Amphibious Construction Battalion Two

Amphibious Construction Battalion Two, commonly abbreviated ACB 2 or PHIBCB 2, was a United States Navy amphibious construction unit based at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia. It operated within the Naval Construction Force, commonly known as the Seabees, and supported the Atlantic Fleet's ability to move personnel, vehicles, equipment, and supplies from ships to beaches and other austere shore locations. The unit's distinctive role joined two capabilities that are often treated separately: the small-craft and beach-operations expertise of the surface fleet and the engineering, construction, and expeditionary logistics skills of the Seabees. The unit traced its lineage to the 105th Naval Construction Battalion, commissioned at Camp Peary on 24 July 1943 during World War II. After training and preparation in California, the battalion deployed to the South Pacific and joined the Seventh Fleet at Milne Bay, New Guinea. There it built an amphibious training center, camp facilities, a Liberty ship pier, a fuel-storage complex, warehouses, roads, and airfield-related infrastructure. The unit later moved to the Philippines, landing at Tacloban on Leyte in October 1944. It constructed and supported airfields, roads, barracks, camps, water tanks, and other facilities while operating under frequent air attack. Detachments also worked at locations including Anabong Point, San Antonio, Talosa, Guiuan, Balingaga, and Osmena. After the war, the organization was recommissioned at Little Creek in 1947 and absorbed the responsibilities and equipment of the former Pontoon Training Unit of the Atlantic Fleet's amphibious training command. It became associated with Naval Beach Group Two after that command was established in 1948. Following changes to Navy construction-battalion designations, the unit briefly served as a mobile construction battalion before being redesignated Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 in 1950. From 1972 to 1975 it came under Naval Inshore Warfare Command; it returned to Naval Beach Group Two when that organization was recommissioned in 1975. Across the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, ACB 2 supported amphibious exercises, overseas contingencies, evacuation and disaster-relief missions, search-and-recovery operations, and major combat deployments. Its documented activities included the 1954-1955 Passage to Freedom evacuation effort, the 1958 Lebanon crisis, the multinational deployment in Lebanon during 1982-1984, Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, Operation Sharp Edge in Liberia, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, Joint Task Force Katrina, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake response. The battalion also contributed divers and construction personnel to the Tektite I undersea habitat project in the United States Virgin Islands in 1969. ACB 2 received unit recognition including the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Navy Unit Commendations, and Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations. It was decommissioned on 31 March 2023. Its history remains connected to the broader development of Navy amphibious construction and Seabee expeditionary support, while its sister organization, Amphibious Construction Battalion One, continues the comparable mission from Coronado, California.

Amphibious Construction Battalion Two originated as the 105th Naval Construction Battalion during the expansion of the United States Navy's Seabee force in World War II. The battalion was commissioned at Camp Peary on 24 July 1943, moved through training and staging locations in California, and prepared for overseas deployment at the Advance Base Depot in Port Hueneme. During this period its personnel and equipment were used in staging portions of the film The Fighting Seabees, linking the unit to a small episode of wartime motion-picture history. The 105th deployed aboard the transport Sea Devil, traveling through Townsville, Australia, to Milne Bay in New Guinea, where it joined the Seventh Fleet and its sister battalion, the 104th. From January through October 1944, the battalion worked in a difficult tropical environment that was heavily affected by malaria. Its principal projects included an amphibious training center, a camp, a Liberty ship pier, a tank farm, warehouses, roads, and support facilities. It also assisted with Turnbull Field and dispatched detachments for a hospital project at Hilimoi Bay and for a sawmill at Milne Bay. Specialized diving details undertook missions whose specific objectives were not publicly identified in the cited account. In October 1944 the battalion moved toward the Philippines and landed at Tacloban on Leyte on 24 October, four days after the initial landing. It was described as the first complete Seabee battalion to land in the Philippines. Personnel were distributed among Anabong Point, San Antonio in Northern Samar, and several other locations. The battalion built or supported airfields, roads, barracks, camps, and water tanks. During its first 31 days in the Philippines it experienced 138 air attacks. By the end of the war, its work formed part of the broader Seabee infrastructure that supported Allied operations in the region. The 105th Naval Construction Battalion was recommissioned at Little Creek, Virginia, on 22 January 1947. It was placed under the Atlantic Fleet's amphibious training command and assumed the duties and material of the former Pontoon Training Unit. The unit became part of Naval Beach Group Two after that command was formed in 1948. In 1949, Navy changes to construction-battalion nomenclature temporarily made the organization a Mobile Construction Battalion. In 1950 it received the designation Amphibious Construction Battalion 2. The renamed unit served throughout the Cold War and later decades as an amphibious construction and beach-support organization. It participated in Passage to Freedom, the evacuation and relocation effort associated with the 1954 Geneva settlement; Operation Blue Bat during the 1958 Lebanon crisis; the multinational force deployment in Lebanon; Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada; Operation Sharp Edge in Liberia; Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm; Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti; and later combat, recovery, and humanitarian operations. Its support was not limited to combat. In 1969, ACB 2 personnel and divers helped install the Tektite I undersea habitat in Great Lameshur Bay, United States Virgin Islands, while also constructing a twelve-hut base camp at Viers. From 1972 to 1975 the battalion was assigned to Naval Inshore Warfare Command after the decommissioning of Naval Beach Group Two. It returned to Naval Beach Group Two when that command was reestablished in 1975. Later missions included recovery work connected with TWA Flight 800 and EgyptAir Flight 990, Hurricane Katrina response, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake response. The unit was recognized with multiple Navy commendations and became the first construction battalion to receive the Joint Meritorious Unit Award. ACB 2 was ultimately decommissioned on 31 March 2023.

1. 2023Decommissioned

   Amphibious Construction Battalion Two was decommissioned on 31 March.

   Source
2. 1975Returned to Naval Beach Group Two

   The battalion again became part of Naval Beach Group Two after serving under Naval Inshore Warfare Command from 1972 to 1975.

   Source
3. 1969Tektite I support

   ACB 2 personnel and Seabee divers installed the Tektite I undersea habitat in the United States Virgin Islands.

   Source
4. 1950Redesignated Amphibious Construction Battalion 2

   Following a period under Mobile Construction Battalion nomenclature, the unit adopted the ACB 2 designation.

   Source
5. 1947Recommissioned at Little Creek

   The 105th Naval Construction Battalion was recommissioned at Little Creek, Virginia, and assigned an amphibious-training role.

   Source
6. 1944Deployment to Milne Bay and Leyte

   The battalion built facilities at Milne Bay before landing at Tacloban, Leyte, on 24 October and undertaking construction across the Philippines.

   Source
7. 1943105th Naval Construction Battalion commissioned

   The unit's lineage began when the 105th Naval Construction Battalion was commissioned at Camp Peary on 24 July.

   Source

An expeditionary United States Navy Seabee unit positioned to provide the engineering, construction, small-craft, and logistics capabilities required to project amphibious forces from sea to shore and to support contingency, recovery, and humanitarian missions.

• Amphibious construction supportMilitary engineering

  The battalion provided expeditionary construction capabilities for amphibious forces, including shore facilities, camps, roads, airfield infrastructure, water systems, fuel facilities, piers, and other temporary or semi-permanent installations.

• Ship-to-shore operationsAmphibious logistics

  ACB 2 operated as a link between naval vessels and landing areas, using small-craft, pontoon, barge, and causeway expertise to move people, vehicles, equipment, and supplies across the shore interface.

• Diving and underwater constructionExpeditionary diving1969

  Specialized divers supported underwater construction and expeditionary engineering, including the installation of the Tektite I undersea habitat in the United States Virgin Islands.

• 2010Operation Unified Response

  Haiti

  ACB 2 supported the international humanitarian response to the Haiti earthquake.

  Outcome. The battalion provided military engineering and amphibious support during disaster-relief operations.

  Source
• 2005Joint Task Force Katrina

  United States Gulf Coast

  The battalion took part in the military response to Hurricane Katrina.

  Outcome. Its expeditionary engineering and logistical capabilities were applied to domestic disaster response.

  Source
• 2003Operation Iraqi Freedom

  Iraq

  ACB 2 supported the Iraq War as part of the Navy's expeditionary construction and amphibious force structure.

  Outcome. The unit contributed its specialized shore and construction capabilities to the operation.

  Source
• 1994Operation Uphold Democracy

  Haiti

  The battalion participated in the United States-led intervention and stabilization mission in Haiti.

  Outcome. ACB 2 supported the amphibious force and its shore-based requirements.

  Source
• 1991Operation Sharp Edge

  Liberia

  The battalion supported the evacuation and contingency operation in Liberia.

  Outcome. ACB 2 provided expeditionary support in a civil-conflict environment.

  Source
• 1990Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm

  Saudi Arabia · Kuwait · Persian Gulf

  ACB 2 supported the Gulf War buildup and combat operations.

  Outcome. The unit contributed amphibious construction and logistics capabilities to the coalition deployment.

  Source
• 1983Operation Urgent Fury

  Grenada

  A detachment participated in the United States intervention in Grenada.

  Outcome. The unit supported the amphibious and shore infrastructure requirements of the operation.

  Source
• 1982Multinational Force in Lebanon

  Lebanon

  ACB 2 served during the multinational deployment in Lebanon from August 1982 through February 1984.

  Outcome. The deployment extended the unit's role in overseas amphibious and contingency operations.

  Source
• 1958Operation Blue Bat

  Lebanon

  The battalion supported the United States response to the Lebanon crisis.

  Outcome. ACB 2 contributed amphibious construction and shore-support capabilities.

  Source
• 1954Passage to Freedom

  Vietnam

  ACB 2 and ACB 1 were assigned to Task Force 90 in support of the movement of people from northern to southern Vietnam permitted under the 1954 Geneva arrangements.

  Outcome. The unit supported a major Cold War-era amphibious relocation and transportation effort.

  Source

• 2023Decommissioning of the battalionOther

  After decades of amphibious construction, expeditionary engineering, combat support, and humanitarian missions, the Navy ended the unit's formal organizational existence.

  What changed. Amphibious Construction Battalion Two was decommissioned on 31 March 2023.

  Aftermath. The unit became defunct; its historical mission remains associated with the Navy's broader amphibious and Seabee capabilities.

  Source
• 1950Adoption of the Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 designationStrategy

  The Navy revised its construction-force designations after the postwar reorganization of amphibious and Seabee units.

  What changed. The former 105th Naval Construction Battalion, after a brief period under Mobile Construction Battalion nomenclature, became Amphibious Construction Battalion 2.

  Aftermath. The new designation reflected the unit's specialized role in amphibious construction and ship-to-shore support.

  Source

• 2023Amphibious Construction Battalion Two decommissioned

  The United States Navy decommissioned Amphibious Construction Battalion Two on 31 March 2023, ending the unit's formal service after a lineage that extended back to the 105th Naval Construction Battalion of World War II.

  OtherLeadership change
  Source
• 2010Amphibious Construction Battalion Two supported Operation Unified Response

  The battalion participated in the United States military response to the Haiti earthquake, providing expeditionary construction and amphibious support during the humanitarian operation.

  Other
  Source
• 2005Amphibious Construction Battalion Two supported Joint Task Force Katrina

  The unit contributed to the United States response to Hurricane Katrina as part of Joint Task Force Katrina.

  Other
  Source

1. Amphibious Construction Battalion 2