• Holston Army Ammunition Plant Kingspoxt V:- _.■"..-..:'..-. HABR No. TN-10 ■Hawkins County -^o^^vi-uVM COUM Tennessee WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA REDUCED COPIES OF MEASURED DRAWING • Historic American Engineering Record National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington, DC 20013-7127 HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD Holston Army Ammunition Plant TN-10 Location: In Sullivan County, Tennessee, along the Holston River, South and west of Kingspolpt. Date of Construction: Established in 19A2-1944 Owne r: Department of the Army Significance: During World War II, the Holston Army Ammunition Plant made several significant contributions to explosives-manufacturing technology. It was the first large-scale facility to implement the nearly developed Bachmann process in the manufacture of the explosive RDX. At the same time, it streamlined the Bachmann method by instituting a slurry-based, continuous manufacturing process, and it also developed important new cooling and packaging procedures for composition B. As a result of these innovations, Holston became the world's largest producer of Composition B, the most powerful explosive until the development of nuclear weapons. # Historical Report Prepared by: Jeffrey A. Hess, 1984. Prepared for Transmittal by: Robie S. Lange, HABS/HAER, 1985. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page % EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • The Holston Army Ammunition Plant (HSAAP) is part of the Army's Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command (AMCCOM). It is the only American manufacturing facility for RDX- and HMX-based high explosives. product is Composition B. Its chief The installation consists of two separate areas — Plant A (120 acres) and Plant B (5,900 acres) — situated in and near Kingsport, Tennessee. Except for a four-year standby period immediately following V-J Day, the facility has been in continuous production since its initial construction in 1942-1944. Of the 470 buildings maintained by the installation, approximately three-quarters date from the World-vVar-II period. As the world's first large-scale Bachmann-method plant, the Holston Army Anmunition Plant revolutionized the production of RDX and Composition B by replacing an expensive, labor-intensive technology with a cost-efficient, mass-production operation. It also pioneered in the development of the magnesium-nitrate method of nitric acid concentration- During World War II, the installation was of critical importance to Allied strategic planning, and its large output of Composition B hastened Allied victory in the crucial Battle of the Atlantic. Because of their great technological and historical importance, the ten RDX and Ccmposition-B manufacturing lines (Buildings Bl, S3, B5, 87, B9, Cl, C3, C5, C5, C7, C9, D1-D10, E1-E10, G1-G10, Hl-HlO, 11-110, Jl^JlO, K1-K10, L1-L10, M1-M10, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, N1-N10) at Plant B are Category I historic properties. The installation also contains one of the nation's Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page^3 few surviving producer-gas plants (Plant A, Building 10), which is a Category I "historic property by virtue of its rarity and "highly intact condition. The installation's Old Administration Building (Plant B, Building 1) is a Category III historic property "because of its role in overseeing the Wbrld-War-II manufacturing operation. II historic properties at the installation. There are no Category Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page ^j. CONTENTS Executive Surmary PREFACE 1 1. 3 2. INTRODUCTION Scope 3 Methodology 4 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Background 14 World War II 17 Korean War 3. 14 . 45 Vietnam War 48 Recent Developments 50 PRESERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS 59 Background 59 Category I Historic Properties 64 Category II Historic Properties 80 Category III Historic Properties 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY 83 Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page % PREFACE This report presents the results of an historic properties survey of the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. Prepared for the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM), the report is intended to assist the Army in bringing this installation into compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and its amendments, and related federal laws and regulations. To this end, the report focuses on the identification, evaluation, documentation, nomination, and preservation of historic properties at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. Chapter 1 sets forth the survey's scope and methodology; Chapter 2 presents an architectural, historical, and technological overview of the installation and its properties; and Chapter 3 identifies significant properties by Army category and sets forth preservation recommendations. Illustrations and an annotated bibliography supplement the text. This report is part of a program initiated through a memorandum of agreement between the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Department of the Army. installations and has two components: The program covers 74 DARCOM 1) a survey of historic properties (districts, buildings, structures, and objects), and 2) the development of archaeological overviews. Stanley H. Fried, Chief, Real Estate Branch of Headquarters DARCOM, directed the program for the Army, and Dr. Robert J. Kapsch, Chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) directed the program for the National Park Service. Sally Kress Tompkins was program manager, and Robie S. Lange was Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page (,. project manager for the historic properties survey. Technical assistance was provided by Donald C. Jackson. Building Technology Incorporated acted as primary contractor to HABS/HAER for the historic properties survey. William A. Brenner was BTI's principal-in-charge and Dr. Larry D. Lankton was the chief technical consultant. Major subcontractors were the MacDonald and Mack Partnership and Jeffrey A. Hess. The author of this report was Jeffrey A. Hess. The author gratefully acknowledges the help of Lt. Col. Willis Seguin, Plant Commander; William D. Miller and Susan P. Cole of the government staff; and T.W. Goodwin, Jerry Blair, Henry Hurd, Roy S. Eastern, Robert Brewer, Jr., Robert Wicker, and Ken Curtis of the Holston Defense Corporation. The complete HABS/HAER documentation for this installation will be included in the HABS/HAER collections at the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, under the designation HAER Mo. TN-10. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 7 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION SCOPE This report is based on an historic properties survey conducted in April 1983 of all Army-owned properties located within the official boundaries of the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. The survey included the following tasks: Completion of documentary research on the history of the installation and its properties. Completion of a field inventory of all properties at the installation. Preparation of a combined architectural, historical, and technological overview for the installation. Evaluation of historic properties and development of recommendations for preservation of these properties. Also completed as a part of the historic properties survey of the installation, but not included in this report, are HABS/HAER Inventory cards for 27 individual properties. These cards, which constitute HABS/HAER Documentation Level IV, will be provided to the Department of the Army. Archival copies of the cards, with their accompanying photographic Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page g negatives, will be transmitted to the HABS/HAER collections at the Library of Congress. The methodology used to complete these tasks is described in the following section of this report, METHODOLOGY 1. Documentary Research The Holston Army Ammunition Plant (HSAAP) was constructed during 1942-1944 as a government-owned, contractor-operated facility designed to manufacture the high explosive Composition B and its chief ingredient RDX. In addition to these major products, the HSAAP also manufactured several raw materials used in RDX production. These subsidiary operations involved the production of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, and producer gas. To place the HSAAP in proper historical and technological perspective, research was conducted on virtually all manufacturing processes employed at the installation. Published doumentary sources were identified by con- sulting standard bibliographies of military history, engineering, and the applied sciences. Unpublished sources were identified by researching the historical and technological archives of the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command (ALMCCOM) at Rock Island Arsenal. