Quonset Huts after the War

Stran-Steel Advertisement, 1944
Source: Vanderbilt, 67

Stran-Steel Advertisement, 1943  
Source: Vanderbilt 67

          As early as 1943, the Stran-Steel Company began positing potential roles of Quonset Hut after the war. Advertisements during the wartime portrayed a post war society of modern, and Quonset-like, architecture[1].

Aerial perspective drawing of Camp Parks Chapel and Library, Dublin, CA (1945)
Source: Carter 55

Camp Parks Chapel and Library, Dublin, CA (1945)
Source: Carter 55

          During the war, Quonset Huts were modified for domestic and spiritual purposes. In 1944, a Seabee by the name of Bruce Goff was asked to renovate a Quonset Hut into a chapel at Camp Parks (near San Francisco). The Camp Parks Chapel was made by connecting two “elephant” Quonset Huts with a masonry wall that intersected main vaulted spaces[2].

Ardell Hagen bought a gigantic barrel that housed a hamburger stand and converted it into a two-story home for his family, 1946
Source: Vanderbilt 70

          When the war ended, it brought about a housing shortage in the US, as 12 million men turned from the battlefield towards private life. In addition, wartime marriage, rural to urban migrations, and a population boom of 8 million people in 5 years also contributed to the problem[3]. Even if 1.2 million permanent homes were to be built every year in the U.S, it would still be 10 years before everyone was housed[4]. Housing was so scarce that veterans and their family were forced into unconventional homes, such as a renovated barrel-shpaed burger stand, a beer-van-turned-apartment, and even a renovated mortuary[6].

Display model of a Quonset house erected by the Great Lakes Steel Corporation in Mansfiled, OH (1946)
Source: Vanderbilt  87 

Spread from "A Home from a Quonset Hut," House Beautiful (Sept 1945)
Source:  Vanderbilt 78-79

          Quonset Huts were sold by the Stran-Steel company for $873. The buyer would receive the kit and framing of a 20’ x 40’ hut that would provide shelter for 30 barracks during the war, but was converted into three apartments; 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bath. However, the buyer had to erect and insulate the hut himself[5].

Row of Quonset homes at Rodger Young Village, (1945)
Source: Vanderbilt 72

Directions to Rodger Young Village

          In April 1946, construction began for the first and largest temporary veterans’ housing project, the Rodger Young Village. On 112 acres of former National Guard Airstrip land in Griffith Park, 750 Quonset Huts were erected.

Student housing at Yale University, New Haven, CT (1945)
Source: Vanderbilt 87

Veterans Village on the CSU Campus (1953)
Source: Soldiers of the Ploughshare 

          A shortage of student housing was also a problem on college campuses across the United States. Quonset Huts were used as temporary classrooms and student housing, to help house the dramatic increase in veteran enrolment after the G.I. Bill was introduced [7].  At the Colorado State University (CSU), half and full Quonset Huts were erected at the Veterans Village on campus to accommodate the increasing number of veteran students.

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[1] Brian Carter,  War, designs and Weapons of Mass Construction (NY, Princeton Architecture Press, 2005) 51

[2] Carter  57

[3] Tom Vanderbilt, After the War: Quonset huts and their integration into Daily American Life (NY, Princeton Architecture Press, 2005) 68

[4] Hartley E. Howe, Stop Gap Housing  (New York, Popular Science Publishing, March 1946) 67

[5] Howe 68

[6] Vanderbilt 67

[7] Vanderbilt 86

American Production and Prefab Construction During WWII

          In the 1930’s the American government passed a series of acts that would prevent the U.S. participating in the war that was clearly on the horizon in both Europe and the Pacific. However, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the gears were set in motion of the most efficient war/production/manufacturing machine on the planet at the time. During World War II no other country out manufactured the Americans. Their gross domestic product jumped from 800 billion to 1.4 trillion between 1938 and 1945. They also built more jeeps, heavy trucks, merchant ships, aircraft carriers, battleships, bombers and fighter planes than any country participating in the war. Although the Soviets made more tanks and ammunition, no one came close to matching the American production level.

