Navy Ncdu Teams Essays - Military Engineering,

Navy Ncdu Teams The Teams On the beach invasions of Normandy, one of the marines commented, Jesus, we dont even have control of the beach yet and already the tourist are here!. This is the normal response that the men of UDT get, during WWII in the pacific campaign. They would paint themselves with steaks of blue and white. They were the first ones on the beach and the last ones to leave. They carried no weapons except for a combat knife used for cutting, and crimping the fuses of their explosives. Some say that you would have to be half nuts and half fish to join the UDT. But, besides being courageous and saving the lives of many a thankful marine(although they will not admit it) the UDT did something historical that NO HISTORY BOOK for that matter has cared to mention. They launched the United States into a whole new type of warfare, consisting of underwater commandos who could rise up out of the water and devastate an enemy, and disappear just as fast, or slip onto an enemy held beach, undetected, and bring back almost any type of information you needed. The latter probably saved hundreds upon thousands of marines lives alone. My report will show you the mysterious, and secret world of the UDT. The first Naval Combat Demolition Unit started with thirteen volunteers who were near the end of their basic training in the Dynamiting and Demolition School at Camp Perry, Virginia. They were sent to the Naval Amphibious Training Base at Solomon Island, Maryland, in Chesapeake Bay where they were joined by other enlisted demolition men and eight officers. Lieutenant Fred Wise from the Sea Bees (Construction Battalions) was designated Officer in Charge. They were given a quick, intensive course in blowing channels through sandbars with explosive hose, and in working from rubber boats to place explosive charges on underwater obstacles which had been modeled by Army engineers. Then they sailed for the assault on Sicily. Twenty-one men under LT Wise debarked from three attack cargo ships off Scoglitti, Sicily, on the morning of July 10, 1943 and waited patiently for orders that never came. The landing waves either found enough water over the sandbars or used alternative beaches. For the next two days the demolition units did useful work salvaging stranded boats, buoying channels through the sandbars, and surveying the beaches. Then they shipped back to the States. Most of this first group stayed in the Naval Combat Demolition Units as instructors, proceeding to the Naval Amphibious Training Base in Fort Pierce, Florida for the tougher training which was just getting underway in accordance with a directive from Admiral J. King, who was both Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operation. His directive was in two parts: providing men for 'a present urgent requirement' of the Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet; and starting experimental work and training for permanent Naval Demolition Units for assignment to other amphibious forces. (Above info from Naked Warriors by CDR Francis Fane.) Another result of that directive was a telegram sent the same night to Lieutenant Commander Draper L. Kauffman, founder and head of the Navy Bomb Disposal School, recalling him to Washington. LT Kauffman was giving the responsibility for launching the Navy's underwater demolition. Lieutenant Draper L. Kauffman was a remarkable man and uniquely qualified for the job. After graduating from the Naval Academy, his poor eyesight precluded his being commissioned. Frustrated but determined to join the war effort, he donned a French uniform and became a driver in the American Volunteers Ambulance Corps. He was captured by the Germans and spent time in a prison camp but was freed with a handful of other American drivers. Undaunted, Kauffman volunteered for mine disposal with the British Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. His skill and bravery disarming bombs for the British won the attention of U.S. Navy where he was at last commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1941. In June of 1943 at Fort Pierce, Florida, the first class arrived and assembled for training. The personnel were drawn from three sources, primarily because it was reasonably expected that men from the Construction Battalions, the Bomb Disposal School and the Mine