The New Zealand 3rd Division landed on Nissan Island on 15 February 1944 as part of the Solomon Islands campaign. U.S. Navy Seebees from the 33rd, 37th and 93rd Naval Construction Battalions landed with the New Zealanders and began building support facilities. Work on a fighter airstrip began on 20 February and by 5 March a coral-surfaced by fighter runway known as Lagoon Airfield was ready for use and aircraft carried out the first attack on Kavieng. In late March a parallel by bomber runway known as Ocean Airfield was ready for use, it was later lengthened to . Additional airfield facilities such as road and taxiways and a tank farm were also constructed. Construction had been extremely difficult with dense foliage and large trees needing to be removed, rock blasting was necessary, and all coral used for filling had to be quarried at distant locations. Today's air port exists on the site of the "Ocean airfield".