Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Ben Moreell (September 14, 1892 – July 30, 1978) was the chief of the
U.S. Navy's
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the worl ...
Bureau of Yards and Docks
The Bureau of Yards and Docks (abbrev.: BuDocks) was the branch of the United States Navy responsible from 1842 to 1966 for building and maintaining navy yards, drydocks, and other facilities relating to ship construction, maintenance, and repair. ...
and of the
Civil Engineer Corps
The Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) is a staff corps of the United States Navy. CEC officers are professional engineers and architects, acquisitions specialists, and Seabee Combat Warfare Officers who qualify within Seabee units. They are responsib ...
. Best known to the American public as the father of the Navy's
Seabee
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
s, Moreell's life spanned eight decades, two world wars, a great depression and the evolution of the United States as a superpower. He was a distinguished naval officer, an engineer, an industrial giant and a national spokesman.
Early life
Moreell was born into a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family on September 14, 1892, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
His family settled in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, where he graduated from St. Louis's Central High School at the top of his class and was awarded a four-year scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis at age 16.
After graduating with a civil engineering degree from the
McKelvey School of Engineering
The James McKelvey School of Engineering is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. Founded in 1854, the engineering school is a research institution occupying seven buildings on Washington University's Danforth Campus. Research emphasis ...
in 1913, he joined the navy during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In June 1917, he was
directly commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade in the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps.
First World War
During the First World War, he was stationed in the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
, where he became acquainted with assistant secretary of the Navy
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, and afterwards served at navy yards and installations in
,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, and
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
.
Interwar period
Moreell was sent as a
lieutenant commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...
to the
École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in Paris to study European military engineering design and construction practices.
In 1933, he returned to the States to supervise what would eventually be called the
David W. Taylor
David Watson Taylor (March 4, 1864 – July 28, 1940) was a U.S. naval architect and an engineer of the United States Navy. He served during World War I as Chief Constructor of the Navy, and Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Ta ...
Model Basin in
Carderock, Maryland
Carderock is a neighborhood located in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, along the Potomac River. It is located in the southern part of the Potomac census-designated place and western part of the Bethesda postal area.
Carderock is we ...
.
On December 1, 1937, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
selected Commander Moreell to be the Chief of the
Bureau of Yards and Docks
The Bureau of Yards and Docks (abbrev.: BuDocks) was the branch of the United States Navy responsible from 1842 to 1966 for building and maintaining navy yards, drydocks, and other facilities relating to ship construction, maintenance, and repair. ...
and the Chief of Civil Engineers of the Navy.
This advanced Moreell to the rank of
rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
, although he had never been a captain. Moreell proposed the construction of two giant drydocks at Pearl Harbor and initiated naval construction projects on
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...
and
Wake Island
Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...
, long before Japanese bombs began to fall on December 7, 1941. The docks were completed in time to repair battleships damaged at Pearl Harbor, and the facilities at Midway were completed in time to play a strategic role in the navy's first significant victory over Japanese forces.
World War II
World War II requirements for advanced bases strung throughout the Pacific called for construction crews to be able to drop their tools and take up weapons at a moment's notice. Moreell believed a militarized Naval Construction Force to build advance bases in the war zone would fulfill this need. On December 28, 1941, he requested authority from the
Bureau of Navigation
The Bureau of Navigation, later the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection and finally the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation — not to be confused with the United States Navys Bureau of Navigation — was an agency of the United ...
to recruit men from the construction trades for assignment to a Naval Construction Regiment composed of three Naval Construction Battalions; the bureau granted the request on January 5, 1942.
On March 5, permission was granted for the construction battalions to use the name "
Seabees
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
". Moreell coined the Seabees motto: Construimus, Batuimus (Latin for "We Build, We Fight").
Moreell's Civil Engineer Corps was given command authority over what would become an organization of 250,000 people that built $10 billion worth of facilities to support the war effort.
In 1945, Moreell became the Chief of the Navy's
Material Division, and at the request of
Vice President Truman, he negotiated a settlement to the national strike of oil refinery workers. When the government seized the nation's strikebound bituminous coal industry a year later, Moreell was designated the Coal Mines Administrator.
Military advancement:
*June 1917 – lieutenant (junior grade) commissioned
[Admiral Moreell, Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum webpage, Port Hueneme, C]
/ref>
*October 1917 – lieutenant (temporary)
*June 1925 – lieutenant commander
*jumped grade of captain
*December 1937 – rear admiral
*February 1944 – vice admiral
*June 1946 – admiral
Later life
On June 11, 1946, he became the second staff corps officer, behind Admiral Samuel Murray Robinson, Samuel M. Robinson, to achieve the rank of admiral, and was transferred to the retired list three months later. He became the third Jewish American to become a four star admiral. For the next 12 years, Moreell turned his attention to industry, serving first, briefly (October 1946 – March 1947) as president of Turner Construction Company
Turner Construction is an American construction company with presence in 20 countries. It is a subsidiary of the German company Hochtief. It is the largest domestic contractor in the United States as of 2020, with a revenue of $14.41 billion i ...
then as president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of Jones and Laughlin Steel Company
The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and Benjamin Franklin Jones, a few miles (c 4 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in ...
, one of the nation's largest steel manufacturers.
