UDT-SeAL — their national museum

UDT-SeAL — their national museum

The National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum — Ft. Pierce FL

27º 29′ 04″ N / 80º 17′ 59″ W

There is no need to caption this photo 🙂 — photo by Joe May

The Second World War saw the advent of much in the way of new technology with some of the examples being long range aircraft, fighters with airspeeds exceeding 400 mph (640kph), RADAR, SONAR, rockets and jet engines. Commandos as a military force came into maturity in all armed forces of the nations involved in WW II. The U.S. Navy had a unique problem during this war and that was how to provide scouting and security for the almost innumerable amphibious invasions that were planned in order to defeat imperial Japan.

Beaches had to be investigated for their suitability to receive landing craft. Lanes through the defenses were required so military specialties had to be developed and techniques derived. The Navy then decided that these forces had to be unique and highly trained — the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) came into the world, the navy frogman. Whether deployed by fast boat or submarine the mission profiles has common elements. Swim or raft in during darkness, most often armed only with a knife, collect information or place demolition charges and depart. Swimming distances were often measured in miles so these combatants were in excellent physical conditioning and each was able to function as an independent entity. After WW II, during the Vietnam era, the Navy required commando type operations away from the beach — SeALS came into the world. SeAL is the acronym for their ability to deploy and operate in the sea, air and land environments — most often the acronym is now SEAL.

When the Navy decided that training and technique had to be developed they selected an area with beached similar to those in the Pacific Theater of Operations, the area selected was Fort Pierce, FL in the USA. There is a national museum there that is not large or small. The building has a unique footprint — it is not a rectangular box and has the unusual feature of an open air viewing platform on its roof. Three unique art installations are also there, as well. Life-sized bronze statues, one of a WW II UDT frogman and one of SEAL, and a beautiful wall-sized mural.

The museum's front — photo by Joe May

Bronze statue of a UDT "Frogman" — photo by Joe May

Bronze of a SEAL — photo by Joe May

Another view of the SEAL bronze — photo by Joe May

Mural on the museum's western face — photo by Joe May

Inside the museum building are rare to unusual artifacts beginning with WW II and ending with the with the conflict in Iraq. Inert weapons, swimming gear, war artifacts are all here and displayed with a sense of organization but also with a sense of purpose and sharing.

Outside, on the expansive grounds are more displays — they are well done and range from WW II through today’s current events with regard to piracy off of the Somali coast. A Bell UH-1 Huey is displayed on a pylon near two training aids used for recovering Apollo space capsules (SEALs were responsible for installing the floatation collar around the capsules after they had splashed down as well as recover the astronauts to the Sea King helicopters).

Bell UH-1B Huey and two Apollo training aids — photo by Joe May

The nose of the Huey — photo by Joe May

View many SEALs saw after deploying from a Huey — photo by Joe May

The Apollo training aid used by SEALs in training to support the NASA moon mission — photo by Joe May

The recent rescue of the American held hostage by pirates on a lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama is on exhibit since the rescue was accomplished by the U.S. Navy with three simultaneous shots by three SEALS eliminating the three pirates then present on the boat. Incredibly, this boat is at the museum for viewing! This truly is a national caliber museum. Other boats are there, as well, and these are displaying in the ground so they are viewed at the waterline. I’ll address these boats in the next post.

Arriving at the museum is simply done by traveling to Ft. Pierce and going to the north side of the Ft. Pierce inlet (no bridge spans the inlet). You will easily see the museum on the oceanside of A1A — the address is 3300 N Hwy A1A, Ft. Pierce, FL  34949. There are restroom facilities but food isn’t available, though there are many eating establishments in the area. As a bonus, there is a public beach on the Atlantic Ocean that can also be accessed for free behind the museum. Museum entry is a paltry $6 with children under 12 for only $3 and those younger have no charge. This is a great museum for professional as well as amateur historians and is especially well suited for children as it is not overwhelming, it is focused in a creative way and there is plenty of room to run around on the grounds.