Camp Endicott was a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
Seabee
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
facility, part of
Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center at
Quonset Point
Quonset Point (), also known simply as Quonset, is a small peninsula in Narragansett Bay in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Its name is widely known from the Quonset hut, which was first manufactured there. ''Quonset'' is an Algonqu ...
in
North Kingstown, Rhode Island
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. North Kingstow ...
. A surviving portion of the camp,
now mostly demolished, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1978.
History
The vast training camp built at
Davisville, Rhode Island
Davisville, Rhode Island is a village in the town of North Kingstown in the U.S. state of Rhode Island that was formerly the home of the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center, which housed the United States Navy's SeaBees.
Village descr ...
in 1942, provided more than 100,000 men of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalions, better known as "Seabees," with construction training during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. During the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, eight Naval Mobile Construction Battalions representing some 4,000 Seabees were homeported at Davisville, in addition to 1,200 civilians.
![Mordecai Thomas Endicott](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Mordecai_Thomas_Endicott.png)
Named in honor of Rear Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott, the first Civil Engineer Corps Officer to be appointed Chief of the former
Bureau of Yards and Docks
The Bureau of Yards and Docks (abbrev.: BuDocks) was the branch of the United States Navy responsible from 1842 to 1966 for building and maintaining navy yards, drydocks, and other facilities relating to ship construction, maintenance, and repair. ...
, Camp Endicott (later established as the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center, Davisville) was also the birthplace of the
Quonset hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I ...
. These semi-cylindrically shaped, prefabricated, portable buildings were designed and produced at Davisville and shipped to various places throughout the world. Because of its design and worldwide dispersion, the Quonset Hut is considered one of the most universal structures in the world.
The Camp Endicott Historical District at Davisville was established to preserve some of these structures as well as a portion of the former Camp that played a vital role in World War II. The seven-acre District, located at the southern boundary of the Center, contained 17 huts.
[ When the area was slated for demolition, a few of the surviving huts were relocated to the ]Seabee Museum and Memorial Park
Seabee Museum and Memorial Park is a non-profit military history museum in Davisville, Rhode Island, devoted to the Seabees of the U.S. Navy.
Quonset Point, where the Seabee Museum is located was a major United States Navy base during World ...
elsewhere on the former camp grounds.
See also
*
References
External links
BASE: Advancing a Post-Military Landscape
An extensive photographic survey of the Davisville & adjacent Quonset Point Naval Bases completed in 2000 by Erik Carlson & Erica Carpenter.
{{Coord, 41, 36, 09, N, 71, 26, 16, W, display=title
United States Navy installations
Buildings and structures in North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Military installations in Rhode Island
Narragansett Bay
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island
Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island
National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Rhode Island
Government buildings completed in 1942
Military installations established in 1942
1942 establishments in Rhode Island
1994 disestablishments in Rhode Island
Demolished buildings and structures in Rhode Island
Military installations closed in 1994
Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island
Military Superfund sites
Superfund sites in Rhode Island