saving devices which would cut the effort necessary Design For Survival to establish and support it, as well as reduce the num- ber of people necessary to operate it. The original wintering-over complement had been fixed at 12, six The Story of Plateau Station scientists and six Navy support personnel. With a smaller station and cross-trained personnel, it ap- peared possible to hold the number to eight. For a time it was thought seven would be enough, if every- one shared the cooking, but experienced men believed a trained cook was essential for health and morale STEVEN K. KAUFFMAN1 under the expected rigorous conditions. Commander, CEC, USN All aspects of support were considered in the ef- and fort to reduce airlift requirements. An expensive energy-conservation system was proposed. The ARTHUR M. WEBER building would be heated by circulating engine Cold Regions Facilities Specialist coolant from the diesel generators, thus saving an Naval Facilities Engineering Command estimated 10,000 gallons of fuel per year, more than 20 percent of the projected normal fuel usage. Eighty LC-130F flight hours, about 5 percent of the total hours available during Deep Freeze 66, On December 13, 1965, an LC-130F of Air De- could be saved. velopment Squadron Six (VX-6) landed at 790 Like Eights, Plateau Station would probably be ISS. 40 0 301E., to leave six men alone high on the composed of vans. Each van would necessitate one polar plateau. Thus began the execution of a con- flight to Plateau Station. Distance dictated that struction project many months in planning. aircraft payloads be no more than 16,000 pounds Eleven months before, to the day, the National unless the aircraft could refuel en route. The vans Science Foundation set forth its detailed require- used at Eights had been 27 feet in length, although ments for support of research programs at a sta- the cargo bay of an LC- 1 30F was about 40 feet tion on the polar plateau in East Antarctica. The long. It was found that longer vans could be loaded research was to be much like that at Eights Station into the aircraft, and those finally decided upon in West Antarctica. In addition, it was expected measured 36 by 8 1/2 by 8½ feet, with a maximum that the vehicles being used on the South Pole- weight of 23,000 pounds. Using longer vans, Queen Maud Land Traverse would be overhauled fewer were needed, and a reduction in the number at the new station. To satisfy these requirements, of flights could be made even though refueling at the Foundation suggested a station composed of Pole Station would be required. Two additional vans similar to those at Eights and manned by flights were, thus, required to Pole Station to de- 12 men. liver aircraft fuel for every flight to the Plateau Sta- Like Eights Station, the proposed Plateau Station tion. site. Even so, this was a more efficient arrange- would have to be wholly dependent on Navy airlift, ment than direct flights with reduced payloads. working at extreme ranges and altitudes. The air op- Such planning brought the construction and sup- erations officer of the U.S. Naval Support Force, port of a station on the polar plateau within the Antarctica, made a rough analysis of the logistics realm of feasibility, at least in theory. The con- required to place the materials for such a station at cepts were refined, committed to paper, and sent 80°S. 40°E. He found that there were not enough to the Bureau of Yards and Docks (now the Naval flight hours available to support other scientific pro- Facilities Engineering Command) for conversion grams if a station of the proposed size were to be into plans and specifications, the basis for procure- built. Only half the flight hours needed to place and ment. support an Eights-size station could be allocated to the new project. The scope of the station had to be Design restricted without loss of capability to support the scientific programs. Within reason, funds were avail- The design problem was not routine. The able to develop a smaller station and provide labor- Bureau of Yards and Docks engineers and archi- tects had to design for survival at the highest and Assistant Chief of Staff for Civil Engineering, U. S. coldest location yet occupied by the United States Naval Support Force, Antarctica. in Antarctica, 11,890 feet (3,624 meters), with Ior,nerlv U. S. Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks. temperatures expected to drop to -90° C. (-130° F.). 156 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL The designers had to make the station as livable, building. A small balloon-inflation tower and an as capable of supporting complex scientific equip- aurora tower were also to be attached. ment, and its operations as free of physical labor as The vans were to be prefabricated of a wood possible, without sacrificing reliability and sim- framework and plywood wall construction. The plicity. While low temperature was a problem, outside was to be covered with sheet aluminum. wind was not expected to be. The designers were Rigid polyurethane insulation, three inches thick, informed that the location of the station was would be used between the wood studs to insure very thought to be such that high wind conditions, simi- low heat transmission. Careful attention was paid lar to those prevailing at most other United States to the nailing so that there would be no through antarctic stations, would not be encountered. connection of any kind between the outside and the In addition to the cold, concern was felt about the inside walls. A strip of ¼-inch cork was to be rarity of the air. This condition is exaggerated placed between each stud and the plywood panel in the polar areas where atmospheric pressures are to help eliminate the possibility of thermal con- considerably lower for a given altitude than in the ductivity and preclude frost buildup on cold spots. temperate and equatorial zones. For example, the The first van was to contain the meteorology pressure at 12,000 feet in Antarctica is the equivalent laboratory, observation dome, doctors office, and of about 13,500 feet at the Equator. Since, at the two bunk rooms (fig. I ). The meteorological ob- time, no one knew the exact height at which the sta- servation domes previously used in Antarctica tion would be located, the designers had to plan for turned on ring mounts and they were not air- extreme conditions. An examination of the existing tight. A fixed-mount, clear plastic dome, 4½ feet in literature on the ability of the human body to func- diameter, was chosen to permit the observer un- tion for long periods under such conditions revealed limited vision in any direction. Frosting of plastic considerable differences of opinion. Some moun- domes had been a problem in the past, but at tain climbers reported having slept with oxygen Plateau a heat duct, similar to a defroster in an masks to be able to sleep at all. Indian soldiers automobile, was designed to distribute hot air over died of pulmonary edema, a pneumonia-like afflic- the inner surface to keep it clear. tion, in the high Himalayas. Pressurizing the bunk The doctors office was made very small and is not rooms was considered, but rejected as unnecessary suitable for any major surgery. Hindsight shows and expensive. The Soviets at Vostok occupy a that this space should have been larger, with more site nearly as high and cold as it was expected room for equipment and supplies. After the design Plateau would be, and have experienced similar was finished, the Navy decided on a research pro- conditions without needing pressurized facilities, gram to investigate the physiological and psycho- although several cases of altitude sickness have been logical effects occasioned by high elevation and reported. Lieutenant Commander Paul Tyler, the very low temperatures. Naval Support Force Medical Officer, decided, Two of the four bunk rooms were planned to be after a review of the available literature, that the in the first unit. The bunk rooms presented spe- answer lay in high physical and psychological cial architectural problems. Privacy in sleeping standards and gradual acclimatization of the person- quarters at stations of this type was something to nel. They would stage at South Pole Station for 10 be desired, but difficult to attain. One man to a days to accustom their systems to low oxygen intake. room would have been preferable, but space limita- Located at an elevation of 9.184 feet (2,800 meters), tions would not permit it. Designing for two men Pole Station was ideally suited for this purpose. to a room partially solved the problem. In an ef- The design concept—compact, prefabricated vans fort to make available space more enjoyable, the —emphasized ease of construction. Plumbing and built-in double bunks were made of prefinished electrical connections between vans were mini- wood, with the finest mattresses obtainable, and mized. Assembly of the vans into a station had to with curtains which could be closed for privacy. be simple. Shipping schedules and austral summer Vinyl wall covering was chosen for its easy clean- temperatures dictated the beginning and end of the ing characteristics and continued attractiveness. construction season: the job had to be done in Janu- The color combinations were carefully selected to ary. Because of support problems, the station con- create a pleasant, unobtrusive atmosphere, one that struction crew was limited to 10 men and the pe- could be endured for long periods. riod to assemble the vans to 14 days. The second unit was planned to include all the To meet all these requirements, a decision was rooms which required plumbing: the darkroom, made to use four van units, which would, when kitchen, and bathroom with complete sanitary and completely assembled and connected with an in- laundry facilities. The communications room was terior "permawalk." comprise the main station also placed in this unit. The kitchen was de-