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page °\ A concerted effort was also made to locate published and unpublished sources dealing specifically with the architecture and history of the HSAAP. This site-specific research was conducted primarily at the AMCCOM Historical Office at Rock Island Arsenal, the Kingsport Public Library (Palmer Room), and the HSAAP (contractor's archives, government administrative archives, real property records office, facilities engineer's office). The Tennessee State Historic Preservation Office (Tennessee Historical Commission, Nashville) was contacted for information about the HSAAP, but had no relevant data. 2 Army records used for the field inventory included current Real Property Inventory (RPI) printouts that listed all officially recorded buildings and structures by facility classification and date of construction; the installation's property record cards; base maps and photographs supplied by installation personnel; and installation master planning, archaeological, environmental assessment, and related reports and documents. A complete listing of this documentary material may be found in the bibliography. 2. Field Inventory Architectural and technological field surveys were conducted in April 1983 by Jeffrey A. Hess and Robert C. Mack. Following General discussions with William Miller, environmental affairs officer of the government staff, and T. W. Goodwin, manager of the contractor staff, the surveyors were provided with escorts for tours of the installation's production and magazine areas. / The following Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page \0 contractor personnel served as guides: Ken Curtis {magazine areas), Henry Hurd (Plant-A production facilities), Robert Brewer, Jr. (Plant-A utilities), Jerry Blair (Plant-B RDX-and-Composition-B lines), and Robert Wicker (Plant-B acid area and utilities). The surveyors were permitted to inspect the installation's administration and shop areas on an unescorted basis. Field inventory procedures were based on the HABS/HAER Guidelines for Inventories of Historic Buildings and Engineering and Industrial Structures. 2 All areas and properties were visually surveyed. Building locations and approximate dates of construction were noted from the installation's property records and field-verified. Interior surveys were made of the major facilities to permit adequate evaluation of architectural features, building technology, and production equipment. Field inventory forms were prepared for, and black and white 35 nsn photographs taken of all buildings and structures through 1945 except basic utilitarian structures of no architectural, historical, or technological interest. When groups of similar ("prototypical") buildings were found, one field form was normally prepared to represent all buildings of that type. Field inventory forms were also completed for representative post-1945 buildings and structures. Information collected on the field forms was later evaluated, condensed, and transferred to HABS/HAER Inventory cards. ? Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page \l 3. Historical Overview A combined architectural, historical, and technological overview was prepared from information developed from the documentary research and the field inventory. It was written in two parts: 1) an introductory description of the installation, and 2) a history of the installation by periods of development, beginning with pre-military land uses. Maps and photographs were selected to supplement the text as appropriate. The objectives of the overview were to 1) establish the periods of major construction at the installation, 2) identify important events and individuals associated with specific historic properties, 3) describe patterns and locations of historic property types, and 4) analyze specific building and industrial technologies employed at the installation. 4. Property Evaluation and Preservation Measures Based on information developed in the historical overviews, properties were first evaluated for historical significance in accordance with the eligibility criteria for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. These criteria require that eligible properties possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and that they meet one or more 4 of the following: 7 Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page Q A. Are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of oar history. B. Are associated with the lives of persons significant in the nation's past. C. Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, represent the work of a master, possess high artistic values, or represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction. D. Have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in pre-history or history. Properties thus evaluated were further assessed for placement in one of five Army historic property categories as described in Army Regulation 420-40: Category I Properties of major importance Category II Properties of importance Category III Properties of minor importance Category IV Properties of little or no importance Category V Properties detrimental to the significance of adjacent historic properties. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page \ recommendations were created for individual properties as circumstances required. 5- Report Review Prior to being completed in final form, this report was subjected to an in-house raview by Building Technology Incorporated. It was then sent in draft to the subject installation for comment and clearance and, with its associated historical materials, to HABS/HAER staff for technical review. When the installation cleared the report, additional draft copies were sent to DARCOM, the appropriate State Historic Preservation Officer, and, when requested, to the archaeological contractor performing parallel work at the installation. The report was revised based on all comments collected, then published in final form. NOTES 1. 'The following bibliographies of published sources were consulted: Industrial Arts Index, 1938-1957; Applied Science and Technology Index, 1958-1980; Engineering Index, 1938-1983; Robin Higham, ed., A Guide to the Sources of United States Military History (Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1975); John E, Jessup and Robert W. Coakley, A Guide to the Study and Use of Military History {Washington, D,C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979); "Military Installations," Public Works History in the United States, eds., Suellen M. Hoy and Michael C. Robinson (Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1982), pp. 380-400. AMCCOM (formerly ARRCOM, or U.S. Army Armament Materiel Readiness Command) is the military agency responsible for supervising the operation of government-owned munititions plants; its headquarters are located at Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Illinois. Although there is no comprehensive index to AMCCOM archival holdings, the agency's microfiche collection of unpublished reports is itemized in ARRCOM, Catalog of Common Sources, Fiscal Year 1983, 2 vols. (no pi.: Historical Office, AMCCOM, Rock Island Arsenal, n.d.). X Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page x*') • 2. Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, Guidelines for Inventories of Historic Buildings and Engineering and Industrial Structures (unpublished draft, 1982). 3. Representative post-World War II buildings and structures were defined as properties that were: (a) "representative" by virtue of construction type, architectural type, function, or a combination of these, (b) of obvious Category I, II, or III historic importance, or (c) prominent on the installation by virtue of size, location, or other distinctive feature. 