Moreell wrote articles for ''The Freeman
''The Freeman'' (formerly published as ''The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty'' or ''Ideas on Liberty'') was an American libertarian magazine, formerly published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). It was founded in 1950 by John Chamberl ...
'', a publication of the Foundation for Economic Education
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American conservative, libertarian economic think tank. Founded in 1948 in New York City, FEE is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a member of the State Policy Network.
FEE offers pub ...
, a group that advocates free markets and a libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
philosophy.
Moreell served as chairman of the Task Force on Water Resources and Power of the Second Hoover Commission, directing a 26-man committee from November 1953 through June 1955. Former president Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
called the work of this task force "the most far-reaching and penetrating inquiry into our water problems ever made in our history".
Moreell was instrumental in organizing American for Constitutional Action (ACA), a national nonpartisan political action organization. His citizenship and service to country was further exemplified by his significant contributions to the Naval Academy itself. He was a member of the board of visitors (1953–1955) and chairman of the board in 1955.
His accomplishments as chairman of the Special Advisory Commission on Future Developments of Academic Facilities is seen today in the Naval Academy's superb educational complex.
Awards
Moreell's life was punctuated by accomplishments, awards, and well-earned recognition. He received 12 honorary doctoral degrees, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and was named one of the 10 men who contributed most to the advancement of construction methods in the United States between 1925 and 1975.
In 1957 Moreell was awarded The John Fritz Medal
The John Fritz Medal has been awarded annually since 1902 by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for "outstanding scientific or industrial achievements". The medal was created for the 80th birthday of John Fritz, who lived betw ...
, referred to as the highest award in the engineering profession, the award is presented each year for scientific or industrial achievement in any field of pure or applied science. It was established in 1902 as a memorial to the great engineer whose name it bears.
When asked which of his honors meant most to him, he replied, "They are all very meaningful and deeply appreciated by me. I accepted all with pride and humility. The following excerpt from the citation for the Distinguished Service Medal presented in 1945 for World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
service gives me the greatest sense of a job 'well done:'
"Displaying great originality and exceptional capacity for bold innovation, he inspired in his subordinates a degree of loyalty and devotion to duty outstanding in the Naval Service, to the end that the Fleet received support in degree and kind unprecedented in the history of naval warfare."
List of orders, decorations and medals
*Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation.
Examples include:
*Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action
* Distinguishe ...
with gold star (2 awards)
*Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...
* World War I Victory Medal
*American Defense Service Medal
The American Defense Service Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces, established by , by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on June 28, 1941.
The medal was intended to recognize those military service members who had served ...
*American Campaign Medal
The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...
* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
*World War II Victory Medal
The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945.
The Wor ...
*Commander, Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
*Commander, Haitian National Order of Honour and Merit
*Haitian Medal Millitaire
Legacy
The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Moreell Medal is named in honor of Moreell. This medal is presented for outstanding contribution to military engineering by a civilian or military member of the U.S. Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. This medal was first awarded in 1955.
Moreell was one of the founders along with Dr. Samuel Moor Shoemaker, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside (Pittsburgh), of The Pittsburgh Experiment, a Christian interdenominational ministry that provides spiritual resources to business, professional and working people. The birthing vision challenge for The Experiment in the 1950s was "to make Pittsburgh as famous for God as it is for steel".[Everett, Rev. Paul F. "Spirituality a good work companion". ''The Pittsburgh Post Gazette''. February 19, 1995.]
In Moreell's honor the Seabees named their Kuwait facility Camp Moreell, a military compound in Kuwait, Southwest Asia. The facility was home to U.S. Navy Seabees operating in the Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
region under Task Force Charlie as of early 2003. As of April 2003, Task Force Charlie comprised Seabees from several Naval Construction Force commands.
Moreell Avenue in Quantico, Virginia
Quantico ( or ; formerly Potomac) is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, DC, bordered by the Potomac River to the east a ...
is named in his honor.
The 68,000-square-foot training facility for the Civil Engineer Corps Officers School (CECOS) in Port Hueneme, California
Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits.
Port ...
is named Moreell Hall in his honor.
There is a housing area in the Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
naval complex named for Adm. Moreell.[ ]
See also
Notes
References
* Moreell, Ben. ''Our Nation's Water Resources- Politics and Policies''. Chicago: The Law School; The University of Chicago, 1956.
* Moreell, Ben. ''The Admiral's Log: God, Man, Rights, Government''. The Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, Inc. Philadelphia 1958.
* Moreell, Ben. ''The Admiral's Log II: In Search of Freedom''. The Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, Inc. Philadelphia 1960.
* Everett, Rev. Paul F. "Spirituality a good work companion". ''The Pittsburgh Post Gazette''. February 19, 1995.
*
* Marcus, Maeva. ''Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977.
*
* Raskin, A.H. "14c Pay Rise Seen As Steel Formula". ''The New York Times''. February 10, 1951.
External links
Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreell, Ben
United States Navy admirals
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Washington University in St. Louis alumni
Military personnel from St. Louis
United States Navy World War II admirals
Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
1892 births
1978 deaths
Seabees
American steel industry businesspeople
McKelvey School of Engineering alumni
20th-century American engineers
20th-century American military personnel
United States Navy personnel of World War I
United States Navy personnel of World War II