July-August, 1966 157 signed to resemble a residential kitchen, with to the virtually moistureless antarctic air. Plateau stained wood cabinets and a brightly colored Station is the first of the United States antarctic sta- counter, a counter-top range, a household refrig- tions in which adequate attention has been given to erator, and an under-counter dishwasher. The idea humidification. was to avoid the look of a typical stainless steel Heat generated by the engines was also used to Navy galley, and to make it, instead, like a kitchen keep the fuel warm and to provide the stations at home. Further, the use of domestic furnishings water. Unless warmed, the fuel stored outside in rather than industrial kitchen installations reduced the electrical requirements. 25,000-gallon rubber bladders would turn to jelly should winter temperatures drop as low as —90°C. The communications room in this unit would (---130°F.). Heating the fuel is accomplished by cir- house ham radio equipment for contact with the culating it through a heat exchanger warmed by the outside world, and that ever-important phone heat from the engine coolant. Water is obtained by "patch" home. Official communications equipment, melting snow in a tank through which the engines and an ultra-high-frequency (UHF) homer, were also exhaust pipe is run. included. This equipment was taken from Eights Sta- The two 75-kilowatt Caterpillar diesel generators tion and installed in the van at McMurdo before the van was flown inland. were specified to be supercharged because of the high elevation. These generators and the rest of the me- The aurora laboratory, with an aurora tower chanical and electrical equipment, including above it, and the very-low-frequency (VLF) radio pumps, fans, switchgear, heat exchangers, and tanks, research receivers were located in the third unit. were designed to fit into a small area. There is no The aurora tower was designed to be entered waste space in this unit, although it might have been through the laboratory. Colors for laboratory spaces better to have reduced the size of the workshop and were carefully chosen. The walls in these rooms increased the size of the mechanical room. This com- were also covered with vinyl wall covering, and all plete system was designed so that each of its func- the cabinets were made of stained and prefinished tions could be performed by other, independent wood. The aurora-VLF laboratory had more area systems in the case of failure. Important functions than any of the other scientific spaces. The space affecting safety would have at least two backups. requirement was not clearly stated during the de- The "permawalk" area, which is formed by put- sign stage, and it now appears that perhaps too ting floor and roof panels between the two rows much area was allotted. Some of it, however, is of vans, was planned as a recreation and living being used for medical research. space. The floor panels, each 36 feet long, were The fourth unit, the mechanical van, was to designed like the floors of the van units. The roof contain power, heat, and water sources for the of the "permawalk" was designed in 8- by 8-foot main camp. The total-energy concept for the me- insulated panels, to insure that the SeaBees could chanical-electrical system advocated by the plan- easily handle them during construction. "Cam- ners was adopted by the Bureau of Yards and lock" connectors were specified to provide ease of Docks mechanical engineers. Normally, diesel gen- erection and allow the builders to make connections erators use about one-third of the heat from the with a simple, large Allen wrench without remov- fuel burned for power generation, the rest being ing their gloves, another example of the effort to lost. The total-energy concept makes it possible at simplify construction. Plateau to reclaim about 40 percent of this "waste" In addition to the main station, an emergency heat. To recover the heat and still protect the en- camp, to be located 1,000 feet from the main build- gine cooling system, the engine coolant, upon ings, was designed and built. It will be available in leaving the engines at 82° C. (180° F.), is passed event of fire, generator failure, or fuel loss, and will through a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger. Using a also provide accommodations for summer support closed primary system like this, the danger of loss personnel. It consists of a single van containing a of pressure in the cooling system is reduced. The generator room, kitchen, and toilet room connected secondary liquid heated in the exchanger is then cir- to a special 16- by 32-foot Jamesway hut designed culated through a liquid-to-air heat exchanger in by the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory. Provi- the van heating ducts. Heat from this exchanger can sion was also made to supply power from, this source be supplemented by electrical heat. The heating duets for scientific programs at the main station if the gen- were to be run in the floors to help warm, them, a erators there should fail. luxury in Antarctica. Air from the ducts forced into In addition, Bureau of Yards and Docks engi- the rooms at floor level would help relieve the air neers designed a ramp of structural aluminum for stratification normally encountered in antarctic build- the specific purpose of unloading and loading the ings. A humidifier was included to add water vapor vans from LC-130 aircraft. Built on runners, these 158 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL

82-6 35-10 35-10 T Id-4

AURORA TOWER LU OVER DEN. GEN. ______UNK BALLOON WORKSHOP ii: INFLATION CD El T MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT IIii STORAGE We ID RECREATION DINING

r VEST

0BSERV-I DOCTOR DARK METEOROLOGY II BUNK BUNK H KITCHEN WASH ROOM COMMUNICATIONS ATION ROOM CD II H

Fig. 1. Plateau Station Floor Plan

ramps could be towed with a van on them by a 955 plans, made their schedules, and looked for un- Traxcavator to the construction site, thereby greatly foreseen problems. A trip to the manufacturer at facilitating the unloading operation. Calgary to participate in the factory erection and test of the station was included in the training. Consumable supplies were ordered especially for Procurement Plateau Station and delivery was monitored by using a machine- and computer-oriented system. With the completion of the design, the technical The list of supplies was checked and cross-checked officer at the Naval Construction Battalion Center, to insure that nothing was forgotten. Final checking Davisville, Rhode Island, took over. Negotiations took place just before all the necessities for con- were begun with the Alberta Trailer Company struction and living were loaded on USNS Towle (ATCO) for manufacture of the vans. The Naval in November for shipment to McMurdo. Support Force, Antarctica, insisted that a single On November 29. 1965, a final planning con- point of responsibility be established for supplying ference took place at McMurdo Station. Each job every item of material and equipment necessary for that remained to be done at McMurdo was as- a reliable station, and further, that the workability signed to one man as his responsibility. The pas- be proven before shipment to Antarctica. ATCO, senger movement schedules were made for the the same company that had built the Eights Station group going to the South Pole for acclimatization vans, assumed this responsibility and, as evidenced and then onward to the construction site. The by the results, discharged it successfully. equipment, including two 10-ton Traxcavators, vans, supplies, and fuel, was to be shipped in accordance Training with previously prepared construction schedules. Training, refinement of planning, and constant check- Mobile Construction Battalion Six (MCB-6), rec- ing continued. ognizing the necessity for intensive planning and training to insure success in the construction phase, appointed, in May 1965, Ensign David Ramsey, Execution CEC, USNR, as prospective Officer-in-Charge of On December 13, Captain V. Donald Bursik, the construction. He and his senior petty officer, Deputy Commander, U.S. Naval Support Force, now Chief Builder Gerson Hyatt, picked a vigorous Antarctica, planted the United States flag at 79° and capable crew who trained together, studied 15S. 40°30E. The advance party, including Lieu-

