, will be shipshape by the scheduled start on Saturday.

A maintenance problem prevented the USS Reasoner from arriving Thursday, the prearranged time to stir up a little publicity as one of the event’s star attractions.

“We sprang a leak--in the steam room,” said Navy spokeswoman Doris Lance about the 440-foot Knox-class frigate.

But true to the Seabees’ can-do reputation, event organizers scrambled to replace the disabled frigate with the USS Fanning, a sister ship of the anti-submarine Reasoner. The Fanning is expected to arrive at the Port of Hueneme this morning.

Despite the snafu, preparations were well under way Thursday for the Naval Construction Battalion Center’s festivities, which will feature live entertainment, a military parade, a carnival midway and equipment displays.

Tickets for the 3:15 p.m. show featuring country singer Crystal Gayle can be bought for $5 from Ticket Master, and for $8 at the door.

The event marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Navy Construction Battalions at the start of World War II, as well as the Port Hueneme base, which opened the same year.

“That’s when the Navy decided Port Hueneme was the ideal place to launch the construction effort in the Pacific,” said Capt. Dave Nash, who became the base commander in October.

Area residents are welcome at the Seabee 50 Fest, he said. But Nash also expects to greet waves of former Seabees, including some of the first Seabees who have not returned to the base since they were shipped out at the height of World War II.

Nash described the Seabees as hard-working sailors who have shown that they are good with their hands in Navy tests. After basic training, the recruits receive additional training in construction skills, from electrical and steelwork to operating heavy equipment.

Over the years, the Seabees have earned a reputation for getting a job done even if it means scrounging for materials.

“We teach them the basic skills, but then we rely on their ingenuity,” Nash said. “They may not always have the right tools or material, but they’ll get the job done.”

On Thursday, teams of Seabees were busy constructing the “basic village” that they usually build during battle or a natural disaster. Over the past few days, the teams have completed a bunker built with corrugated metal and sandbags, a portable steel bridge that is “launched” over a stream, and a command post.

Builder 1st Class David Midgorden and Steel Worker 1st Class Dessalines Johnson inspected the steel Bailey bridge, which can bear the weight of 60-ton tanks.

“We built it over here, set up the roller system, and then launched it,” said Midgorden in explaining how the Seabees erected the World War II-era bridge.

The men said their duty in the Gulf War demonstrated the Seabees’ resourcefulness.

The Marines at the base that they helped build in the Saudi Arabian desert complained that the mess hall did not have a grill. So the Seabees fashioned one from a quarter-inch sheet of steel usually used to patch bridges and other structures, Johnson said.

“People from other bases heard about it and came over for a pancake breakfast on the first Sunday,” he said. “It was a real morale booster.”

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: B5