Ben Moreell
| Ben Moreell | |
|---|---|
Father of The Navy Seabees
|
|
| Nickname(s) | "King Bee" |
| Born |
September 14, 1892 Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Died | July 30, 1978 (aged 85) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Place of burial | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
|
| Years of service | 1917–1946 |
| Rank |
 Admiral
|
| Unit | Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) |
| Commands held | Bureau of Yards and Docks, Chief Civil Engineer Corps |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit Order of the British Empire |
| Other work | President, Turner Construction Co. President, CEO & Chairman, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation |
Admiral Ben Moreell (September 14, 1892 – July 30, 1978) was the chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks and of the Civil Engineer Corps. Best known to the American public as the Father of the Navy's Seabees, 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, a brilliant engineer, an industrial giant and articulate national spokesman.
As a young civil engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington University, St. Louis (1913), he chose to defend his country by joining the ranks of the Navy during World War I. He was commissioned in June 1917 as a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps and spent the next 30 years in the service of his country.
During the First World War, he was stationed in the Azores, there getting to know an Assistant Secretary of the Navy named Franklin D. Roosevelt, and afterwards served at Navy yards and installations in Massachusetts, Haiti, Virginia, and Washington.
Recognized early for his exceptional capabilities he was sent as a Lieutenant Commander, to the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris to study European military engineering design and construction practices. In 1933, he returned to the States to supervise the planning of what would eventually be called the David W. Taylor Model Basin in Carderock, Maryland.
On December 1, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally selected Commander Moreell to be the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Chief of Civil Engineers of the Navy, and advanced him to the rank of Rear Admiral (without having ever been a Captain). With foresight and prudence, Moreell urged the construction of two giant drydocks at Pearl Harbor and initiated Navy construction projects on Midway and Wake Island 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.
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