4. National Park Service, How to Complete National Register Forms {Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 1977). 5. Army Regulation 420-40, Historic Preservation (Headquarters, U.S. Army: Washington, D.C., 15 April 1984). A HolsCon Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page ! % Chapter 2 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW BACKGROUND The HSAAP is a government-owned, contractor-operated installation constructed during 1942-1944 for the manufacture of the military, high explosive Composition B, and its chief ingredient RDX. The installation consists of two separate areas — Plant A and Plant B — located about four air miles apart on the Holston River in northeastern Tennessee (Figure 1). The two areas are connected by above-ground chemical pipelines and an inter-plant railroad. Plant A presently occupies about 120 acres in the heart of the manufacturing district of Kingsport in Sullivan County. It produces raw materials for and processes by-products from Plant B, which is situated upstream on about 5,900 acres in rural-suburban Hawkins County. Plant B contains a nitric-acid production area and ten explosivesmanufacturing lines, as well as extensive facilities for storing and shipping explosives. . It also houses the HSAAP's main administrative offices and maintenance shops. During World War II, the HSAAP made several significant contributions to explosives-manufacturing technology. It was the first large-scale facility to implement the newly developed Bachmann process in the manufacture of RDX. At the sarre time, it streamlined the Bachmann method by instituting a slurry-based, continuous manufacturing process, and it also developed important new cooling and packaging procedures for Composition B. As a result of these innovations, the HSAAP became the world's largest producer X h?Vfl'?I- . _r WM OHARTMENT I . - - '1 Figure l: Vicinity map of the Holston Army Hmmnition Plant. (Source: Industrial Facilities Inventory," Part 1, Section 3, unpublished, prepared by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1944, HSAAP Archives.) Page 19. HAER No. Holston Army Ammunition Plant Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page £?0 of Composition B, the most powerful explosive known until the development of nuclear weapons. Used extensively in depth charges and torpedos, the plant's output hastened Allied victory in the crucial Battle of the Atlantic. On a smaller scale, the HSAAP pioneered in the use of magnesium nitrate as a dehydrating-concentrating agent in nitric-acid production — a technique that would eventually lead to the commercial development of the "maggie unit," Shortly after V-J Day, the HSAAP suspended manufacturing operations and assumed the status of a "standby" plant with its production equipment intact. Apart from the fabrication of ammonium-nitrate fertilizer in 1946-1947 for distribution under the Marshall Plan, the HSAAP1 s manufacturing lines remained inactive until 1949, when small-scale production of Canposition B resumed. Since that time, the HSAAP has continued to turn out RDX-based explosives, with production dramatically expanding and contracting during and after the Korean and Vietnam Wars. At present, the HSAAP comprises approximately 470 buildings, three-quarters of which date from the original construction period. About one-third of the structures are used for manufacturing; one-third for explosives storage; and the remaining third for administration, maintenance, and utilities. Despite the modification and modernization of several plant facilities, the HSAAP — in both architectural and technological terms — retains much of its original, World-War-II character. The installation also maintains and operates one of the country's few remaining producer-gas plants (Plant A, Building 10). X Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page AI For a more detailed understanding of the HSAAP's architectural and technological history, it is necessary to look more closely at the installation's three major production periods: World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Whenever the available data permits, the discussion will focus on specific buildings and processes. WORU) WAR II In June 1940, shortly after the fall of France, President Roosevelt established the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) to mobilize the nation's academic community for "research on the mechanisms and devices of warfare." In time, the NDRC would sponsor hundreds of research projects that ran the gamut from amphibious vehicles to rocket propellants. But initially it focused its attention on promising new technologies developed by the British, and this was particularly true in the area of high explosives. During the 1930's, British stategists had learned that German submarine hulls were being strengthened to withstand anything short of a direct hit by a conventional TNT-loaded depth charge. To counter the U-boat threat, the British Admiralty began seeking a more effective explosive, and its first choice was cyclonite. Discovered as early as 1899, cyclonite was known to be almost twice as powerful as TNT — but also several times more sensitive to shock, which prohibited its use in conventional ordnance. the late 1930's, however, British scientists at the Armament Research Department at Woolwich Arsenal had determined that cyclonite could be X By Holston Array Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 3.3s sufficiently desensitized by combining it with wax, plasticizing oils, or TNT. As a security measure, the British rechristened cyclonite as "Research Department Explosive," or RDX. with a similar flair for anonymity, they chose the name of "Composition B" for the desensitized mixture of 60% RDX and 40% TNT that was to be widely used in Allied naval ordnance during World War II. Although the British were the first to tame cyclonite, they were less successful in devising an efficient means for mass producing it. The method developed at Woolwich Arsenal, and first employed on a large scale at Bridgewater, England in the summer of 1941, involved a simple batch process for the nitration of hexamine by concentrated nitric acid. Calling for eleven pounds of strong nitric acid for every pound of RDX produced, the Woolwich method required the construction of an enormous, on-site nitric-acid works, which made the process extremely expensive to implement and operate. While the Bridgewater plant was still under construction, the British encouraged the newly created NDRC to investigate a cheaper method of manufacturing RDX. The NDRC took up the challenge, and in November 1940, it selected Werner E. Bachmann, an organic chemist at the University 4 of Michigan, to work on the project. Bachmann had no previous experience with munitions, and as he later declared, his "heart sank" at the prospect of working on an explosives project. Despite his personal distaste for the work, Bachmann threw himself into the study with such energy that within three months he had developed a new RDX-pr eduction process, involving the nitration of hexamine by a mixture of strong nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, with acetic Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page S^ anbydride added to serve as a dehydrating agent. Bachmann's discovery reduced the total nitric-acid requirements of the Woolwich method by fully 85% while doubling the RDX yield from hexamine. The new process, however, did have one drawback: it released, as a by-product, substantial quantities of weak acetic acid contaminated with RDX. Before the Bachmann method could become a practical manufacturing technique, it was necessary to devise a means of purifying the acetic acid, concentrating it, and reconverting it to acetic anhydride. The search for the solution to this problem led the NDRC to the Tennessee Eastman Corporation of Kingsport, Tennessee. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, New York, the Tennessee Eastman Corporation was a leading producer of both acetic anhydride and cellulose acetate, which it manufactured into synthetic yarn. In developing its cellulose-acetate facility, Tennessee Eastman had engineered an acetic-acid recovery system that seemed applicable to the Bachmann process. In November 1941, the NDRC requested Tennessee Eastman to join its RDX task force, and three months later, the company reported that it had worked out a feasible acid-recovery procedure. The firm was then asked to design and operate two pilot plants in Kingsport: one to manufacture RDX according to the Bachmann method, and the other to combine RDX and TNT into Composition B. production by the end of April 1942. Both plants were in Highly impressed with the company's expeditious handling of the pilot projects, the NDRC recommended that Tennessee Eastman be selected to design and operate the HSAAP, the country's first and only large-scale, Bachmann-method, RDX installation. ¥ A Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 2:4 contract to this effect was signed by Tennessee Eastman and the United States government in June 1942. Site Selection and Former Land Use The Kingsport area was selected as the site for the HSAAP primarily because it was the manufacturing base of the Tennessee Eastman Corporation, which 7 would serve as contractor-operator of the new facility. The site also satisfied the following basic criteria that governed the selection of other World-War-II explosives plants: (1) availability of suitable labor without major housing projects; (2) proximity to a main railroad line; (3) availability of adequate electric power; (4) ample supply of water for processing; (5) availability of extended, isolated tracts for explosives manufacturing and storage; (6) a location at least 200 miles from coastal waters and international borders as a defense against enemy attack. When the government began its acquisition of land for the HSAAP in the summer of 1942, the Plant-A site, immediately adjacent to the Tennessee Eastman Plant in Kingsport, was an unoccupied, industrially-zoned tract with no standing structures. The Plant-B site in rural Hawkins County was predominantly crop and pasture land that had long been used for dairying. It contained at least thirty-eight standing structures, including farmhouses, servants' quarters, garages, stables, barns, and a schoolhouse. 2ef Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 35 None of these buildings survive within the present boundaries of the HSAAP.9 Construction * Construction work on the HSAAP commenced in the summer of 1942 under the general supervision of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, which created a special "Holston District" to administer the project. Since the HSAAP was the first large-scale facility to implement the Bachmann process, there were no precedents for its overall design. The preparation of engineering and construction specifications was further complicated by a phased completion schedule that called for the progressive activation of production lines. As one engineer on the project observed, "Holston was very literally designed, built and operated simultaneously." The Corps of Engineers launched the project by letting two major contracts. The first went to Tennessee Eastman Corporation for "general layout of the plant, design of the manufacturing buildings, design and procurement of manufacturing equipment, and finally operation of the plant." The second contract was awarded to the New York architectural and engineering firm of Fraser-Brace Co., Inc., which had just completed a series of design and construction contracts for the expansion of the Weldon Springs Ordnance Works, a sprawling TNT plant in Missouri. Fraser-Brace agreed to serve as general contractor and project manager, and assumed direct responsibility for "all construction and equipment installation, all procurement (other Throughout World War II, the HSAAP was officially designated as the Holston Ordnance Works. The plant's current name, which dates from 1963, is used throughout this report for the sake of brevity and clarity. / Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page Sfc than manufacturing equipment), and all design of temporary utilities and structures," For its principal subcontractor on the HSAAP project, Fraser-Brace selected the Boston architectural and engineering firm of Charles T. Main, Inc., which had previously handled the construction of Camp Edwards in Massachussets. At the HSAAP site, the Boston firm was responsible for the "design of roads, railroads, bridges, utilities, magazines and all buildings other than manufacturing, as well as field layout and field inspection." By dividing design responsibility among three firms, the Corps of Engineers had hoped to promote flexibility and speed. In practice, however, the project was plagued by persistent confusion at the construction site, exacerbated by "an element of friction" between Fraser-Brace and its Boston associate. 12 In July 1943, as the HSAAP was nearing completion, the government authorized a doubling of the installation's production capacity, which necessitated both the modification of existing, on-site equipment and the erection of several new structures. As a result of this expansion program, construction crews remained at the site until mid-March 1944, when "the project was finished, cleaned up and 100% in the hands of the operators." At this time the Corps of Engineers took inventory of the new installation, and counted a total of 610 buildings. Plant A (Figures 2, 3). Of this number, 48 were located at Compactly clustered on a 134-acre site, the principal Plant-A structures comprised an Administration-Laboratory * Building (Building a-1), * a Steam Plant (Building a-8), and Acetic-Acid Throughout this chapter, Plant-A and Plant-B buildings are distinguished, respectively, by the use of the lower-case prefixes "a" and "b." 7& Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page £') ,3 IT) (0 ^O i- r- O &8 as 8 !to I rH 8 1 •3 8 11 &4 ! Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page ^jM 4J a 13 ti Cn-H Cn CD S ■rH *r4 *rH H 3H id in m *d I *d > P E 3 ifl in •H &4 ^ 5) Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 3^ground, Richmond magazines (Buildings b-Yl-Yll). The sixth, and last, major area of Plant B was an extensive storage facility for high explosives. Separated from the rest of Plant B by the Holston River, and located about two miles southwest of the manufacturing area, this facility contained 130 earth-sheltered, Corbetta-type "beehive" magazines (Buildings b-21-150) (Figure 6).15 In terms of overall architectural design, the aSAAP reflected both its general industrial function and the no-frills speed of its construction. Almost all the buildings were utilitarian in style without pretense to ornamentation. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the installation was the widespread use of brick, which was generally considered too costly for wartime, munitions-plant construction: A reinforced-concrete frame and brick wall design was adopted for most of the heavy manufacturing buildings and for the steam plants, primarily to save steel. Several of these buildings might have been built of all concrete, but lumber was exceedingly scarce and brick was used to save not only steel but form lumber. Brick was available in ample quantities for immediate delivery from a plant near Kingsport. An adequate number of capable bricklayers also was available, making cost of brick construction not excessive as compared to frame construction. Consequently, many buildings that normally would have been of frame construction were built of brick, including the permanent administration buildings and the staff residences. Since the installation's manufacturing buildings were designed by the Tennessee Eastman Corporation, it is not surprising that they closely resembled the company's factory buildings in Kingsport, which conformed to standard, chemical-plant construction of the 1930s (Figures 7, 8, 9). After the completion of the expansion program in the spring of 1944, the HSAAP experienced little new construction during World War II. The only notable additions before V-J Day were a Nitric-Acid-Ammonium-Nitrate Plant Magazine 64 at the Planth magazine area is typical of the installation Corbetta magazine facilities. (Source: '_?Industrial Facilities Inventory, Part 1, Section 7, unpublished, prepared by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1944, HSAAP Archives.) .