j VOLUME III, Number 3
28 January 1963 j
ADAK 5 OLD AND NEW
To the hundreds of servicemen who have been stationed in the Aleutians,
Adak is a memory of weather-worn Quonset huts, rotted wooden buildings and
an airstrip* *
But in the past few years, the Navy has -expanded the rnake-do wartime facil
ities here and this year it will add three major building projects to the is
land’s work planss Housing units for 250 more families;' quarters for bache
lor civilian employees; and quarters and mess facilities for bachelor officers.
The officer’s quarters will be added to the present steel-and-concrets BOQ,
designed to withstand Aleutian winds and rain. The new addition will include
50 rooms, each 12 by 18 feet, and an enlarged kitchen and dining room. At
present, BOQ space is so inadequate that many officers are housed in World
War II Quonset huts. Contracts for the estimated $l-£r-million project will
be awarded in February,
A 50-room civilian dormitory will be built adjacent to tne Bering Barrages,
also a steel-framed structure# The project will cost an estimated quarter
million dollars and is expected to be completed' in'• September# Contracts will
be awarded in February#
The housing units, still in the final stage of planning, will bo started
this year on the ground now occupied by hundreds of rotted mission huts left
over from World War II. The $10 million project will provide housing for 20
more officers and their families and 230-enlisted men and their families#
At present, only men who are at least second-class petty officers with eight
years service may bring their families to Adak, and they must wait up to 4-g
months before housing is available# With the new units built, the Naval
Station hopes to be able to offer housing to families of third-class petty
officers with four years service, with no waiting#
The Navy will have the usual problems of building in the Aleutians? the
soft tundra-and-volcanic-rock crust on the island makes a poor building base?
and heavy winds limit the Navy almost entirely to extra-strong buildings#
At Adak, the Quonset huts are still here# But the Navy's long-range
building program is turning the island into a permanent fortress at the border
of the Soviet continent#