The Last Seabee in Davisville

It was April 1994 and the Davisville Naval base was decommissioned after 52 years of service. The birthplace of the Navy's Construction Battalion — more popularly known as the Seabees — it was only fitting that a Seabee would be the one to close down the base.

Jack Sprengel, a New Jersey native who had spent the last 20 years in the Navy, had only been in Rhode Island for five years when word came down that the base was to be officially close.

“It was kind of sad,” said Sprengel, who took over duties as the base’s public works officer and was tasked with shutting down the base.

It was a bittersweet experience for the Naval officer, who had heard about the Seabees growing up from his father. On that day, Sprengel was the last person to sign the logbook before shutting it for good and closing the chapter on an era. With the base closed, Sprengel was given two options: Follow the Navy elsewhere or remain in North Kingstown. Though Sprengel, his wife Debbie and his sons had only lived in Rhode Island for five years, it was longer than their tenures in Iceland, the West Indies and the United Kingdom. For them, North Kingstown was home.

“We fell in love with it,” said Debbie Sprengel. “Absolutely fell in love with it.”

With the decision to remain in the Ocean State, Sprengel would have to find a new job and a new home for his family — all within 35 days.

Twenty years earlier, Sprengel was delivered another choice, that time from his father. High school graduation was approaching and Sprengel’s father gave him two options: His dad could take out a loan against his pension to put him through college or Sprengel would have to find his own path.

“I told him that he had raised me and supported me for 18 years and it was time I took it from there,” said Sprengel.

With that, Sprengel joined the Navy, which he recalls was “not a popular thing to do” at that time as the war waged in Vietnam. While in basic training in Great Lakes, IL, Sprengel decided to look into electronics school through the military, remembering his father’s talk about the Seabees — the members of the U.S. Navy’s construction battalions tasked with building bases, creating roadways and airstrips and numerous other construction projects during conflicts dating back to World War II. Sprengel also had a slight advantage when it came to electric trade as his father had done part-time work in the field to supplement his salary as a police officer in New Jersey.

With his high scores, Sprengel was accepted into the Seabee program, spending the first decade of his career travelling from California to Iceland to the West Indies.

“I went from the freezer to the frying pan,” he joked.

After instruction duty in Mississippi, Sprengel went on to one of the most esteemed posts in the Navy, and one of the most stressful. In 1983, Sprengel was assigned to presidential support duty at Camp David — a position awarded to only the top three percent of the Navy. Tasked with maintaining operations relating to the President of the United States, members of the program were held to a very high standard.

“If you made one mistake when you were there, you were gone within 24 hours,” said Sprengel.

Stationed at Camp David from 1983 to 1986, Sprengel served President Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy, whom he described as down to earth and especially personable.

After his commissioning as a Naval officer, Sprengel’s next home would be a place called North Kingstown, stationed at the base that started it all for the Seabees. Shortly after his arrival at Davisville, the Gulf War began and Sprengel and his fellow Seabees were busying themselves as they shipped equipment off to the Middle East.

Little did Sprengel, or the rest of the Seabee crew, know that Davisville’s days as a base were numbered. An even greater surprise was Sprengel, the man who grew up hearing about the Seabees from his father, would be the one to close down the battalion’s original home.

With 35 days to find housing and a new job, fate intervened as the Quonset Port Authority began to move into the former Naval base and needed a man who knew the lay of the land. With five years under his belt at Davisville and 20 years with the Navy, that man ended up becoming Sprengel.

More than 17 years later, Sprengel is now Quonset’s public works director and still lives in the Davisville area. But Davisville’s last Seabee has not forgotten his battalion’s history: Sprengel serves as the ’s curator and is heavily involved in the organization. Known widely amongst members as “the great storyteller,” Sprengel strives to share his passion for Seabee history with others.

“It’s Rhode Island history and that’s the sad thing — that many people don’t realize it,” said Sprengel.