Quonset Hut TA-22-1

Scientists practiced assembling the implosion-type weapon in Quonset Huts.

LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

Quick Facts

Location:

Los Alamos, NM

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

Los Alamos National Laboratory

This building is on Los Alamos National Laboratory property and cannot be accessed by members of the public. 

During World War II, Quonset huts became a common military structure. The United States Navy needed something that could be prefabricated, shipped, and assembled anywhere, and the Quonset hut met these standards. Based off a WWI design by the British, the huts have an arched steel frame structure with plywood ends and a wooden floor.   

Because the US military used Quonset huts in the Pacific, Manhattan Project staff constructed one in Los Alamos for the final mock-up of the Fat-Man weapons. Staff left nothing to chance with the deployment of these new weapons. Both Los Alamos, where the atomic weapons were developed, and Tinian Island, where they were assembled, used Quonset huts. Los Alamos staff tested assembly of the weapons in the huts to make sure the process could be replicated on Tinian.

Continue Your Journey 

 

Behind the fence, Concrete Bowl and Gun Site, were important to the creation of the atomic bomb. Learn more about the history of the Manhattan by visiting the Bradbury Science Museum! The museum’s interactive exhibits share stories from the project and provide a glimpse of other “behind the fence” historical sites.