United States Navy: Quonset Huts: The Seabees

THE FIGHTING SEABEES

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

THE 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.

Click to Listen

Source: "The Song of Seabees," 31st Navy Seabees' Association. Accessed Dec 7, 2012, http://www.31st-seabees.com/seabee_song.htm

SEABEE RECRUITMENT POSTERS

Originally public ca. 1939

Originally public ca. 1940

ROADS TO VICTORY. PART 1: THE NORTH ROAD

During the Pacific War, the United States defended against, and made an offence towards Japan through three different roads, which were paved by the United States Navy construction battalions, also known as the Seabees.

The first road was through the North Pacific – through Alaska and the Aleutian Island. After World War I, a naval disarmament treaty was signed between the U.S, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, which Japan’s naval-arms was reduced to 20 percent relative to the U.S under the condition which the U.S agreed to demilitarize Alaska[1]. However, this agreement was broken in September 1939 when the U.S saw Japan’s conquest of Nanking and Hitler’s violation of the Munich Pact[2]. Re-militarization began with the building of additional air and submarine bases, army posts, and Quonset Huts.

Japanese Advances on Alaska

In 1942, Japan attacked the Aleutian chain and captured the Attu and Kiska Islands as a method to prevent the U.S from invading Japanese mainland through the Aleutian and Kurile Islands[3]. The first of Seabees were sent to Alaska to forestall what appeared at the time to be a major Japanese offense[4]. The Seabees landed in Alaska in in late June of that year, and began building bases on Adak, Amchitka, and other islands in the Aleutian chain which were used to stage the joint Army-Navy task force that recaptured Attu and Kiska on May 11, 1943 and August 15, 1943 respectively[5]. The line of bases erected by the Seabees pointed towards the Japanese mainland served as a threat from the North in addition to the offence in the South and Southwest from the Americans.

Location of Military Installations in Alaska in WWII

Source: Haycox 32

During this period, the Seabees constructed more than 30 000 Quonset Huts because they were financially and functionally efficient. Conventional temporary tents which prevailed before the creation of the Quonset hut would not have been appropriate for the wind, precipitation and temperature of Alaska, and wood frame structures on cement foundations were too costly for mass production[6].

[1] Steven Haycox, Quonsets, Alaska, and WWII. ( Princeton, Princeton Architectural Press, 2005), 32

[2] Haycox 32

[3] “Seebea History: Formation of the Seabees and WWII,” Naval History and Heritage, accessed Dec 5, 2012, http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq67-3.htm

[4] “Formation of the Seabees and WWII.”

[5] “Formation of the Seabees and WWII.”

[6] Haycox 45

PHOTO ESSAY: LIFE IN AN ALASKAN QUONSET HUT

A picture is worth a thousand words. These photographs depict the life in Quonset Huts of Alaska during the Pacific War of WWII.

Quonset huts buried in the snow at Cold Bay, Alaska,

Photo taken: December 28, 1942

A Quonset Hut converted into a gym at Adak, AK,
Photo Taken: August 2, 1944

Barber shop,interior view, Amchitka,AK, July 4, 1943

Interior of Naval Hospital, Attu, AK,

Photo taken: December 5, 1943

Pin up girls line the walls of sleeping quarters in Adak, AK,

Photo taken: 1943

Source for pictures: Steven Haycox, Quonsets, Alaska, and WWII. ( Princeton, Princeton Architectural Press, 2005),

ROADS TO VICTORY. PART 2: CENTRAL ROAD

Following Japan’s attack of Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, its army continued to advance towards America, and in response, America declared war on Japan the following day. In the following months, Japan achieved a long series of military success, seizing Guam and Wake Island in December, and the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma in the first half of 1942[1]

Territories controlled by Japan.

The Battle of the Coral Sea from May 4 – 8, 1942 was the first major encounter between American and Japanese naval forces. Prior to the battle, the 1^st Construction Battalion Detachment was deployed from Dasiyville, RI on Jan 7, 1942 and arrived in Bora Bora the following month[2]. On the island, the Seabees constructed fueling stations to serve ships and planes that were crucial in the battle of the Coral Sea[3]. A month following the battle of the Coral Sea was the Battle of Midway in June of 1942. The Americans were victorious in the battle, which became the turning point in the Pacific War[4]. American forces continued to advance on the Solomon Islands which were also occupied by the Japanese army. Prior to the Battle of Guadalcanal, Seabees of the 3^rd Construction Battalion Detachment were rushed to the island Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides to build a bomber strip with a time limit of 20 days. Incredibly, the Seabees were able to carve a 6000 door airstrip in the virgin jungle which allowed large scale air attacks against Guadalcanal that won the battle in February of 1943.
In the American’s streak of victories, the atolls of the Kwajalein, Eniwetok and Majuro were seized from Japan in the first half of 1944. In Majuro, the Seabees built major fleet anchorages and similar aviation facility in Kwajalein. The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, aka Operation Forager, was the beginning of the end for the Japanese. The Americans were dawning upon Japanese mainland, and the capture of Mariana Islands, Guam, Tinian and Saipan, cut the line of defence for the Japanese, and more importantly the Seabees were able to build an emergency landing field much closer to the Japanese homeland that would service crippled bombers returning from raids and enable shorter- ranged fighter planes to accompany the bombers to their targets[5].

After a long campaign of island hopping, the Americans finally arrived at the foot of Japan, on the island of Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945 when the main invasion forces landed on the island’s west coast Hagushi beaches. Arriving along the 24th Army Corps and 3^rd Amphibious Corps were the 130^th Naval Construction Battalion[6]. In the following days, 50 000 Seabees composed of 11 regiments and 4 brigades arrived at Okinawa. From the end of the Okinawa battle in June through August, the Seabees worked non-stop to build ocean ports, grid of roads, bomber, fighter fields, seaplane bases, Quonset villages, tank farms, storage dumps, hospitals, and ship repair facilities in preparation for a final assault on Japanese mainland.

While preparations were underway in Okinawa during the summer of 1945, the USS Indianapolis arrived at the newly ceased island of Tinian from the Naval Weapons Center at Port Chicago, California. Components of a mysterious weapon were unloaded, and with the assistance from several Seabees, the weapon was assembled and loaded into a B-29 bomber, Enola Gay. Later that day, the Enola Gay took off and dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, thus ending the Pacific War.

The Southwest Route taken by the U.S Navy and Seabees

[1] http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005155[2] http://www.seabeesmuseum.com/History.html[3] http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq67-3.htm[4] http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005155[5] http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq67-3.htm
[6] http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq67-3.htm

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.

Source: "US Navy Construction Battalions (Seabees) In France and Germany During World War Two," Date accessed, Dec 9, 2012,http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/constructfrancegermanyww2.htm