Water Is Never Cold: The Origins of the U.S. Navy's Combat Demolition Units, UDTs, and Seals

Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), both little-known predecessors of the Navy SEALs, played a crucial role in the Pacific and European theaters during World War II. As the vanguard for amphibious assaults, they were tasked with beach reconnaissance, depth sounding, and clearing obstacles, mines, and unexploded ordnance so the troops could land---often while exposed to enemy fire. Their work was as hazardous as it was essential.

THE WATER IS NEVER COLD is based on painstaking archival research and interviews with veterans of the NCDUs and the UDTs, plus the people who influenced their development---the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Amphibious Scouts and Raiders, among others. O'Dell details the historical precedents that influenced the teams, as well as their innovation and experimentation with tactics, methods, and equipment. The narrative follows the NCDUs and the UDTs from their grueling training regimen through several of their key combat missions during the war. If not for the skillful work of these brave men, the successful landings at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Normandy, and other critical battlefields might have been impossible.