Ocean Facilities Project Office - FPO-1
Ocean Facilities Project Office (FPO-1)
The Ocean Construction Project Office (FP0-1) was established in 1971 at the Chesapeake Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command in the Navy Yard, Washington, DC with the assigned of Lt. Mike Weyler. Lt. Weyler was initially further assigned to the Navy Diving School to be trained as a Navy diving officer.
Lt. Weyler began the recruitment of civilian engineers to support the missions of FP0-1. LCDR. Larry Donovan was assigned in late 1971 to be the Program Commander, FP0-1 to get the Project Office fully established. Two other officer billets were established at FP0-1. They were Deputy Commander and Range Project Officer and the Caesar Project Officer. Lcdr. Don Wells was assigned in June 1972 as the Deputy Commander and Ens. Scott Guthrie as the Caesar Project Officer.
FP0-1 was organized into four divisions:
- Engineering -provided engineering support to the construction projects and design and procurement management of the Ocean Construction Equipment Inventory (OCEI).
- Planning - managed the Criteria and Development Program contracting for the development of evolving ocean engineering knowledge for use in design and construction of Fixed Ocean Facilities.
- Construction - planned and managed the field execution of all assigned Ocean Projects.
- Special Projects - managed the development of advanced design concepts for Fixed Ocean Facility projects.
Initial staffing was approximately 45 civilians and three officers. All divisions participated in developing an annual recommendation for Ocean Engineering RDT&E requirements.
The Caesar Project Officer coordinated and deployed with the UCT's to support repairs to the Caesar (SOSUS) system. By 1975, FP0-1 officer staffing had expanded to five officers and in the 1980's several of the officers were assigned Resident Officer in Charge of Construction (ROICC/AROICC) duties for Military Construction (MICON) construction projects.
In the 1993 Base Alignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission recommended the closure of NCEL and the realignment of necessary functions, personnel, equipment, and support at the Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme. A NAVFAC study to support this decision resulted in the development of an organizational structure that became the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC), which was formally established in 1993.
FP0-1 and FAC-07 function were assigned to NFESC under the Ocean Engineering Department. The decision was made to assign FP0-1 as the east coast branch of the department which remained on the east coast until 2012 when FP0-1 was disestablished and its functions transferred to NFESC in Port Hueneme.
