The Naval Base of Ceiba, named Roosevelt Roads after President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was intended to become the major fleet operating base of the Caribbean during the Second World War. Initially, it was to be equipped with a protected anchorage, a battleship graving dock, major repair facilities, fuel depot, supply depot, hospital, a major air station for airplanes and seaplanes, and numerous other shore-based activities. These were to provide the necessary supporting services for 60 percent of the Atlantic Fleet. The Arundel Corporation, after completing the construction of the Naval Base at Isla Grande, was contracted to build the Vieques-Ceiba complex, which would end up costing in the neighborhood of $108 million.
In the early summer of 1941, the development of Roosevelt Roads was awarded to The Arundel Corporation on a fixed-fee contract. The initial project at Ceiba included the dredging channels from the mainland sites into Vieques Passage, the construction of approximately 14 miles of breakwater to provide a sheltered anchorage for the fleet, a battleship graving dock with complete accessories, a bombproof power plant, a large machine shop, and the construction plant and equipment necessary to accomplish a program of this magnitude. The breakwater was not completed. Only the Mosquito pier at Vieques — 7,000 feet of the breakwater — was built before the project was abandoned in 1943 as progressive allied victories assured their success in the war effort, and the Caribbean submarine menace had subsided.
The entry of the United States into the war had brought about changes in the plans for Roosevelt Roads. During February 1942, work was started on the section base, a 120-unit housing project, and an extensive system of roads designed to link the various shore activities then underway. Within the industrial area the drydock, a bombproof power plant, a sewage pumping station, and a machine shop were completed, along with a power plant, a bombproof structure with 4-feet-thick concrete walls, and two 5,000-kw steam-driven generators. The base also included three concrete runways, 6,000 by 300 feet, concrete taxiways and parking area, a large steel hangar, quarters for personnel, a large concrete storehouse, gasoline storage, and magazines for ready ammunition.
The water-supply system obtained water from the Puerto Rico Water Works Authority Power Plant located on the Río Blanco. It was delivered through 11 miles of 27-inch concrete pipe by gravity to a 46,000,000-gallon raw-water reservoir in Ceiba. It was then treated so that freshwater could be distributed to the entire base. The treatment plant had a daily capacity of 4,000,000 gallons.
Field work under the contract was terminated on August 28, 1943. Roosevelt Roads was commissioned as a naval operating base on July 15, 1943; more than a year later, on November 1, 1944, it was redesignated a naval station and placed in a caretaker status under the supervision of a public works officer, assisted by a small detachment of military and local personnel.