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years, Diego Garcia was a frequent stop for vessels in the Indian Ocean. The strategic importance of c atoll became more apparent during World War when the British relied on it for refueling and min°^ repairs. Impetus for the present construction facilities by U. S. naval construction forces is the same as that for past efforts: support of naV‘^ forces in the area. Events in the oil-rich Middle aS certainly a consideration for a greater naval PreS
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Diego Garcia is a tiny atoll more than 1,000 miles south of the tip of India and 10,000 miles from the mainland of the United States. It is also one of the largest permanent peacetime construction projects ever undertaken by the Navy’s Seabees. The project, which is scheduled for completion in 1981, will provide a link in the U. S. defense communication system and a naval support facility that will afford services and materials in support of tenant shore activities and units of the Navy’s operating forces.
While the history of Seabee construction on Diego Garcia dates from 1971, the island’s own history of contact with the outside world dates back much further. One of six major islands in the Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia was discovered by Portuguese explorers in 1532, and despite a temporary importance as a producer of coconut oil, the island was recognized more for its military importance.
Diego Garcia’s strategic value apparently was first noted in 1786, when the British tried to set up a supply station. The attempt failed, and the island passed to French rule until the Napoleonic Wars, when it was ceded back to Britain. In the following
ence, as is the increased Soviet activity in the Ocean and Soviet involvement in the Horn of A rl war between Ethiopia and Somalia.
Seabees Start Work: Preliminary groundwork ^ Seabee construction of facilities on the island was a1^ in 1966 with an agreement between the Unlte^. States and United Kingdom, making the islands 0 the British Indian Ocean Territory available for fense purposes of both governments. A subseque Diego Garcia agreement outlined the scope of c0fj struction. Department of Defense approval and fun ing by Congress opened the door for work to beg*0'
On 23 January 1971, a nine-man advance part7j from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 lan on Diego Garcia to confirm planning information an to survey beach landing areas. Within a year, tn° ^ than 600 Seabees were at work, marking underway obstructions, installing temporary navigation al s’ clearing beach areas and building a temporary Sea e camp. In that year, they also put in a water and elec trical distribution system, built a dining hall, bert1^ ing spaces and laundry, and erected refrigeration 11,1 ^ material storage facilities. The interim airfield 'va completed less than six months after the arrival of1 battalion main body, and in July 1971 the first C'U flight landed on a 3,500-foot airstrip. (See “To Bui a Link—The Seabees at Diego Garcia,” Proceeding5’ April 1973, page 101.) g
When the first Seabees started work on Die£ Garcia, they lived in tents. It was hot in the day time, and it usually rained at night. And everything was subject to salt spray and fine coral dust. 5 workday was anywhere from 10-12 hours long, ‘lfl the six-day week was standard. Eight years h»v^ passed since then, and most of the Seabees are house<- in air-conditioned portable huts that resemble than anything else a barracks version of the mobi home. Little else has changed.
Battalion Rotation: Working at an accelerated PaCe’ battalions from both the Pacific and Atlantic rotut^ at eight-month intervals to provide major constru^ tion support on the island. Other construction sup port on Diego Garcia comes from smaller Seabee
n|ts, including the 50-man pier detail engaged in ,Ul a fueling and supply pier and causeway in e lagoon. There is also a detachment from Conduction Battalion Maintenance Unit 302 in Subic ay which is charged with repair and maintenance of eebee camp utilities; a detail from Underwater Conduction Team Two in Port Hueneme which is '[1][2] [3] [4] [5]°rking on the pier and causeway; and a general conduction detail from every deployed battalion from e Pacific and Atlantic. Managing the construction Hogress on site is the 30th Naval Construction Reg- ‘dient Detachment, which in turn is responsible to e Commander, Construction Battalions, Pacific at earl Harbor.
Naval construction forces, however, make up only °ut half the total island population of approxi- d'ately 1,200. The other half are for the most part adached either to the naval communications station, ^lval support facility, or the Royal Navy party. verall administration of the island is under the dtish and U. S. flags. The Royal Navy party is ^de up of radio operators, technicians, and administrative personnel. The commanding officer fills ^dual role, acting also as the British Indian Ocean erntory Representative for the Chagos island group, ue senior U. S. representative on the island is the c°fTimanding officer of the naval support facility.
Construction Projects: The Seabees on Diego Garcia ‘aVe so far completed more than 45 projects, ranging r°rn major work pouring more than 150,000 cubic ^ards of concrete on the airfield and putting into operation a generator plant servicing the entire island, to eight fuel tanks and construction of the receiver aud transmitter sites for the communications station, eabees are now putting the finishing touches on the 000-foot runway, a major effort that required the lining and filling of large areas of swamp, and the Placement of lights and facilities for navigational aids. Operating from the airfield is a detachment of patrol/antisubmarine planes.