- HAER No. Page 2 Holston Army Ammunition Plant ?3 . a- Figure 7: The Production Plant (Building 7) is typical of the reinforced-ooncrete?and?brick construction used in Plant?A manufacturing facilities. (Source: "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Part 1, Section 7, unpublished, prepared by U, S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1944, HSAAP Archives.) Page 34%? Holston Army Ammunition Plant the reinforced?concrete? is typical of facturing facilities at Plant B. Part 1, Section 7, unpublished, 1944, HSAAP Archives.) This Building (G4) and~brick construction used in RDeranu (Source: "Industrial Facilities Inventory, prepared by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, HAER No. Pagewg? Holston_Army Ammunition Plant Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 3k Figure 9: Constructed during the 1930s, Tennessee Eastman Corporation's cellulose-acetate plant in Kingsport served as an architectural and engineering model for many of the production facilities at the Holston Army Arnmunition Plant. (Source: Kingsport News, April 9, 1951.) & Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page .3 •' (Building b-330) in the summer of 1944, and a Magnesium-Nitrate-Nitric-Acid Concentrating Plant (Building b-303-B) in the summer of 1945. Both facilities were located in the acid area of Plant B and conformed to the 18 prevailing utilitarian-industrial architectural style. Technology In terms of military technology, the HSAAP is best known for its contributions to the manufacture of RDX during World War II. But the installation was also responsible for manufacturing a number of its own raw materials, which involved it in a number of subsidiary technologies. At the HSAAP, four principal ingredients went into the production of RDX: acetic anhydride, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, and hexamine. materials, the HSAAP manufactured the first three. Of these We will consider each in turn. In one way or another, all of the industrial buildings at Plant A were associated with the production of acetic anhydride. 19 By the early 1940s, the most common method for producing this chemical was to dehydrate 20 glacial, or concentrated, acetic acid. This method was well suited for the HSAAP because the RDX-preduction lines at Plant B released, as a by-product, substantial quantities of dilute acetic acid that could serve as the starting point for acetic-anhydride manufacture. The weak acid from Plant B was shipped to Plant A in tank cars over the inter-plant railroad; it was then delivered to Building a-2 for concentration into glacial acetic. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 3& Although dilute acetic acid could have been concentrated by simple distillation, the heat requirements were too prohibitive for large-scale industrial use. A more feasible method used azeotropic distillation, which was pioneered by British chemists in the 1920s and adopted, with modifications, by the Tennessee Eastman Corporation for its celluloseacetate plant in Kingsport during the 1930s. Briefly, azeotropic distillation employed an "entraining" liquid that was added to the dilute acid in order to "bind" the water into a special compound known as an "azeotrope" that boiled away at a lower temperature than the general acid-water mixture. Because of the differential boiling points, distillation procedures could then be used to remove the water and concentrate the dilute acid. With only minimal loss, the entraining fluid 21 was recovered from the waste water and continuously recycled. The Acid-Concentration Plant (Building a-2) employed the azeotropic process patented by the Tennesse Eastman Corporation. Designed with a daily production capacity of 3.2 million pounds of glacial acetic, the eight-story structure was divided by a firewall into two identical units, each containing four azeotropic stills. The height of the structure was dictated by the height requirements of the distillation equipment. Since the glacial acetic produced from the Plant-B dilute acid was insufficient to meet the installation's total acetic-anhydride production requirements, the HSAAP also had the capability to manufacture new acetic acid. Until the early 1930s, almost all glacial acetic produced in the United States was by the destructive distillation of wood. In 1935, however, the Tennessee Eastman Corporation began experimenting with a new British procedure for producing acetic acid by catalytic methods from ethyl a/ Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 3°! alcohol. This procedure was the one adopted at the HSAAP. A Tennessee Eastman spokesman described the process as follows: Ethyl alcohol is shipped in tank cars from the Baton Rouge alcohol plant of Esso Standard, The 190-proof alcohol is pumped to storage tanks and then is sent to dehydrogenation units. The dehydrogenation results from the action of a catalyst. The reaction in the dehydrogenation units causes 2 atoms of hydrogen to be liberated, leaving acetaldehyde in vapor form. The vapor is condensed by refrigeration and the resulting liquid passed to an oxidizing tank. When air is blown through the acetaldehyde in the presence of a catalyst, acetic acid is formed and the free nitrogen is removed. The nitrogen is piped off and the acetic acid is condensed. This acid is subsequently concentrated into glacial grade. At the HSAAP new acetic-acid manufacturing took place in a Catalyst Building (Building a-4), which housed dehydrogenation units, and an Acetic-Acid Production Plant (Building a-3), which contained oxidizing equipment. The new acid was concentrated into glacial grade at the Acetic-Acid Concentration Plant (Building a-2) by the previously described azeotropic method. In terms of total output, the new-acid operation was designed with a daily production capacity of 200,000 pounds of glacial acetic. Production of glacial acetic acid was the first step in the manufacture of acetic anhydride. In converting acid into anhydride, the HSAAP adopted a system based upon well established industrial processes used by the Tennessee Eastman Corporation at its Kingsport plant. Briefly, this method entailed heating glacial acetic acid in the presence of a catalyst so that it "cracked," or decomposed, into water vapor and a colorless gas called ketene. Next, the ketene was "scrubbed" with fresh glacial acetic acid to form a crude mixture of acetic anhydride and dilute acetic acid. This Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page ^ crude solution was then refined and separated into pure anhydride and 23 glacial acetic by repeated distillation in a rectifying column. The anhydride operation focused on three principal structures: Buildings a-7 and a-20 prepared the crude anhydride solution, and Building a-6 refined it. In terms of basic equipment, Building a-7 contained thirty-two gas-fired cracking furnaces and sixteen scrubbing trains; Building a-20 housed sixteen gas-fired furnaces and eight scrubbing trains; and Building 24 a-6 had nine rectifying columns. Since the Kingsport area had no natural-gas facilities, the cracking furnaces at Buildings a-7 and a-20 were fueled by a Producer-Gas Plant (Building a-10), which converted 25 bituminous coal and steam into synthetic gas. The industrial system at Plant A was designed with a daily production capacity of 1.6 million pounds of anhydride. After production, the chemical was pumped into storage tanks, and eventually transported in tank cars over the inter-plant railroad to Plant B. Acetic anhydride was only the first of three RDX ingredients manufactured at the HSAAP. The second principal raw material was nitric acid, which was produced at the "acid area" of Plant B. The production system, designed by the Hercules Powder Co., embodied a standard technology developed by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in the mid-1920s. In the du Pont process, liquid ammonia was vaporized and mixed with heated compressed air in the presence of a platinum catalyst to form nitrogen oxides. The nitrogen compounds were then further oxidized with air and fed into an absorption tower, where they combined with water to form 60% nitric acid. At the HSAAP, air compressors in Building b-300 supplied the pressurized air required by the Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page "// du Pont process and the oxidation-and-absorption process took place in Building b-302.25 Like most industrial uses of