Naval Combat Demolition Unit

"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 Solomons Island,
Maryland, in Chesapeake
Bay where
they were joined by other enlisted demolition men and eight officers. Lieutenant
Fred Wise from the SeaBees (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.

Jack Browne underwater breathing
apparatus (left)
Munson Lung (right) worn by NCDU-19
personnel
Most of this first group stayed in the Naval Combat Demoltion Units as instructors, proceeding to the Naval Ampibious 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 ISBN 1-55750-266-8)
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 arived 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 Disposal School would already be familiar with
explosives and basic demolitions. The site was chosen because it offered
natural swimming beaches and desirable temperatures for year round swimming.
Too, it was at a base where demolitions could be carried out and problems could
be worked out with the rest of the Amphibious Forces that were already in
training at the base.

NCDU-2, 1944, Dillard Williams, Bill
Dawson,
Frank Kaine,
Jonny Wilhide, Bill Armstong
However, conditions were not as desirable
there as they appeared. In the first place there was no training program set
up; no one had any idea as to what the mission might be. No one had the
slightest knowledge of what sort of obstacles might be encountered, what
pattern they might follow or the best method of destroying them, nor the
conditions under which demolition personnel might be called on to work. No
provision had been made for the construction of obstacles, supplying of
explosives, housing for the men or training facilities
for the unit. Clothing, obstacles, training, program, facilities and explosives
were therefore non-existant, yet the men were there
and training did go on. Until steps could be taken to get all of these problems
settled, the first class spent from eight to twelve hours per day in physical
training and rubber boat drill and primacord knot
tying. The heat, sand-flies and mosquitoes, food and living conditions were
intolerable.
From this first class came four of the Naval Combat
Demolition Units that were the beginning of the demolition force of the Atlantic
Theatre. A Naval Combat Demolition Unit was arbitrarily set as one officer and
five men, primarily because it was determined in training that the demolition
personnel would work as a rubber boat crew and that the number six would be the
maximum number of men that could be carried in one boat. Each six-man NCDU was
given a number starting with NCDU-1. To encourage unit rivalry, each was given
a nickname - Kaine's Killers, Heidemen's
Hurricanes, Jeter's Mosquitoes. Training and
facilities at Fort Pierce improved by leaps and bounds and
consequently the later units which were sent out were very well trained.
In preparation for the
Allied assaults at OMAHA Beach and UTAH Beach, the Naval Combat Demolition Units trained
in ship salvage, rocket disposal, mine recognition, and the assault demolition
practices of the British. Of particular concern was demolition of the obstacle
Element "C", or Belgian Gate. Large numbers of this three ton welded
steel obstacle had been discovered along the entire coast of France. Inasmuch as this was an entirely
new obstacle to the Naval Combat Demoltion Units,
considerable time had to be spent in the determination of the best methods for
its destruction.

Beach Obstacles
In June 1944 Naval Combat Demolition Units
embarked for the coast of France and the planned assaults on the
beaches of OMAHA and UTAH. History has recorded well the
assaults on these infamous beaches. The Naval Combat Demolition Units were
instrumental in clearing the beaches, making way for the landings of personnel
and equipment. On OMAHA beach the method of clearance on the assault phase
was accomplished by the use of the two-pound Hanensen
pack. Each man was carrying about twenty of these two-pound charges, safety
fuse and detonator assemblies, and continued working until the rising tide
prevented further clearance. Post assault clearance, i.e. after the tide
receded, was accomplished with tank dozers, caterpillar tractors, and salvage
explosives. On UTAH beach all obstacles were high and dry on arrival.
The intensity of the enemy gunfire was not as severe as that of OMAHA beach nor were
the obstacles so thickly patterned. The timing and the execution of the
operational plans were much better which accounts for better results. The
essential difference in the actual demolition operations was in the fact that
electric firing was used instead of safety fuse, giving a much better control
in removal of the obstacles.
Casualties on the OMAHA beach for Demolition personnel were
31 killed and 60 wounded, a casualty rate of 52 per cent. Casualties for the
Demolition personnel on UTAH beach were 6 dead and 11 wounded.
All casualties were the result of enemy action and no casualties resulted from
improper handling of the explosives.
The OMAHA unit received one of only three
Presidential Unit Citations awarded to the Navy for the Normandy landings and the UTAH demolition units received the only
Navy Unit Commendation awarded for the Normandy landing. Navy Crosses were awarded
to Ens. William R. Freeman, Gunner's Mate
Robert W. Bass, Gunner's Mate John H. Line, Chief Jerry N. Markham, Chief
Aviation Ordnanceman Loran E. Barbour, LTJG William
M. Jenkins, and Ens. Lawrence S. Karnowski.
There were also a number of Silver Stars and Bronze Stars to others who were
especially outstanding in a day of widespread heroism.
The NCDU regrouped and Lieutenant Commander Herbert Peterson,
in charge of Naval Combat Demolition Force "U", with ten veteran UTAH units, embarked in a
Mediterranean-bound convoy for Salerno. Here they trained for the upcoming
invasion of Southern
France. As
these combat demolitioneers proved once again the
need for and the success of underwater demolition, the newly organized
Underwater Demolition Teams, UDT, were proving their worth in Saipan. Many NCDU men stayed in demolition
and got to the Pacific in time for the occupation of Japan, but the end of World War II
brought the end of Naval Combat Demolition Units. Many NCDU men brought their
experience and expertise to the Underwater Demolition Teams.
To read more about the
history of NCDU read Sue Ann Dunford's book "More Than
Scuttlebutt".
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