Original Items. One-of-a-Kind Grouping. The Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) were an elite special-purpose force established by the United States Navy during World War II. The first UDTs to use that designation were formed in the Pacific Theater. This is the lovely grouping of Signalman 2nd Class & Frogman Mercur Amos Drew, Underwater Demolition Team 11. He served overseas in the Pacific Theater from October 11th, 1944 until October 19th, 1945, earning the Asiatic Campaign Medal with Three campaign stars.

This great grouping includes:

- Rear Seam Swivel Bale Navy-Painted M1 Helmet with USN stencil to the front. Paint is well-retained with some areas of loss. The paint has obstructed the heat lot stamp, so we aren’t sure of the manufacturer. The shell chinstrap is stitched on rather crudely and appears to be a period replacement, a great example. The liner is by IMP and is missing the sweatband and the liner chinstrap. There are a few cracks in the liner along the edges. A very nice painted navy helmet.
- Photo-copy of roster in the history of UDT 11, with Drew’s name underlined. This is the only identifying factor of the group, but it all certainly came together, so we are confident in the ID.
- Original U.S. WWII Cattaraugus 225Q “Commando” Fighting Knife, no scabbard. Very good shape with a well-worn 6” blade. 10½” overall.  
- Rubber flippers (left and right) that read OWEN CHURCHILL SWIM-FINS, Los Angeles in good service-worn condition. The right foot is Medium and the left foot is Medium-Large.
- WWII Waterproof Bag BG 160 by U.S. Rubber Company, these were built for the BC 1000 radio but were a favorite of Frogmen to store their wet gear in. Dated January 1945 and is Size 5. Straps are retained. 
- 8 x 18½” 48-Star flag with shoelace tied to the edge as a halyard, very interesting piece.

This is a tremendous UDT group with a great helmet and some rare underwater gear. This is only the 2nd UDT Grouping we’ve had the pleasure of offering, and the last one was in 2017! Don’t miss out on this fantastic group. Comes ready for further research and display.

More on the U.S. Navy UDT
Tarawa
The invasion of Tarawa in November 1943 nearly met disaster due to obstacles in the surf. Tarawa lies in eastern Micronesia. The islands in this region have unpredictable tides and are surrounded by shallow reefs that block even shallow-draft craft, except at a few narrow channels or at high tide. At Tarawa, an unusual Neap tide (a condition that results from the tide not rising or lowering as usual) occurred, leaving insufficient clearance for the Higgins boats (LCVPs) to get over the reef. The Amtracs carrying the first wave crossed the reef successfully. But the LCVPs carrying the second wave ran aground on the reef. The Marines had to unload and wade to shore. Many drowned or were killed before making the beach. The first wave, fighting without reinforcements from the second wave, took heavy losses on the beach. It was a painful lesson that the Navy would not permit to be repeated.

Admiral Kelly Turner, the Navy's top amphibious expert, ordered the formation of nine Underwater Demolition Teams. As with the NCDUs in Europe, the personnel for these teams were mostly Seabees. These volunteers were organized into Combat Swimmer Reconnaissance Units, becoming the Navy UDTs.

Development
UDT training was at Waimānalo, Hawai'i on Oahu under the aegis of V (Fifth) Amphibious Force. Among both instructors and trainees, there were graduates of the Fort Pierce schools (Scouts and Raiders, and NCDU men),Seabees, Marines, and Army soldiers. Under the direction of Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance Company, they hastily trained for the attack on Kwajalein on 31 January 1944.

The training made use of inflatable boats and included surprisingly little swimming. The men were expected to paddle in, and work in shallow water, leaving the deep-water demolitions to the Army. Marine Reconnaissance units would conduct the hydrography from shallow water to inland while the accompanying UDT would conduct the demolition and hydrography from near-deep water to the shallows.

The UDTs were organized with approximately sixteen officers and eighty men each. One Marine and one Army officer were liaisons within each team. It became apparent that a UDT assigned to the same beach as a Marine unit should be embarked in the same high speed transport (APD).