          How did they do it? Well laid out factories for easy mass production and the mastering of the prefab building technique. An example of their incredibly quick production time is the fleet of Liberty Ships that were built during the war. In 1936 the Merchant Marine Act was passed to rebuild America’s decrepit and dwindling merchant fleet. The Liberty Ship was to become the basic model for the fleet. In total from 1937-1945, 5500 were built with more than half that number built during the war. At it’s most productive period, the ship yards were turning out a liberty ship every forty-two days, with only a twenty-four day period from dry dock to being tied up at a dock. They managed to build them so quickly by prefabricating large sections of the ship. A liberty ship consisted of four large pieces: the bow, midship, stern and deck (including the wheelhouse, etc.). 

          The prefabrication model also applied to other items produced for the war effort. In Dearborn, Michigan, at the Ford plant, planes were being turned out at about the rate of one per hour. At the height of production, the assembly line extended a mile through the former car factory complex. Bombers, like the Liberty Ships, were built in smaller pieces (fuselage, wings, etc.) and then assembled at once into the large aircraft. Because of this efficiency in building technique they were able to produce over 90 000 planes between 1941-1945. 

          The factories that built all the machinery of the war were originally car, metal fabrication and even canning plants. The Americans easily converted them into war production machines after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This ‘multi-use’ ability of virtually everything that the Americans made or owned was one of the biggest reasons that they won the war. A Liberty Ship could be used to transport anything from troops to canned beans. Their jeeps and trucks were so versatile and easy to produce that they sold them to their Allies. They virtually kept the British alive during the Battle of Britain and throughout the subsequent years of the war. 

          It is not surprising then that the Quonset Hut was the standard issue building of the Navy. It preformed so well that it was used by other sections of the armed forces and even other countries. Like the ships and planes of WWII it was assembled in parts, speeding up the building process. It fit perfectly with the American sensibility of the time, being recycled, cheap, prefabricated, mass produced, easy to assemble and effective.


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‘Henry Ford: Helped Lead American World War II Production Efforts’. Weider History Group. Accessed December 9 2012. 
               http://www.historynet.com/henry-ford-helped-lead-american-world-war-ii-production-efforts.htm

‘Liberty Ships and Victory Ships, America’s Lifeline in War’. National Park Service. Accessed December 9 2012. 
               http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/116liberty_victory_ships/116liberty_victory_ships.htm

‘Reading One: Liberty Ships’. National Park Services. Accessed December 9 2012. 
              http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/116liberty_victory_ships/116facts1.htm

Harrison, Mark, "The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison", Cambridge University 
             Press (1998).

Tinian Island

Tinian Island, 1945

         Tinian is a small group of islands in the Philipine Sea. The largest island saw the Seabee's greatest accomplishment and biggest construction project of the war. It’s close proximity to the Japanese mainland made it an important strategic strip of land during World War Two. For nine months in 1945 Tinian saw the most air traffic than any other airport in the world. Before it was in American hands, the Japanese used it as an airbase as well. In 1944 the American’s seized the island in the Battle of Tinian. There were large casualties on both sides with the Japanese sustaining the largest number; over eight thousand. It was a must win for both sides, the Americans would gain control of an important piece of land and if the Japanese lost they would give the Americans access to bombing the Japanese mainland. 

Marines coming ashore 

          Upon taking control of the island,  the Seabees of the 135th United States Naval Construction Battalion set about converting the available land to accomodate the 58th Bombardment Wing along with it's 40 000 support personnel and 50 000 marines. The Japanese had originally constructed two parallel runways on the west side of the island. The Seabees added two additional runways and the airfield became known as West Field. To the north, four more runways were constructed to house and launch the new long range B-29 bomber, which would be bombing the mainland. These four runways were 2600 meters, and incredibly they were constructed in less than a year. The runways themselves were built out of crushed coral, a readily available resource.

Seabees crushing coral for one of the runways

Map of Tinian 

          The Quonset Hut was used extensively on the island. They were a perfect building for the Seabees, as they were easy to transport and to construct. The Quonset Huts were grouped together into mini-cities of barracks, armories, airplane maintenance sheds, messes, chapels and hospitals. The Seabees copied the street organization of Manhattan Island and named the roads on the island after New York City streets. Land was also converted for farming to feed the tens of thousands of men and women that would be living on the island. The island became a self-sufficient community. On top of the need to have a high efficiency base layout, the Seabees had to accommodate nearly one thousand B-29s. Taxiways and hardstands were laid out effectively; so effectively in fact that more missions were flown out of Tinian than any other airfield during the war. 

