Before World War II the need for Amphibious Training Base was seen. In 1903, President
Theodore Roosevelt from his experience in the Spanish-American War established a Joint Army-Navy Board in 1903, but no Amphibious Training Base came out of this. One of the first small-scale Amphibious Training took place in
Culebra and
Vieques, Puerto Rico at the request of the Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels in 1913. During World War I, the
Gallipoli amphibious operations in Turkey did not go well for the
Allies, thus some thought that amphibious warfare was at an end.[1]
With new concerns in the Pacific, in 1921, Marine Commandant Lieutenant General
John A. Lejeune asked
Major Earl “Pete” Ellis to make up plans for an amphibious war with Japan, as to be prepared. Ellis wrote OpPlan 712: Advance Base Operations in Micronesia, which outlined modern amphibious warfare.[9] The
Fleet Marine Force was founded on December 7, 1933. Fleet Marine Force was a combined Force of both the US Navy and the United States Marine Corps. On December 7, 1941, Japan carried out a surprise military strike on the
Naval Base in Pearl Harbor.[10][11] Japan hoped to eliminate US military force in the Pacific as it soon carried out attacks across the South Pacific.[12][13] The attack led the US to enter World War II. During World War II the United States was fighting on two fronts, the
Pacific War and the
European theatre. The Pacific War was an amphibious operation of
Island-hopping and the European theatre required amphibious operations to get a foothold on the
European continent. European theatre saw major amphibious operations at the invasion of
North Africa,
Southern France,
Sicily,
Italy and
Normandy.[1]
On January 5, 1942
Seabee Navy Construction Battalions officially began operation.[14] In July 1943 Seabee started an
Amphibious Construction Battalion, with
Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 as the first unit, which operated in the Pacific War. Seabee were given the task of clearing beaches of obstacles and establishing beachhead bases.[15][16] In addition, Seabees built and operated sea ports, airfields and served as elements the United States Marine Corps.[17]
This nation's first official naval amphibious training base was established in August 1942 at
Solomons, Maryland, USNATB, United States Navy Amphibious Training Base. Other base opened on both coasts of the United States.[18][19] Due to the demand for Amphibious Training, overseas bases were founded in
North Africa and the South Pacific.[20][21][1][22]
The United States Navy needed to train with the US Army and US Marine Corps, as amphibious landing require complex operations:[3]
Amphibian engineers land 45th Division troops at Cape Cod in 1942
1006th Seabees in the Salerno Invasion,
Operation Avalanche, unloading an LST ship over a Pontoon Causeway at Safta Beach in September 1943. The ship had trained and loaded with the Pontoon Causeway at an US Naval Bases North Africa Amphibious Training Bases
1006th Seabees using a Three-Section Pontoon Causeway at Safta Beach in September 1943.
American troops land on an Algerian beach during Operation Torch
Troops and landing craft crews training at
HMAS Assault during World War II
American troops unload stores from
LCA 26 at Beach Z, near
Arzeu
A light-armored vehicle assaults the beach from a landing craft utility from Assault Craft Unit 2 during an amphibious assault demonstration conducted as part of Bright Star 2009, Egypt, Oct. 12, 2009.
A US Navy
LCAC maneuvers to enter the well deck of the amphibious assault ship
USS Kearsarge
^Riley, Sandra; Peters, Thelma B. (2000). Homeward Bound: A History of the Bahama Islands to 1850 with a Definitive Study of Abaco in the American Loyalist Plantation Period.
Miami: Island Research.
ISBN978-0966531022.
OCLC51540154.
^Cathal J. Nolan, et al. Turbulence in the Pacific: Japanese-U.S. Relations during World War I (2000)
^"Chapter VI: The Seabees". Building the Navy's Bases in World War II: History of the BuDocks and the CEC 1940–1946. Vol. I. Washington, DC: U.S.GPO. 1947. Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via HyperWar.
^37th Seabees cruisebook, Seabee Museum Archives website, Port Hueneme, CA, Jan. 2020, p. 12-16