Did you know?: "Quonset Huts, who really invented 'em, ..and why?"

By Stormin' Normand

It's folk legend around the Navy, and especially among those most closely associated with the SEABEES, that the SEABEES, or at least Navy Civil Engineer Corps officers, came up with the brilliantly adaptable and easily erected structures which played a big part in the entire effort of World War II. The truth of the matter isn't so simple! Under extreme pressure to get started on building vitally needed shore installations to support ther Navy's wartime activities, ADM Ben Moreell, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, actually turned to civilian contractors already employing large crews of engineers and construction workers building the Naval Air Station at Quonset Point, R.I. in 1942. Admiral Moreell approached the civilians already handling huge Navy contracts there and elsewhere around the world, with the proposition for designing an easily transported and assembled shelter for use wherever needed in any climate. The catch? The first units had to be designed and manufactured for shipment in a month? An agreement was hastily signed and the civilian engineers had the plans ready in days. While the design team labored over their drawing boards, other company personnel quickly acquired land beside the Naval Air Station in what was known as West Davisville, for the factory to build the new prefabricated shelters. They succeeded in having the plans approved for construction before the ink was hardly dry, the deadline was met, and a legend was born!

How did they do it? How did they create a relatively inexpensive, easy to transport and erect shelter, that was adaptable to any climate, in just days? With "a little help from our friends" the British. It came in the form of a British designed, rectangular prefabricated structure known as the Nissen Hut. They studied its manufacturing and assembly proceedures before adapting the concept to the needs of the U.S. Navy. One obvious difference is the arched design of the Quonset Hut, as opposed to the standard peaked roof of a Nissen Hut. This design choice provided great strength in the structure with relatively small and lightweight components to support the metal outer skin. The skin itself provides most of the structure's strength instead of relying on heavy post and beam supports of a typical rectangular building with peaked roof. Another great advantage is that the elimination of interior roof support posts and beams creates more unobstructed usable space inside the larger sizes of Quonset Hut compared to the same size of rectangular building.

An example of why the Quonset Hut was so important to the war effort was that the most common size erected, the 20ft.x 48ft. size, weighing 12,000 pounds, could be set up by an eight-man crew in one day! With this speed, and the infinite adaptability of the design, entire well-equipped installations could be rapidly placed anywhere they were needed in much less time than any other construction method would require.

Saving time, in this case amounted to saving lives.The faster the bases got built and operating, the faster our fighting forces advanced into enemy-held territory to defeat them and bring the war to an end. Just looking at one of those funny-looking half-round metal buildings today, you'd never even think of it as a life saver, but it was! So many of those sturdy metal buildings were produced during the war and erected almost everywhere in the world, that countless thousands still stand in remote spots where they now hold silent vigil over long forgotten fields of conflict. Many more were sold as war surplus and serve on today in any number of continuing uses as homes, garages, tool sheds, playhouses, small plane hangers, boat houses, and probably hundreds of other things ranging from the exotic to the mundane. Whatever they are doing today, they deserve the respect of all for their wartime service, for sheltering the forces of our military and our allies, and helping to save the lives of those who didn't need to die because they helped to end the war more quickly. Next time you pass one, you might think about giving it a well deserved salute!

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