nitric acid, the manufacture of RDX required an almost pure grade of the ingredient. To achieve this level of purity, the HSAAP used the time-honored technique of concentrating the 60% nitric acid by dehydrating it with sulphuric acid. dehydration towers at Building b-303. This process occurred in The spent sulfuric acid, now diluted with water, was collected in concentrator drums at Building a-308, where it, in turn, was dehydrated by blasts of hot gases from oil-fired furnaces. The re-concentrated sulfuric acid was then ready to be recycled in the nitric-acid operation. The third, and last, RDX ingredient produced at the HSAAP was ammonium nitrate. Until the summer of 1944, _the installation purchased its ammonium nitrate from the Kansas-Ordnance Works and the Wolf Creek Ordnance Works, where it was synthesized primarily for use in making the TNT-based explosive Amatol. In the spring of 1944, however, the Ordnance Department determined that "a savings of approximately $5,000.00 per day can be effected" if the HSAAP were to manufacture the material on its own premises. The new Ammonium-Nitrate Production Plant (Building b-330) was constructed and in operation by August 1944. The operation employed a standard procedure of mixing ammonia and strong nitric acid in continuous reactors to produce an ammonium-nitrate solution. The only drawback to the operation was that the HSAAP could not manufacture enough nitric acid to meet the production requirements of both RDX and ammonium nitrate. This deficit was initially made up by nitric-acid shipments from other ordnance / Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page *j 0works that had excess capacity. In 1945, however, increased demands for TOT created a general nitric-acid shortage in the munitions industry, and 28 the HSAAP ammonium-nitrate plant was forced to shut down. Although the HSAAP made no major technological changes in its production of RDX ingredients during World War II, the installation did host some important experimental work in the area of nitric-acid concentration. After considerable developmental work, the Tennessee Eastman Corporation received government authorization to proceed with a pilot project for a revolutionary new method of dehydrating nitric acid by means of magnesium nitrate. The pilot plant (Building b-303-B) was built and in operation by March 1945. An Ordnance Department memorandum briefly describes the new process as follows: Weak Nitric Acid is to be fed continuously into a continuous column below a rectifying section with hot liquid (95%) Magnesium Nitrate being added at a somewhat higher point. Strong nitric acid is distilled from the top of the column through a bleacher pot to storage. At the base of the column, the Magnesium Nitrate-water solution would flow to a base heater where the water would be driven off by high pressure coil steam. Part of ' the water so obtained would be returned to the column for reboiling heat and the remainder discharged for pre-heating feed and finally for use as [Ammonium-Oxidation Plant] feed water. The residue of the concentrated Magnesium Nitrate will be pumped continuously from the base heater through a steam-jagketed line to a point in the tower above the weak Nitric feed. Although this pilot project never moved beyond the experimental phase, it laid the groundwork for the development, during the 1950s, of the magnesium-nitrate dehydrating towert or "maggie unit," which would offer the nitric-acid industry an alternative to the conventional sulfuric-acid 30 technique of concentrating weak nitric. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page ■Af% In planning raw-material production at the HSAAP, the Tennessee Eastman Corporation relied on well established industrial processes. But the preparation of RDX by the Bachmann method was quite another matter. When Tennessee Eastman first began its work on a pilot plant for RDX in early 1942, the Bachmann method was a laboratory procedure rather than a mass-production technique. In its basic outline, the method called for both dry and liquid ingredients that were reacted in a two-stage batch process with an intermediate drying period. During its experimental work, Tennessee Eastman streamlined this procedure by means of two important innovations. First, all ingredients were transformed into concurrent liquid feeds that were reacted in a one-stage, continuous nitrator. Second, a production system was devised whereby the RDX was transferred from one processing building to another in slurry form through the use of centrifugal pumps. As a result of these innovations, the Bachmann method became a continuous manufacturing process, with raw materials entering at one end of a production line, and RDX rolling off at the other. Tennessee Eastman also improved on the standard British method of combining RDX and TOT into Composition B. As one observer noted, "The British procedure for making Composition B was to melt TNT in a heated kettle, shovel in wet RDX and stir until the water evaporated. The molten mix was then poured into trays something like biscuit pans where it cooled and solidified. With only a few pounds per tray, this was a real labor hog. Besides, the workers were constantly exposed to poisonous TOT fumes." 32 To speed up the final casting-and-cooling process, Tennessee Eastman devised a continuous pelleting procedure that used "an agitated casting pot with Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page ^/y multiple holes in the bottom" 33 to extrude the warm Composition B mixture onto a cooling conveyor belt (Figures 10/ 11). ingenious and safe. "The process was simple, It eliminated the TNT fume problem and reduced labor by a very large factor." 34 In its final design, the Plant-B manufacturing area was organized into ten nearly identical, parallel production lines, each containing ten principal buildings (Figure 12). The first five structures in a line (Buildings C, D, E, G, H) manufactured RDX; the last five (Buildings I, J, L, M, N) Composition B. From start to finish, production went as follows: "C" Building serve[s] as [a] collection point for explosives' starting materials . . . [These] raw materials, including nitric acid-arcnonium nitrate solution, hexamine-acetic acid solution, and acetic anhydride, are pumped to the "D" Building. They are fed into a reactor [where] a centifugal pump . . . serves as a quick mixing device. The vigorous, rapid reaction releases large quantities of heat. To control temperature, the punp discharges directly into water-jacketed pipe heat exchanger loops. As the solution circulates, nitrolysis takes place. Reactants return to the reactor and overflow into the age (or hold up) tank, in which the reaction is completed. Temperature is controlled with filtered water. The product overflows into a series of simmer tanks where linear nitramines and other undesirable by-products are destroyed. The crude RDX slurry is cooled, diluted with water, and pumped in to the "E" Building [where] spent acid is removed and the product washed with water. Washed explosive slurry frcm the "E" Building is pumped to the "G" or Recrystallization Building. The non-uniform, crude crystals of RDX contain occluded acid. By partially dissolving the RDX in either acetone or cyclohexanone, the acid is removed [and] crystals are enlarged .... After simmering,, the slurry is dropped by gravity through a screen to remove any foreign matter that would sensitize the RDX. The filtered solution is distilled to gradually remove the solvent (which is recovered) and to reprecipitate the RDX under conditions which control particle size distribution .... RDX is [then] pumped to the "H" or Dewatering Building. After being pumped in a water slurry into receiving tanks, RDX is dropped to stainless steel notches [i.e., containers]. Perforated stainless steel probes, covered with a cotton filter cloth, remove the water by vacuun filtration [Figure 13]. . . . RDX in final form is taken to the Incorporation Building via wheeling ramps. There are four X 11 HAER No. ZEN-10 Page df?? Holston Army Ammunition Plant Figure 10: This incorporation kettle in Building J10 at Plant blends and extrudes TNT and RDX to tom strips of Composition B. (Source: Field inventory photograph, 1983, Jeffrey A. Hess, MacDonald and Mack Partnership.) Figure 11: I belt in one of the Extruded rollmg off a oonveyorlzed casting . . .Inoorporation Buildings at Plant B. (Source: Helston Army Ammunltlon Plant '(No p1.: Holston Defense Corporation, 0. 