At that time the men in the teams wore Navy fatigues with boots and helmets. They were lifelined to their boats and stayed out of the water as much as possible. The next objective was Kwajalein and the original plan called for night reconnaissance. However, Admiral Turner did not want a repeat of Tarawa and wanted to know about the coral and any obstacles the Japanese may have emplaced. To find this out UDT 1 was ordered to do two daylight recons. In keeping with the Seabee traditions of: 1.doing whatever it takes to accomplish the job and 2. not always following military rules to get it done, UDT 1 did both. The missions were to follow the standard procedure with each two-man team getting close to the beach in a rubber boat, wearing full fatigues, boots, life jackets, and metal helmets, and then make their observations. But, team 1 found that the coral reef kept their craft too far from shore to be certain of the beach conditions. Seabees Ensign Lewis F. Luehrs and Chief Bill Acheson had anticipated that they would not be able to carry out the assignment following the Fort Pierce model and had worn swim trunks beneath their fatigues. Stripping down, they swam 45 minutes undetected across the reef. When they returned with sketches of gun emplacements and other vital intelligence, they were taken directly to Admiral Turners flagship, still in their trunks, to report[16]. The planning and decisions of those two Seabees changed the shape of Naval Special Warfare forever. Afterwards the Admiral realized that the only way to get this kind of information was from individual swimmers and he relaid those thoughts to Admiral Nimitz. Kwajalein was a historic transition point for tactics in UDT history. Naval Combat Swimming had now entered the Mission Essential Task List of the UDT.

After Kwajalein, the UDTs created the Naval Combat Demolition Training and Experimental Base at Kihei, next to the Amphibious Base at Kamaole on Maui. Operations began in February 1944. Most of the procedures from Fort Pierce had been modified, with importance placed now upon developing strong swimmers. Extensive training was conducted in the water without lifelines, using facemasks, and wearing only swim trunks and fins. This new model created the image that stands today of the UDT as the "Naked Warriors". Eventually, 34 UDTs were established and were deployed in every major amphibious landing in the Pacific.

In April, Draper Kauffman was transferred from Fort Pierce to command UDT 5 and serve as senior staff officer, Underwater Demolition Teams, Amphibious Forces, and Underwater Demolition Training Officer, Amphibious Training Command.

UDT 10 was directly under the OSS. It had a secret base on Santa Catalina Island, California before the Maui base was operational.

The landings continued. Kauffman led UDT 5 in daylight recon of the defenses of Saipan and in a night recon of the defenses of Tinian. UDT 15 reconnoitered beaches at Luzon in the Philippines. UDT 15 also reconnoitered Iwo Jima, two days ahead of the invasion along wirg UDTs 12, 13, and 14. The UDT suffered only one man wounded in action. However, the next day a Japanese plane bombed their APD, USS Blessman. 15 men of UDT 15 were killed, and 23 were injured. This was the single largest loss of life suffered by the UDTs in the Pacific theater. At Iwo Jima the teams not only did reconnaissance but on D-plus 2 were called upon to help clear the beaches of broached or damaged landing craft. The waters edge had become so clogged with debris that there was no place for landing craft to get ashore.

UDTs also served at Eniwetok, Guam, Angaur, Ulithi, Peleliu, Leyte, Lingayen Gulf, Zambales, Labuan, and Brunei Bay. The last UDT demolition operation of the war was on 4 July 1945 at Balikpapan, Borneo.

The largest UDT operation was in support of the invasion of Okinawa, in March 1945. Veteran UDTs 7, 12, 13, and 14, and newly trained UDTs 11, 16, 17, and 18 participated: nearly 1,000 men. Up to that time, all UDT missions in the Pacific had been in warm tropical waters. Now the forces moved north toward Japan where the waters around Okinawa were cool enough that long immersion could cause hypothermia and severe cramps. With no thermal protection at that time, the UDTs were at risk to this during the operations around of Okinawa.

Operations included both real reconnaissance and demolition at the actual invasion site, and feints to create the illusion of landings in other locations. Pointed poles set into the coral reef of the beach protected the landing beaches on Okinawa. UDTs 11 and 16 were sent in to blast the poles. After all the charges were set, the men swam clear. The explosions took out all of UDT 11's targets and half of UDT 16's. UDT 16 aborted the operation due to the death of one of their men; hence, their mission was considered a failure and a disgrace. UDT 11 was sent back the following day to finish the job, and then remained to guide the forces to the beach.

The UDTs continued to prepare for the invasion of Japan until Japan surrendered in August 1945, and their role in the Pacific came to an end. Within months of the war's end, the UDT teams were dispersed. This ended a trying but evolutionary time in the history of Naval Special Warfare.