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 81^st Battalion worked on the camp before construction was turned over to the 29^th 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.

Seabee Song

The Song of the Seabees 

 (1943) 

 Words by Sam M. Lewis 

Music by Peter de Rose 

 We're the Seabees of the Navy

We can build and we can fight

We'll pave the way to victory

And guard it day and night

And we promise that we remember

The "Seventh of December"

We're the Seabees of the Navy

Bees of the Seven Seas

The Navy wanted men

That's where we came in

Mister Brown and Mister Jones

The Owens, the Cohens and Flynn

The Navy wanted more

Of Uncle Sammy's kin

So we all joined up

And brother we're in to win.

The Fighting Seabees

Click to watch the full movie

John Wayne’s 1944 movie ‘The Fighting Seabees’ depicts a fictionalized account of the creation of the Seabees. Building and construction of bases/airfields is given very little importance, with more of an emphasis on the love story between the two leads as well as the war against the Japanese. No quonset huts are seen in the entirety of the movie. 

However, the movie does provide insight into the Navy’s need for an armed construction force. The army had the Army Core of Engineers to build bases, roads, and bridges. But the Navy had no equivalent and with no construction force, crucial airfields and installations could not be built. 

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, it became apparent to Admiral Ben Moreell that the Navy needed their own version of the Army Core of Engineers. The Seabees or U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion on March 19th 1942. Men were not drafted into the Seabees but volunteered or were recruited. Prospective Seabees were deemed fit for duty not based on physical health but on skills acquired through years of trade work. Men from carpentry, welding, masonry and mining backgrounds were sought after. Their skills were needed for building airfields, oil refilling stations, and bases.

The Quonset hut was the standard building that the Seabees erected in both the Pacific and Atlantic. However, the tropical climate of the south Pacific posed problems for the corrugated steel of the typical hut. A hut made of wood and covered with a waterproof masonite board was used instead. The basic structure and setup remained the same. The flexible design of the Quonset hut allowed for easy adaptability to any climate. 

Much is owed to the Seabees for their work in the Pacific. Naval History and Heritage and Command states that:

‘In the North, Central, South and Southwest Pacific areas, the Seabees built 111 major airstrips, 441 piers, 2,558 ammunition magazines, 700 square blocks of warehouses, hospitals to serve 70,000 patients, tanks for the storage of 100,000,000 gallons of gasoline, and housing for 1,500,000 men. In construction and fighting operations, the Pacific Seabees suffered more than 200 combat deaths and earned more than 2,000 Purple Hearts. They served on four continents and on more than 300 islands.’ 

It is safe to assume that the Quonset hut was used as the basic building for most of these operations. 

‘Seabee History: Formation of the Seabees and World War II’  Naval History and Heritage. Accessed Dec 5, 2012. http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq67-3.htm

‘The Huts’. Quonset: Metal Living for the Modern Age. Accessed Dec 5, 2012.  http://www.quonsethuts.org/huts/index.htmand