July-August. 1966 159 tenant J. L. Gowan, MC, USN, prospective Officer- snow surface to the top of the foundation and using in-Charge; Robert Flint, Stanon Scientific Leader; the winch on the Traxcavator to pull the units into Charles L. Roberts, of the U.S. Weather Bureau; place. The total construction time was a little over Arthur Weber, architect from the Bureau of Yards three weeks, including the installation of the fuel and Docks; E. C. Horton, Jr., a Navy electronics bladders and piping system, and delivery of 50,000 technician cross-trained as a radio operator; and gallons of arctic diesel fuel in bulk and an emer- Robert Faul, ABC-TV, erected a tent camp and gency supply of fuel in 55-gallon drums sufficient later a Jamesway hut. They determined the pre- for 16 weeks. vailing wind direction and insured that the site was Few unanticipated problems arose. In fact, the satisfactory from a scientific point of view. The entire Plateau operation is a model of what can be test of months of preparation had begun. done with thorough planning and clear assignment Shortly before January 1, 1966, a number of of responsibility for the ultimate delivery to the things began to happen at once. The SeaBee con- site of every single item needed, it is interesting struction crew arrived and set up additional tempo- that while every effort was made to fix responsibil- rary camp facilities at Plateau. Towle arrived at ity for getting material to the site, a different McMurdo and the vans, which had been deck- management concept, common to United States loaded, were off-loaded onto the fast ice in front operations in Antarctica, was employed for the of McMurdo Station. The vans were put on sleds actual construction. At United States stations, in- and carefully hauled to Williams Field for final in- dependent authority exists for scientific and logis- spection by MCB-6, installation of the communica- tic support programs, integrated only by the concern tions gear by electronic technicians from the 14th of the individuals for the success of their mutual en- Naval District Industrial Managers Office, and final deavor. At Plateau Station, there were seven men loading in LC-1 30F Hercules aircraft for shipment on location, each of whom felt himself significantly to Plateau. At Williams Field, the ramp designed by responsible, in one way or another, for the suc- the Bureau of Yards and Docks was not used; the cessful consummation of all of the previous efforts. vans were loaded directly from the sleds into the air- These included the naval Officer-in-Charge of the craft. The ramp was used at Plateau Station to un- station, the Station Scientific Leader, the National load the vans, however, and proved very successful Science Foundation representative, the Bureau of after a few minor difficulties had been overcome. Yards and Docks representative, the manufac- turers technical representative, the SeaBee Officer- ft in-Charge, and the Naval Support Force representa- tive. To attempt to integrate the feelings of re- sponsibility of all these strong and dedicated men on a formal basis in the usual hierarchy of corn- niand appeared impossible. It was felt that to do S() would have diminished their individual feelings of responsibility and dedication and reduced the effectiveness of the group as a team. Captain Don- ald R. Pope, CE, USA, the Naval Support Force on-site representative, was instructed that he was in residual charge of establishing the station, but that he would not take over full responsibility unless the informal relationships started to break down. Plan- ning and preparation had been so thoroughly done, and the cooperation was so good, that the construc- tion, supply, and fueling of the station proceeded (U.S. Nei), Photo) without a hitch, giving Captain Pope no occasion to Unloading Van at Plateau exercise his authority. At Plateau, the vans were placed on a timber On January 30, Rear Admiral Fred E. Bakutis, foundation made of a grid of 2- by 12-inch and USN, Commander, U.S. Naval Support Force, 6- by 8-inch timbers placed on firmly compacted Antarctica, officially dedicated Plateau Station. snow. The snow at Plateau was extremely soft, but That the station was built and works as originally was compacted by running the Traxcavator back conceived in the minds of the planners, is a tribute and forth over the area and then allowing the to every man who participated in this project. Each snow to harden. Placing the vans was accom- of them should find in its successful completion a plished by constructing a small ramp from the sense of satisfaction for a formidable job well done.

160 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL