The Navy's 'Can Do' engineers were born from a legal loophole in combat zones

Cultures · Published 1 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: After Pearl Harbor, civilian contractors in war zones faced a deadly dilemma: resist an attack and face summary execution as guerrillas, or remain passive. To solve this, the U.S. Navy created the Seabees—a force of highly skilled tradesmen designed to build, fight, and replace civilians.

The Seabees, or Naval Construction Battalions, were conceived as a military replacement for the approximately 70,000 civilian contractors working on U.S. Navy contracts overseas. Under international law, these civilians could not resist attacks without being classified as illegal combatants. To bridge this gap, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell became the lead proponent of a new model: the Construction Battalion (CB). This force was designed to be a military equivalent of civilian companies, capable of operating under any conditions, from the shores of Normandy to the islands of the Pacific.

The force's identity was forged through rapid expansion and specialized training. While the 'Seabee' name itself is a heterograph of the initials 'CB', the unit's capabilities grew to include everything from underwater demolition and airfield construction to malaria control and even polar petroleum exploration. Their toolkit was famously diverse, encompassing the development of pontoons, the construction of massive 'Lion' fleet bases, and even the maintenance of facilities at Camp David. This versatility earned them the 'Can Do' motto and a reputation for legendary ingenuity.

However, the Seabee history is also marked by profound racial struggle. While the Navy eventually authorized African American enlistment in 1942, early units faced severe segregation and systemic friction. The 17th Special CB, a segregated unit, demonstrated extraordinary heroism during the Battle of Peleliu in 1944, volunteering to man guns and carry ammunition under heavy Japanese banzai attacks. Despite the era's racial strife, these 'Special CBs' served as the precursors to today's integrated Navy cargo handling units, proving their mettle in some of the most intense combat of the Pacific theater.

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