1975.) HAER No. Page Holston_Army Ammunition Plant 47% Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page */7 w H 1 to «6s 5 £? S1 S1 51 33333 PQ I3 3 ■5? •H «H H H -P iH _ ffl -r-J -H •H O CfflH w ij -H en -p '^! P -B H £P t-it-H +3 tfl O fi U Q W O —i Cn &1 Cn G^ *• «j 8 S -5 -5 -S -S a HHH —' tN '") in AMCCOM Historical Office, Rock Island Arsenal; C.H. Carter, Jr. and others, "History of the Powder and Explosives Section, March 1943 to September 1945," unpublished report prepared for Ammunition Division, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, 1945, pp. 9-11, Appendix IV-33, on microfiche, AMCCOM Historical Office; "Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Historical Monograph Covering the Period 1 July 1942 Through 30 June 1963," unpublished report prepared by Holston Defense Corporation, 1963, p. 22, in Holston Defense Corporation Archives, HSAAP. • 7. Voight, pp. 132-133; Burton, n.p. 8. Lenore Fine and Jesse A. Remington, The Corps of Engineers: Construction in the United States (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, 1972) pp. 134-137. 9. "It's a Long Way from a Pasture to Ammo Plant," Kingsport News, November 14, 1968, The thirty-eight buildings within the boundaries of the HSAAP as of October 1944 are inventoried in "Industrial Facilities Inventory, Holston Ordnance Works," Plant B, Part I, Section 9, n.p.; Part II, Section 4, n.p., unpublished report prepared by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of the District Engineer, Knoxville, Term., 1944, in AMCCOM Historical Office. 10. Harry Englander, Building Holston Ordnance Works (New York: Fraser-Brace Engineering Co., Inc. 1946), p. 15, in Holston Defense Corporation Archives, HSAAP. See also Fine and Remington, p. 517. 11. The description of the various contracts is from "Construction Speeded Output of 'RDX,'" 65. Fraser-Brace1 s work on the Weldon Springs plant is noted in Englander, p. 19. On Charles T. Main, Inc. and Camp Edwards, see Fine and Remington, p. 211. 12. Fine and Remington, p. 595. 13. Englander, p. 47. 14. "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant A, Part I, Section 11; Part II, Section 4, n.p.; Plant B, Part I, Section 11, n.p. Also see the "Plot Plan for Plant A, in Plant A, Part I, Section 5, n.p. It should be noted that Building a-20 is incorrectly identified as an "acid-making" plant in the principal inventory (Plant A, Part II, Section 4, Sheet 1). It is correctly identified as an Acetic-Anhydride Production Plant in the "equipment layout" flow charts (Part III, Section 1, n.p.). 15. "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant B, Part II, Section 4, n.pl.; also see the "Plot Plant" for the various areas of Plant B in Plant 3, Part 1, Section 5, n.p. 16. "Construction Speeded Output of 'RDX1" 67. Immediately after Pearl Harbor the Army Ordnance Department laid down strict rules for future munitions plant construction: "There is no excuse for masonry structures . . . where a light frame structure will serve the purpose. & Holston Array Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 5§ There is no excuse for the use of expensive materials where less costly ones will serve the purpose for the period of time for which the construction is being provided." By the spring of 1942, however, the nation was experiencing a critical lumber shortage which prompted Ordnance construction supervisors to permit the substitution of brick for wood "where the difference in cost and completion time was not excessive." On this matter of building materials, see Fine and Remington, pp. 517, 547. The shortage of structural steel for wartime construction created some special problems at the HSAAP, which required several railroad bridges across the Holston River. Since new steel was unavailable for these structures, Praser-Brace resorted to salvage operations, dismantling and moving two abandoned bridges originally constructed for the Southern Railway Co. at Lynchburg, Virginia in 1895 and 1903. The two bridges were similar Warren-truss structures. After dismantling and moving, the old bridge-work was reassembled at the HSAAP into three railroad crossings over the Holston River: "the three-span Holston Bridge No. 1, the two-span Slough Bridge, and the four-span Clouds Bend Bridge." See Englander, p. 40; "Ordnance Plant Bridge Built of Old Trusses," Engineering News-Record, 93 (June 17, 1943), 89-91. 17. The original design of the Tennessee Eastman Corporation plant in Kingsport is shown in a photograph of the recently completed facility in "Eastman Corp. Defies Slump," Knoxville Journal, June 4, 1933. 13. On the construction of the Nitric-Acid-Ammonium-Nitrate Plant, see "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant B, Addendum, Part II, Section 4, Sheet 3, n.p.; Carter, pp. 47-48, Appendix IV-49, 50, 51. On the construction of the magnesium-nitrate facility, see "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant B, Addendum Part II, Section 4, Sheet 2, n.p.; Carter, p. 49, Appendix IV-60, 61. 19. The discussion of Plant-A industrial facilities relies heavily on information provuded by Henry Hurd, Holston Defense Corporation Superintendent of Organic Acids, and Robert Brewer, Jr., Holston Defense corporation superintendent of Organic Acids, and Robert Brewer, Jr., Holson Defense Corporation Supervisor of Area A Utilities, during on-site interviews on April 13, 1983. Also helpful were "equipment layout" plans for the various buildings in "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant A, Part III, Section 1, n.p. Daily production capacities for the various processes are in Plant A, Part II, Section 1, n.p. 20. G. Benson, "New Acetic Anhydride Process," Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, 47 {March 1940), 150. 21. On the development of the azeotropic distillation of acetic acid, see Lipscomb, pp. 77-88; R. Norris Shreve, Chemical Process Industries (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1967, 3rd. ed.), pp. 620-621. 22. "Making Acetic Anhydride from Petroleum Ethyl Alcohol," Oil ways, 14 (June 1948), 3. Although this article describes the Tennessee Eastman plant in Kingsport, the same technology was used at the HSAAP. The Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 5Q\ historical background on acetic-acid manufacture is derived from F. J. Curtis, "Complex Situation Impending in Acetic Acid Manufacture," Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, 38 (January 1931), 38-39. 23. Lipscomb, pp. 93-98; "Making Acetic Anhydride for Petroleum Ethyl Alcohol," 3. 24. Building a-6 also contained an azeotropic still. The thermal cracking of glacial acetic acid in Buildings a-7 and a-20 was never 100% efficient, and residual amounts of acetic acid were carried over into the ketene-and-water-vapor mixture. The dilute acid was separated from the ketene by condensing trains in Buildings a-7 and a-20, and piped into the azeotropic still in Building a-6, where it was processed into glacial acetic acid. This concentrated acid was then piped back to Buildings a-7 and a-20, where it was used to scrub the ketene. 25. "Producer gas ... is made by blowing air or a mixture of air and steam through an incandescent fuel bed. The oxygen of the air combines with the carbon in the fuel bed to produce carbon monoxide and some carbon dioxide, while the steam in the entering blast combines with the carbon. . . to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The nitrogen of the air passes through the fuel bed unchanged and appears in the final product .... Producer gas from bituminous coal contains several percent of methane and some additional hydrogen, as well as tar vapors, all derived from the volatile matter of the coal"; from Basis W. Waring and John F. Foster, eds., Economics of Fuel Gas from Coal (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950), pp. 13, 4. Easy and cheap to manufacture, producer gas saw widespread industrial use in the United States during the period between the two world wars, especially in areas that were not supplied with natural gas. The system at the HSAAP was designed by the Semet-Solvey Engineering Corporation of New York, a prominent firm in the synthetic-gas equipment field. The HSAAP gas plant was an atmospheric system consisting of twelve fixed-bed producer units equipped with overhead coal feeds. Steam and air were mixed in a saturation column and then fed, in an up-draft arrangment, through the coal bed of each producer. The resulting gas was taken off under vacuum at the top of the producers and sprayed with water to remove pitch and other impurities. 