This 1944 cover image shows a U.S. Navy’s Seabees crew that place steel mats for an aerial court somewhere in the Pacific.
Known as Marson Mat or Pierced Planking, and developed by the United States Army Engineers, this product was invaluable to war effort.
It consisted of 1/4 inches thick steel sheets, 16 inches wide and 10 feet long, perforated with holes of 3 in.
It turned out to be of critical importance at the beginning of the war, before the Marina had time to study local building materials, especially coral, and to develop ways to use them.
In the early stages of the war in the Pacific, the corridors had to be built at the top speed under fire without time to study the foundation conditions.
The crews of 100 to 150 men were able to put from 70 to 115 square feet per hour of worker in the islands of Solomon, building a track of 6,000 feet in length in about 4 1/2 days.
The mat was also used to build fences, barricades, wells, bridge covers, exclusive land and air attack coatings.
