GROUNDBREAKING SET FOR NEW SEABEE MUSEUM.Byline: ERIC LEACH Staff Writer PORT HUENEME Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. -- Naval construction battalions at Naval Base A naval base primarily for support of the forces afloat, contiguous to a port or anchorage, consisting of activities or facilities for which the Navy has operating responsibilities, together with interior lines of communications and the minimum surrounding area necessary for local Ventura Ventura (vĕnt  `rə), city (1990 pop. 92,575), seat of Ventura co., SW Calif., on the Pacific coast in a farm and oil region; inc. 1866. County are breaking ground Monday Monday: see week. morning on a $12 million U.S. Seabee Sea·bee n. A member of one of the construction battalions in the U.S. Navy that builds naval aviation bases and shore facilities. [Alteration of cee bee, pronunciation of the initial letters of Museum. The 35,000-square-foot museum funded by the Civil Engineer Corps/Seabee Historical Foundation is expected to be complete in 2009 to replace a facility that has been in quonset huts Noun 1. Quonset hut - a prefabricated hut of corrugated iron having a semicircular cross section Nissen hut army hut, field hut, hut - temporary military shelter on the base for more than 50 years. "We are looking forward to having this new asset for the base and the community," said Vance Vasquez, a spokesman for the base, who noted the museum will not only be bigger and more attractive, but more accessible to the public. It will include a retail shop, a meeting area, a memorial garden and an archive housing operational records of the naval construction battalions known as Seabees who have been building bases, airstrips, roads, bridges and other structures for use by the military since World War II. "It will provide the community a new opportunity to visit," Vasquez said, noting that access to the museum will be from outside the base so visitors won't have to go through the complicated security clearance they now face. The base has been the home of the museum since 1947. It is the second oldest of 12 Navy museums, all of which are operated by the Naval Historical Center The Naval Historical Center (NHC) is the official history program of the United States Navy. It is physically located at the Washington Navy Yard, and maintains a website of considerable value. . Thousands of Seabees in four battalions and in other commands are stationed at the Ventura County base. Vasquez noted that security was tightened after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, so visitors have to fill out access forms and provide detailed information, including their citizenship status and proof of car insurance, just to visit the old museum. "It's quite a process," he said. The new museum will sit near the old one, but with access from outside the base near Sunkist Street and Ventura Road, so people will be able to go in and out without the base-access questions. eric.leach@dailynews.com (805) 583-7602 |
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