Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Heather Salzman | 200220-N-MW964-1041 PORT HUENEME, Calif. (Feb. 20, 2020) Seabees assigned to Naval...... read more read more
PORT HUENEME, Calif., (NNS) – Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3 and Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 2 conduct phase one of the first ever Pile Driving Exercise (PDX) onboard Naval Base Ventura County, Calif. Feb. 21 through Mar. 5.
In keeping with the NMCB and UCT pier damage repair (PDR) mission, the two units worked in collaboration to execute phase one of the Pile Driving Exercise.
Port Damage Repair (PDR) is a critical enabler to ensure logistics flow and successful operations in contested environments is an essential requirement, and complementary capability, to other Naval Expeditionary and Fleet Operations. The Navy requires agility for the future fight. PDR will ensure that logistics ashore and at sea is continually postured in ways that allow the fleet to operate globally and at a pace that can be sustained during a maritime campaign. Successful PDR will improve and ensure the ability of the Navy to refuel, rearm, resupply, and repair.
Port, Pier, and wharf construction and repair is nothing new to the Seabees. Since World War II, Seabees have been working on the waterfront, conducting operations across the globe in support of major combat operations (MCO) response, theater security, and humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HA/DR).
The Indo-Asian Pacific region encompasses 52% of the earth’s surface, and much of the surface is ocean or ocean coastline. Practically every area of this country in the region has active ports that operate as essential entrances for trade and supplies that are crucial to their economy and existence. They also have numerous naval piers throughout their region that hold Naval Vessels as well as supply our service members deployed and stationed abroad. Here alone in the United States, we have 14 Naval Piers with 90-100 ships deployed.. Currently today, 56 ships deployed forward with 75 battle ready forces including submarines.
With trade and supply routes relying heavily on waterfront infrastructure, such as piers and wharfs built in these densely populated areas, a natural disaster or combat threat would make for a huge difficulty; aid and assistance cannot reach the people that need it until those damaged piers in the ports repaired. To improve efficiency and speed of the repair process, Seabees from UCT and NMCB conduct training exercises to evaluate the training in place for these skillsets. The capabilities earned by these Seabees will allow the Naval Construction Force to not only aid other countries in expeditious humanitarian support but be the experts in Naval Pier Damage repair in the event of a need for MCO response.
Over the course of two weeks a team of 14-NMCB THREE personnel used a 50-ton lattice boom crawler crane to drive 5 corrugated steel sheets into the ocean’s floor approximately 30’ below sea level with a vibratory driver/extractor (VDE) system. These sheets alone can provide support for concrete placement for repair to a damaged concrete pier, or even create a dry working space for the repair of steel or wood piles if the water is pumped out. However, the Seabees did not stop there. Once the corrugated steel sheets were in place, the NMCB team then continued to drive 4 timber piles another 30’ each. Once depth is reached for each pile, the team then travels to the floating pier using a construction saw to cut all four pieces level to each other and the existing pier that the crane is on.
“Being out there with my team and seeing the capabilities of the Seabees on the waterfront was a sight to see,” expressed Equipment Operator 1st Class Mark Ramos, the project supervisor for the PDX. “It’s been a long time since Seabees have done any type of PDR so to be the first team to successfully execute a PDX was a great way to end our homeport.”
Seabees from NMCB will deploy this spring to INDO-PACOM AOR where these assets will be beneficial to the unit and partnerships throughout the Area of Responsibility for all their service members.
During the initial phase of timber pile driving, the NMCB team came to a point of refusal. At this point, the earth refused the timber pile and the team came to a halt. The divers then entered the water and used a miniature sheer penetration test to check for penetration ability. Upon results of the test, the divers were able to assist the NMCB team with moving the pile to a location that allotted 30’ depth of penetration into the oceans floor.
“Working with the NMCB team brought back memories of where we (as divers) started,” said Builder 1st Class Joe Hophan, UCT- lead supervisor for the dives. “Being able to execute our capabilities as a true Seabee team showing our diverse skillset is great. Proving that Seabees do exemplary work is what it is all about.”
This pier system was configured to support 30 ft of vessel draft. Upon completion of the pier decking, UCT-2 divers were back in the water ensuring that lag bolts had been secured properly and bracing was fitted to specs.
Throughout the exercise evaluators from Naval Construction Group (NCG) ONE assessed and graded the units’ ability to execute construction operations with quality, and within the planned timeline.
“After two weeks of a successful exercise, we concluded that NMCB-3 and UCT-2 worked cohesively to execute exactly what was asked of them,” said Utilitiesman 1st Class Erick Marin, one of NCG-1’s underwater construction team expert. “The capabilities of this duo is immense. Anything from steel, concrete, composite, or even expeditionary floating dock platforms is possible for the Seabees.”
NMCB 3 is based in Port Hueneme, Calif. and provides general engineering, disaster relief, humanitarian assistance and civil support to the Navy, Marine Corps, and joint operational forces through planned deployments and contingency response.
UCT- 2 is based in Port Hueneme, Calif., and provides capability for construction, inspection, repair, and maintenance of ocean facilities in support of Naval and Marine Corps operations, to include repair of battle damage. Maintain capability to support a Fleet Marine Force amphibious assault, subsequent combat service support ashore and self-defense for their camp and facilities under construction. In time of emergency or disaster, conduct disaster control and recovery operations.
NCG-1 is based out of Port Hueneme, Calif. and prepares Pacific Fleet Naval Construction Force (NCF) units to conduct expeditionary and deliberate construction in support of Combatant Commanders and warfighter requirements. We do this through combat and construction training, equipment and maintenance training, and logistical and mobilization support of our subordinate units. NCG 1 exercises administrative control over the 1st and 30th Naval Construction Regiments, Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCBs) THREE, FOUR, and FIVE, TWENTY-TWO, TWENTY-FIVE, and EIGHTEEN as well as Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303, and Underwater Construction Team TWO. In all, NCG 1 includes 10 subordinate units and totals about 4700 personnel.
| Date Taken: | 03.05.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2020 16:44 |
| Story ID: | 364914 |
| Location: | CA, US |
| Web Views: | 389 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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