Quonset Hut customized by marines

Sketch of Tinian Island command complex, comprised of Quonset Huts

West Field

Tinian today

_______________________________

‘Tinian’. Global Security. Accessed December 7, 2012. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/tinian.htm

‘The Use of Tinian Island During World War Two’. Accessed December 7, 2012. http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/umrcourses/ge342/Tinian%20Island.pdf

‘A Seabee’s Story (Tinian Island)’. Americans in Wartime Musem. Accessed December 7, 2012. http://www.nmaw.org/a-seabees-story-tinian-island/

History of the Seabees’. Naval History and Heritage Command. Accessed December 7, 2012. http://www.seabee.navy.mil

US Navy Quonset Hut: Planning for an Imminent War

President Franklin D. Roosevelt [1]

             In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began to prepare the United States for war, and on May 17th, 1938 US Congress passed the Naval Expansion Act, dedicating 1 billion dollars to enlarge the US Navy.  The Naval board then built 25 new bases in the US and overseas.  Included in this list of new air bases, was the shore-based aviation facility at Quonset Point Rhode Island.  Construction commenced at Quonset Point on July 16th, 1940, with the project being awarded to two organizations on contract - the George A. Fuller and Company (one of the largest construction companies in North America at the time) and the Meritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation (a merger organization of three small salvage operations).   

Pamphlet from Quonset Point Naval Air Station (1945)

              During March of 1941, the Allies entered financial crisis. By June, England would no longer be able to purchase US arms and supplies. Due to the Neutrality Act of 1939, the US could not release arms to any warring country (such was Britain at the time) unless under “cash and carry” terms.  Seeing the necessity to sustain US allies, President Roosevelt's Lend Lease Act was passed by Congress on March 11, which allowed the US to “sell, transfer title to, lend, lease or otherwise dispose of [articles of defense to] the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States”[2].  In response, Britain transferred ownership of properties at Gareloch and Stanraer, in Scotland, and Londonderry and Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland, to be used by the US as Forward Operating Bases (FOBs). As labour and material resources were quickly being drained by the war effort, the US military had to quickly supply buildings to house their troops.

Early Quonset Huts being erected in Northern Ireland (March 25, 1942)

                 Around the same time, George A. Fuller and Co. and  Meritt-Chapman and Scott Corp. were just completing the Quonset Point base.  The Navy then extended their contract with George A. Fuller and Co. in order for them to develop and mass-produce a new prefabricated hut system to shelter troops abroad that would be portable, quickly and easily assembled and dissembled, adaptable to any climate and geography, and provide the highest possible level of comfort and protection.  Quonset Point was selected as the assembly port for all supplies and materials required for the construction of these bases, and the actual factory production work was to take place on 85 acres of land purchased in West Davisville.  A railroad spur linked these two sites, and this allowed raw materials to arrive at the factory site (not interrupting the base activities), and then the completed units were shipped by rail to the pier, and via barge overseas.  The Temporary Aviation Facilities (TAF) project, now estimated at $20.5 million, was officially set in motion, with the first shipment of huts and supplies to be ready by June 1[3].

Factory at West Davisville (1942)

              
                While the factory was being completed, George A. Fuller and Co. began working on the hut design.  The only licensed architect on the team, Otto Brandenberger, was selected to be the project manager. A final set of construction drawings was submitted by Brandenberger’s team on May 15, 1941.  On June 11, 1941, a total of 450,000 cubic yards of materials and supplies, worth approximately $1.2 million[4], was prepared for loading. In less than one month, George A. Fuller and Co. had created a fully operational, mass-production facility generating huts on a scale that represented an annual output of $22 million per year.  All of this was up and running, long before the US officially entered WWII on January 8, 1942, and at the war's end, an estimated 150 000 Quonset Huts had been built throughout the United States, and around the world.

____________________________

[1] Wikipedia, s.v. "FDR," accessed December 5, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FDR_in_1933.jpg.
[2] Julie Decker and Chris Chiei, Metal Living for a Modern Age. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 
                  2005.
[3] Decker and Chiei.
[4] Decker and Chiei.

Twelve O'Clock High

Finally a movie with an actual Quonset Hut in it. There is even a motivational speech given in one by none other than Gregory Peck. What could be better? All nerdy crushes aside, this is an interior of a period Quonset Hut. It's a good depiction of what Quonset Huts would have been used for at air force installations in WWII; a multipurpose building for planning sessions and mission briefs with the crews.

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.