Active-duty Seabees are stationed at two main homeports: Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport in Mississippi and Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme in California. A handful of specialized units sit at other stateside bases, including San Diego, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia, and Pearl Harbor. From those homeports, battalions rotate through forward sites in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East on roughly six-month deployments. Reserve Seabees drill at Navy Operational Support Centers across the country.
The Two Main Homeports
If you serve in a standard active-duty construction battalion, you will live at one of two bases.
NCBC Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport is the home of the Atlantic Fleet Seabees. As of early 2026, it is homeport to Naval Mobile Construction Battalions 1, 11, and 133.1Commander, Navy Region Southeast. Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport Naval Construction Group 2, which commands Atlantic Fleet Seabee battalions, is headquartered on the installation.2Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Contact Us – Naval Construction Force A detachment of the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering also runs technical courses on site.
NBVC Port Hueneme, California
Port Hueneme is the Pacific Fleet hub. NMCBs 3, 4, and 5 are homeported here, along with Naval Construction Group 1.3Commander, Navy Region Southwest. NAVBASE Ventura County2Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Contact Us – Naval Construction Force The base has a deep-water port, a rail head, and an airfield, which make it the primary mobilization point for moving heavy construction gear overseas. Port Hueneme also hosts CSFE training detachments and the Naval Construction Training Center.
Where the Specialized Units Are Based
Not every Seabee serves in a mobile construction battalion. Several smaller unit types operate from other locations.
Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 is homeported in San Diego, California, and handles causeways and other equipment that bridges ship to shore during amphibious operations.4Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 1 All amphibious construction capability was consolidated on the West Coast when ACB 2 was decommissioned in late 2022.5The United States Army. Joint Effort at Eustis Moves Navy Construction Battalion From Atlantic to Pacific
The Navy’s two Underwater Construction Teams are split between coasts. UCT 1 is at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia.6History.Navy.mil. Underwater Construction Team 1 UCT 2 is at Port Hueneme, with a standing requirement to respond to emergency waterfront repair anywhere in the fleet within 48 hours.7Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Mission – Underwater Construction Teams (UCT-2)
Construction Battalion Maintenance Units stay put and maintain installations rather than deploying. CBMU 303 is homeported in San Diego, with an active-duty detachment in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and reserve detachments in San Diego, Port Hueneme, and Pearl Harbor.8Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC). CBMU-303
Overseas Deployment Sites
When Seabees deploy, they spread out across a theater rather than sitting at a single base.
Indo-Pacific
The Indo-Pacific is the busiest theater. Camp Shields on Okinawa, Japan, is the primary forward-deployed base, with barracks, housing, and a construction equipment repair facility.9Commander, Navy Region Japan. Camp Shields The 30th Naval Construction Regiment, which commands deployed Seabee forces in the Pacific, moved from Port Hueneme to Guam in 2018.10Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. 30 NCR
Beyond Okinawa and Guam, detachments regularly work in the Philippines, Timor-Leste, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, and at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.11United States Navy. SEABEES: Building and Fighting in the Pacific
Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
The 22nd Naval Construction Regiment commands Seabees operating across the U.S. 6th Fleet area. Naval Station Rota, Spain, is a key hub, with additional support work at installations in Italy and Greece. Deployments also run to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, the primary U.S. base on the African continent.12Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command. Seabee Transforms Facilities Operations at CLDJ
How the Deployment Cycle Works
Active-duty NMCB Seabees follow a predictable rotation of roughly six months overseas followed by about twelve months at homeport for maintenance, training, and preparation for the next cycle.13Naval Construction Force (NCF). SEABEES Each battalion runs around 650 personnel.
A deployed battalion does not stay in one place. The main body sets up at a forward hub such as Camp Shields or Rota and runs the largest projects, while smaller detachments fan out to detail sites across the region. During one Indo-Pacific deployment, NMCB 3’s main body remained at Camp Shields while detachments operated in ten locations across seven countries.14history.navy.mil. U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Three USINDOPACOM Deployment Completion Report A single battalion can have personnel working in half a dozen countries at once.
Where Seabees Train Before Their First Assignment
New enlisted Seabees start at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, the Navy’s sole boot camp. After that, the location depends on the construction rating.
Equipment Operators and Engineering Aides go to the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering detachment at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for “A” School.15NETC. Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering Detachment Fort Leonard Wood Construction Electricians and Utilitiesmen train at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. Builders, Steelworkers, and Construction Mechanics train at the CSFE facilities in Port Hueneme or Gulfport. Officers attend the Naval Civil Engineer Corps Officers School, part of the same CSFE command structure.
Reserve Seabee Units
A large share of the Seabee force is in the Navy Reserve. Reserve Naval Construction Battalions maintain readiness to mobilize alongside or in place of active-duty battalions. Reservists drill at Navy Operational Support Centers spread across the country, so they train close to home rather than at Gulfport or Port Hueneme. When mobilized, they follow the same six-month deployment cycles and go to the same overseas sites as active-duty Seabees. CBMU 303 also runs reserve detachments in San Diego, Port Hueneme, and Pearl Harbor.8Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC). CBMU-303