By summer of 1941 civilian contractors were working on large naval bases at Naval Base Guam, Naval Air Facility Midway Island, Wake Island Airfield, Naval Base Pearl Harbor, Naval Air Station Keflavik, Naval Station Argentia, Naval Air Station Bermuda Annex, and many other places. BuDocks decided there was a need to improve the Navys supervision of these projects through the creation of "Headquarters Construction Companies". The men in these companies would report to the Officers in Charge of Construction and would be draftsmen and engineering aids needed for the administrative functions of the inspectors and supervisors overseeing the contracted work. These companies would consist of two officers and 99 enlisted men, but were not to do any actual construction. Rear Admiral Chester Nimitz, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation (United States Navy), authorized the formation of the first Headquarters Construction Company, on 31 October 1941. Recruitment started in November and as history would have it the company was formed on 7 December with the men undergoing boot training at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island. By 16 December 1941, four additional companies had been authorized, but 7 December happened, plans changed and with them the ratings needed by a change in mission. The first HQ Construction Company provided the nucleus for the formation of the 1st Naval Construction Detachment sent to Bora Bora in January 1942. Those men were part of Operation Bobcat and are known in Seabee history as the "Bobcats". In December 1941, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, Chief of BuDocks, recommended establishing Navy Construction Battalions and on the 28th requested authority to carry this out. On 5 January 1942, he got the go-ahead from the Navys Bureau of Navigation to recruit construction tradesmen for three Naval Construction Battalions. When Admiral Moreell submitted his request to form those Battalions the other four HQ Construction Companies had been approved and authorized, so HQ Companies 2 & 3 were combined to form the 1st Naval Construction Battalion (and then were deployed as the 2nd & 3rd Construction Detachments) followed by HQ Companies 4 & 5 being combined to form the 2nd Naval Construction Battalion (and deployed as the 4th and 5th Construction Detachments). While those four HQ Companies provided the nucleus for two Construction Battalions they were all deployed in a manner similar to the First Construction Detachment and this sort of thing continued through the 5th NCB. It was 6 NCB that was the first Battalion to deploy as a unit to the same place.. How many total men, including officers were in these companies?