Sunday 9 December 2012

Seabees and the Invasion of Normandy


During the summer of 1943, planning for the invasion of Normandy was underway in Quebec. The role of the American naval forces was to land on the French coast. In order for the mission to be accomplished successfully, supply depots, large enough to store and issue great quantities of naval supplies and shore bases to support the upcoming amphibious needed to be built. Base construction first began in southern England in preparation for the battle of Normandy

The largest single base construction was built onto the golf course of a country club in Exeter, Devon. Construction for the depot began on Oct 11, 1943 which 578 000 sq feet of covered storage most of which provided by 40 x 100 feet Quonset-huts, personnel quarters for 1 000 men and office facilities provided by standard sized Quonset-hut, and 7 miles of roadway to serve the base were built.

Other principal locations along the English Channel for the amphibious base include Falmouth, Fowey, Plymouth, Salcombe, Dartmouth, and Teignmouth. 






Existing houses and hotels in these locations provided housing for soldiers, however they were limited and new forms of housing needed to be built. These housing usually consisted of Quonset hut, or similar huts of British design – Nissen Huts, and tents. In Plymouth and Milford are two major hospitals provided entirely of Quonset Huts with the capacity to hold 500 beds and 200 beds respectively.


Personnel accommodations provided in England
Location
New camps
Alterations
Total
Huts
Tents
British
barracks
Houses and
hotels
Total
Officers
Enlisted
Personnel
Officers
Enlisted
Personnel
Officers
Enlisted
Personnel
Officers
Enlisted
Personnel
Officers
Enlisted
Personnel
Falmouth
48
2059
---
1146
---
---
120
528
168
3733
Fowey
104
1500
---
---
---
---
101
930
205
2430
Plymouth
482
4172
---
186
106
296
45
371
633
5025
Salcombe
32
900
---
---
---
---
105
893
137
1793
Dartmouth
138
750
---
462
150
1750
90
344
378
3306
Teignmouth
8
---
---
---
---
---
48
817
56
817
Milford Haven
71
800
---
---
---
102
---
---
71
902
Penarth
28
425
---
---
---
---
47
514
75
939
St. Mawes
8
264
---
---
---
---
62
530
70
794
Saltash
0
150
---
---
---
---
30
150
30
300
Calstock
---
---
---
---
---
---
20
125
20
125
Weymouth
---
---
80
500
120
1113
26
679
226
2292
Poole
---
---
---
402
150
1160
19
100
169
1662
Southampton
24
34
---
250
---
---
53
366
77
650




Because the Seabees were so essential to the Invasion of Normandy, an establishment of Seabee base of operations near the English Channel would bring the Seabees closer to action. This base of operations was established on March 1944 at Heathfield , Devon. For the first month, the 81st Battalion worked on the camp before construction was turned over to the 29th Battalion in late April. When complete, the camp provided housing for 1000 men, a third of which be in the form of Quonset Huts and the remainder where tents. Storage, repair facilities for construction and transport were also provided through larger versions of Quonset Huts. 



Open storage area, left and upper left; large single quonset hut, transportation department's garage; small huts, offices and personnel quarters; two double huts (right foreground), messhall and recreation huts; tents used for temporarily housing transient Seabees.




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