Unlike their land-based counterparts, Sailors serving in the Construction Mechanic (CM) rating frequently must service submersible equipment, manage personnel carrying out underwater construction, and perform other functions that are necessarily related to erecting structures that are either partially or wholly under water. Often these structures are constructed to enable landing equipment and personnel on shore where there is no port infrastructure, or where existing port facilities have been damaged by natural disaster or in combat. This type of work is the focus of Amphibious Construction Battalions (ACB).
A good example of the type of work performed by ACBs is the Elevated Causeway System, or ELCAS for short. A modular pier that can extend up to 3,000 feet from shore, the ELCAS offers far more stability in the event of rough seas than floating pier systems.
Construction of the ELCAS begins when the pier’s individual components are taken ashore via a barge ferry, where Seabees then build the pontoon-based pier outward only to the depth necessary for delivery vessels to unload supplies. Amazingly, the pier can handle a weight of up to 200,000 tons, and has room for two 160-ton cranes capable of offloading any piece of gear or equipment.
The ELCAS has been erected only once during wartime—but that experience proved just how valuable the system can be when there is a pressing need to quickly establish a logistics chain capable of supplying a large number of personnel. In 2003, an ELCAS was built in Kuwait to supply the just-built Camp Patriot, home to 5,000 troops. The 1800-foot pier took 75 Seabees just 13 days to build.
In 2015, the Navy conducted training to bring Seabees back up speed on how to erect the ELCAS. Seabees from the Navy’s two Amphibious Construction Battalions worked with Naval Beach Group 2 to build a 480-foot pier at Anzio beach, the site of historic invasion landings during World War II. As the U.S. performs a “Pacific Pivot,” the need to quickly establish bases on remote islands could make the uses of ELCAS more and more commplace.
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