Other jobs completed include 17 miles of asphalt mad, warehouses, a modern laundry facility, spaces 0r the naval support facility established in 1977, a°d centrally air-conditioned barracks to house some °0 personnel attached to the support and communi- ^ations facilities. Also completed is a Navy exchange adlity, spaces for dental and medical work, and recreational projects that include a swimming pool, e°nis and volleyball courts, a softball field and an ^listed men s club. A major project still under conduction is the L -shaped causeway/pier that will e*tend into the deep-water portion of the island la- 8°on and greatly ease the loading and offloading of
ships and provide greater support to fleet units. When the work is completed, Diego Garcia will be able to provide support for a small naval task group.
Skills involved in such a project are not usually found in a normal Seabee unit, and the present pier detail is made up of individuals with previous experience in such areas as pile driving or underwater construction. When the causeway/pier project is completed sometime in mid-1980, an estimated 7 miles of concrete-filled steel piles will have been placed, and an added benefit to the Seabees will be a nucleus of men with practical experience in waterfront work. Still operated by the Seabees are a major rockcrushing plant, two concrete production plants, and a coral harvesting operation that has to date produced more than 350,000 cubic yards of aggregate.
Logistics Challenge: The completed jobs, projects still under construction, and work still in the planning stage take on more meaning in light of the logistics problems of assembling both equipment and material on such an isolated island. Every piece of construction equipment and all building materials must arrive on Diego Garcia by ship or cargo aircraft. The cement supplier is 5,000 miles away in Africa, and reinforcing steel for concrete may take months to arrive by ship from the U. S. mainland.
Spare parts are sometimes at a premium. Uses are found for practically every item arriving on the island, and Seabee ingenuity is often in demand. When the machine used to change the 6-foot diameter tires on the big scraper-loaders broke down, Seebees improvised with light explosive detonation cord. Carefully wrapping the explosive cord around the outside rim of the tire, they placed a large steel shield around the area. When the cord exploded it loosened the tire and released the air. Another length of cord wrapped similarly around the inside rim blew the tire straight off the wheel.
There have been other instances during the history of Seabee construction on Diego Garcia which aptly illustrate their Can Do” motto. And over the next two years, with the gradual completion of major projects, there will almost certainly be others.
One way in which the Naval support facility at Diego Garcia can ease the problems of the long supply lines to the Indian Ocean is by providing fuel for the ships and planes operating in the area. And so it is that huge tanks are being built; their size is evident by observing the men working inside one and the man climbing steps around another. Also useful for naval ships calling at the atoll will he the pierlcauseway under construction inside the lagoon. On the opposite page are reinforcement cages used for the concrete pilings which support the pier. In another view Seabees pour concrete for a piling.
For most, Diego Garcia is an abstraction—a faraway islandlatoll which is mentioned occasionally in print. But for hundreds of Seahees, Diego Garcia is—or was a temporary home. When the abstract becomes tangible, Navymen learn to adjust to heat that sometimes raises temperatures to 150° when it beats down on a concrete runway, rain that produces ankle-deep puddles, and hens in a camp laundry. To make things more habitable, there is a new messhall and new barracks beyond the old cement silos. But some men find it easier to get used to the heat by living in old huts rather than air-conditioned barracks.
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Proceedings / August
Remote yet strategically located, the island of Diego Garcia is a study in contrasts. It is viewed with approbation or condemnation, depending on one's beliefs concerning naval power in the Indian Ocean. It is at the same time the home of P-3 patrol planes—the latest in sophisticated ASW aircraft and of donkeys, a holdover from the island's days of producing coconut oil. It is jointly administered by Britain and the United States—one a nation whose Indian Ocean presence has waned and one whose presence is growing. The tropical-type huts of the Seabee camp (shown in a 1974 photo) coexist with modern air-conditioned barracks. And for the Seabee inhabitants, whether operating the rock crusher or loading sand into a dump truck, Diego Garcia is where they live— but definitely not home.
Perry Officer Harrison is a 1971 graduate of the Navy’s
advanced photojournalism course ar Syracuse Univer- jl*/ Hi sity. He was selected as Navy Photojournalist of rhe
7§ Year in 1972. He has spent more than five years as a
I Navy photojournalist, interspersed with periods as a ci-
[5]*l‘an news reporter and photographer. His Navy career has included assignments in Vietnam, on the Apollo 17 recovery, and with the Seabees throughout the Pacific. He is now assistant public affairs officer and staff photojournalist at the headquarters of Commander, Construction Battalions, Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor.