U. S. NAVAL MOBILE CONSTRUCTION BATTALION FIVE. DETACHMgNT ALFA COMPLETION! REPORT FOR PEARL HARBOR AHEA DEPLOYMENT JAN - JUL 1958 SECTION - 1

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1 U. S. NAVAL MOBILE CONSTRUCTION BATTALION FIVE DETACHMgNT ALFA COMPLETION! REPORT FOR PEARL HARBOR AHEA DEPLOYMENT JAN - JUL 1958 SECTION - 1 GENEH/,L DSPLOYHENT INFOHNATION SECTION - 11 FINAL ACTION REPORT

2 U. S. NAVAL EOBILE CONSTRUCTION HATTI.LION FIVE DETACHMENT "ALFA 11 c/ o FLE.!.T POST OFFICE Sf,N FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA From.: Officer in Charge To: COMMANDSJ:l Ni.V1\ L crn~struction FOltCES PACIFIC Subj: USN MCB FIVE, Det ALFA; completion report Ref: (a) COHN1~VCONSTFORPAC Operatiun Plan 6-5g of Feb i95g Encl: (l) USN MCB FIVE, Det ALFA completion rep9rt 1. The subject r eport is prepared in accordnnce with Ref(a), and is forwnrded e.s Encl. (1). J. A. KELCH Copy 'l'o: 14 ND COMSERVPi.C BUDOCKS DPWO, 14 ND MCB FIVE

3 SECTION - 1 GENERJJ, DEP!,OYMEE'I' INFORMATION A. PLANNING 1. In early December a planning party made up of tt>.ro officers arrl several chiefs was sent to Pearl Harbor to prepare the groun:l.work for tj1e advance party which wa.s due to deploy to Pearl Harbor in early January. The value of this party was limited, however, since many of the proposed projects for Det JUfa were st.ill in the early stages of development. They did, however obtain enough information for Det Alfa to d o some basic planning for the Pearl Harbor deployment. 2. COMNAVCONSTFCRPl.C oper ation plan No. &-58 was received. by this comnand in Feb The plot plans showing the structures to be removed at Fort Weaver and Camp Catlin were f orwarded by COMJAVCONSTFORP1~C in la.te JanUarY. The projects plans for tho ~: h3r Det Alfe. projects were received somewhat later in the deployment. B. JiDVANCE PARI'Y TO PE.'..RL HARB OR 1. Deployment date - The advance party arrived in Pearl Harbor on 13, January Organization - The advance party wa.s m3,de up of 1 off icer, 2 chiefs, am about 6 me n. 3. The mission of the advance was three fold ; first prepare the living, office, shop, and warehouse spaces for Det JUfa ; secon:l assist COMNAVCO.fSTFffiP:'.C in corrli tioni.ng automotive am construction stored at Pearl Harbor for use by both Det JJ_fa and the Main Body; tmxd start work on the demolition projects at Pearl Harbor arrl prepare form"t«jrk for the precast blocks to be used in the Kaho olawe boat dock. -1-

4 C. MAIN BODY 1. peployment dates: Det i~lf a an i ved in Pearl Barbor on 14 February Md is scheduled to leave B July Organizatiom.. Let.t-'.lfa was made 1...lJ of 9 officers arrl about 2 men. It should be noted that projects were c=>.ssigned t o the companies. This system worked well in tb3 past ar..d was extremly successful during this deployment. 3. Mission: The missj_on of Det l'.j..fa was military and technical training during th<~ 6-58 accomplishment of ta,sks assigned in Construction Operation Plan 4. Spaces: Det 1Ufa personnel were berthed in a variety of living spaces. lfuen 11 A 11 compp_n;r was on Oahu the majority of the personnel in "A" and "C" companies live.cl in Barracks 11 F 11 on board the U. s. Naval Station, Pearl Harbor. These barracks were quite ac 1 equate. Men working at Fort Weaver and NJJ) lived in barracks near the J ob. The spaces at Fort Weaver were substandard l<jhile those at NJ.D worg excellent. While on Kahoolawe t!a,n company lived in tents. Office Sp::1.ces:!~11 Det J~lf a offices with exception of some shgps offices were located in Barrack 11 F 11 These spaces proved to be functional arxi quite satisfactory. 5. Messing: ~~s with the living spaces Det Alfa p r~rsonnel ate in several different mess halls. The majority of men ate in the General M.3ss a.t u. s. Naval Station, Pearl Harbor. This galley at best can be called average. Not only wa s the food prepcration not up to usual Navy sta.n:ia.rds,, but the service offered was poor. The men working at Fort Weaver ate in the rifle range galley. From a rather shaky start this galley was soon serving.excellent f ood. The Galley at t he Naval, i.mnuni tion Dep::it was outst81lc1.ing in every r e spect. 111~ 11 Comp:i.ny while on Kahoolawe set up its own general mess. In th8 opinion of s ame of the men on Kahoolawe -2-

5 the food servell -c.here wr,s the best they had encountered i n t he Navy. In addition t o the usual on-the-job t raining Det Alfa was fortunate in being able to arrange for technical and.military training at s ome of the Navy schools in the Pearl Harbor area. The following is a suilli."ilation of training received: COURSE TITLE LEJ\TGHT OF COURSE (Days) NO~ OF MEN Motion Picture Operator 5 8 P 5 ~hi. ter Pump 5 4 Instructor Training 1 5 Practical Atomic Defense 5 8 Petty Officer Training 1 4 Fire Fighting 5 29 Marine Corps Small ~nns Trair:ing 1 24 Instructed and Issued Permits to Operate ilramsetn Tool 2 Since the facilities a t Naval Base, Pearl Harbor wer e quite: adequat e, Det Alfa did not oper,'j.te an extensive recreation program. There were, however, organized parties, sightseeing trips, Dnd t here wo.s a Special Services gear locker set up to issue a limited a.1'!ount of athletic gear. Det..Ufa. also oper ated a swiming pool neyt to the barracks a t t he Naval Station which was open t o all militnry personnel. 8. DISBURSING:.. Ul disbursing mo:lters f or Det Alfa were h1ndled by N~O office 1:1t Pearl Herbor. This a.ctivi ty gave very satisfactory service. 9. SJ.i.FB'IY : a. The safety organization consis t ed of a safety officer (cello.- t er al duty of the 11 cn Company Cornmander) and a full time safet y chief

6 -h- In addition to the regular Safety Chief, the Chief Surveyor had S~..fety ci.s a collaterej. duty while on Kahoolci.we. Through posters, pl~n of the day notices, and on-the-job supervision the importance of safety was emph13.sized to evnryone in this cornmarrl. Considering tte hazardous operations on Kahoolawe and Fort 1.ree.ver tr e se.foty progre.m has been a success. b. REGO 'T NC. of li.cddents (Fivst. 2id cases)!'jo. of ~ccidents (lst time) JJ1.N FEB WJt 2 i'..pr L~ JUN J,JJ to JUN c. AUTO. ACCIDENTS NO. OF ii.ccirei\'i's.jan FEB MAR.Q 1\PR 1 uw 3 JUN 1 GOV 1 T. D,iJ,.i!i.GE $25 $1 D. ADVANCE Pi.. H.TY TO PORI'.HUENEME 1. Deployment Date - The advance party left for Fort Hueneme on 2.1 Ms.y Organization - The advance party wn.s made up of one officer, l chief, and 32 men. 3. Mission - There were thro priniiip.a.l.ilms cf tho Port Hueneme adv~ce party; First: To act as a beach support unit during the June 1958 PHIBLEX. Oparation, Secon1: To operrte livir.g, office, and ~rarhouse spaces at Construction Battalion Center, Third: To prepare the Mi.li tary an:l. Technical Training?rogram for l'-icb5 1 s deployment at Port Hueneme. Since the activities of the adv::mce pprty will also be a subject of tile :m,tln bcx:lies completion r eport no rnore dete.ils will be covered in this report. E. LOGISTICS - since the logistics for both HCB5 and Det Alf a were both handled by the same officer information on this deployments logistics will be covered in MCB5' s report.