26. The discussion of Plant-B acid-area facilities relies heavily on information provided by Robert Wicker, Holston Defense Corporation Chemical Engineer, during an on-site interview, April 14, 1983. Also helpful were "equipment layout" plans for the various buildings in "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant B, Part III, Section 1, n.p. On the duPont Process, see Guy B. Taylor and others, "Manufacture of Nitric Acid by the Oxidation of Ammonia," Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 23 (August 1, 1931), 860-865; D.J. Newman and L.A. Klein, "Recent Developments in Nitric Acid," Chemical Engineering Progress, 68 (April 1972), 62. ^ Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 . Page d>6 27. The sulfuric-acid reconcentration system in Building b-308 was engineered by the New-York-based Chemical Construction Corporation ("Chemico"), using a design that it had standardized for the industry. The flowchart for the Chemico process found in Shreve (p. 340) applies to the HSAAP system. 28. Details of the HSAAP ammonium-nitrate operation are provided in Carter, p. 48, Appendix IV-49, 50, 51. 29. Carter, Appendix IV-60; see also p. 49 and Appendix IV-61. 30. See "'Maggie' Concentrates Nitric," Chemical and Engineering News, 36 (June 9, 1958), 40-41; "New Process Chops Cost of Concentrating Nitric," Chemical Engineering, 65 (July 28, 1958), 68. 31. On the modificaton of the Bachmann method by the Tennessee Eastman Corporation, see J. T. Bearden, "A Short History of HDC," unpublished, 1970, pp. 4-7, Holston Defense Corporation Archives, HSAAP; Burton, n.p. 32. Burton, n.p. 33. Bearden, p. 9. 34. Burton, n.p. 35. This passage is from Holston Army Ammunition Plant (n. pi.: Holston Defense Corporation, n.d), pp. 11-18. Although the description primarily applies to RDX and Composition B production as of 1983, it also covers the essential features of the World-War-II operation. This judgement is based upon information provided by Jerry Blair, Holston Defense Corporation Superintendent of HMX Products, during an on-site interview, April 12, 1983, and upon "equipment layout" plans for the various production buildings in "Industrial Facilities Inventory," Plant B, Part III, Section 1, n.p. The spent-acid solution removed from the RDX slurry in the E Buildings consisted of nitric acid, acetic acid, and residual amounts of RDX. This solution was pumped to a row of structures (Buildings b-B-1, B-3, B-5, B-7, B-9) bordering the west end of the manufacturing area. There the nitric acid was neutralized with caustic, the RDX residue recovered and pumped back to the E Buildings, and the acetic acid distilled to 60% strength and shipped to Plant A for processing into glacial acetic. 36. "Holston Army Ammunition Plant Historical Monograph," pp. 11-13. 37. Susan S. Pridemore, "Holston Army Anmunition Plant, Unit History, 1943-1967," unpublished report prepared by HSAAP, 1968, p. 5, in HSAAP Administrative Archives; "Holston Army Ammunition Plant Historical Montogaph," p. 17. 38. This assessment of construction activities is derived largely from Holston Army Ammunition Plant Real Property Inventory, computer printout, March 1982, HSAAP Archives. The chemical pipelines had been ?< Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page (° ' planned for the initial construction period, using "a copper pipe line for return of Acetic Acid to Area A from Area B and a steel pipe line for pumping Acetic Anhydride from Area A to Area B. [ But] at that time it was impossible to get the necessary copper so arrangments were made to do this work utilizing Acid tank cars, and a railroad was built between the plants"; see Carter, Appendix IV-62. 39. The initial discovery of HMX is noted in Bachmann and Sheehan, 1844. The pilot production of the material at the HSAAP during World War II is discussed in Carter, p. 47, Appendix IV-42, 43. On HMX production during the 1950's, see "Holston Army Ammunition Plant Historical Monograph," pp. 2. 19; Pridemore, p. 6. 40. The new acid facilities are noted in Pridemore, p. 2. According to Jim Levie, a Holston Defense Corporation Chemical Engineer who helped build the pilot maggie unit in 1952, the World-War-II experimental unit in Building b-303-B was dismantled to make way for the new equipment (telephone interview, May 18, 1983). On the development of power-recovery systems for ammonium oxidation facilities, see "Nitric Acid Plans Today," Chemical Engineering, 60 (November 1953), 150, 152; Newman and Klein, 63-64. 41. R.J. Hammond, "Profile on Munitions, 1950-1977," unpublished, n.d., pp. 82-82, microfiche in AMCCOM Historical Office; "$30 Million Holston Ammo Plant," undated newspaper clipping in Kingsport Industries File, Palmer Room, Kingsport Public Library; Pridemore, pp. 12-13, "Annual Unit History Holston Army Ammunition Plant, 1975-1976," unpublished report prepared by HSAAP, p. 9, in HSAAP Administrative Archives. 42. Holston Army Ammunition Plant Real Property Inventory; the Steam Plant Addition is described in Pridemore, "Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Unit History, Annual Supplement-CY 1968," unpublished report prepared by HSAAP, p. 4, in HSAAP Administrative Archives. 43. On equipment modifications, see Pridemore, "Unit History, 1942-1967," p. 24. Pridemore also notes that the four magnesium-nitrate concentration units installed in Building a-304 in 1965 originally were located at the Alabama Ordnance Works (p. 9). The information concerning the Plant-A acetic-acid operations comes from an interview with Hurd, April 13, 1983. 44. See the following unpublished reports in the HSAAP Administrative Archives: "Annual Unit History, 1975-1976," p. 8; "Annual Historical Review, 1977-1978," p. 14; "Annual Historical Review, 1978-1979," p. 13; "Annual Historical Review, 1979-1980," p. 14; "Annual Historical Review, 1980-1981," p. 13. 45. The ten-year modernization program is discussed in Holston Army Ammunition Plant, p. 4. The summary of recent construction activities is primarily derived from Holston Army Ammunition Real Property Inventory. yf Holston Army Ammunition Plane HAER No. TN-10 Page IpQ^ 46. An excellent overview of the HSAAP's pollution concerns is found in "Unit History, Annual Supplement-CY 1968," pp. 3-8, On the holding pond and the AmmoniunHDxidation Plant, see "Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Unit History, 1972-1973," unpublished report prepared by H3AAP, pp. 7,11. On the electrostatic precipitators, see "Forward" of "Annual Unit History, 1975-1976," n.p. £8' Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page l&'h Chapter 3 PRESERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS BACKGROUND Army Regulation 420-40 requires that an historic preservation plan be developed as an integral part of each installation's planning and long-range maintenance and development scheduling. The purpose of such a program is to: Preserve historic properties to reflect the Army's role in history and its continuing concern for the protection of the nation's heritage. Implement historic preservation projects as an integral part of the installation's maintenance and construction programs. Find adaptive uses for historic properties in order to maintain them as actively used facilities on the installation. Eliminate damage or destruction due to improper maintenance, repair, or use that may alter or destroy the significant elements of any property. Enhance the most historically significant areas of the installation through appropriate landscaping and conservation. To meet these overall preservation objectives, the general preservation recommendations set forth below have been developed: Category I Historic Properties All Category I historic properties not currently listed on or nominated to the National Register of Historic Places are assumed to be eligible for * Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TK-10 Page acetic-anhydride manufacturing operation at Plant A. In its construc- tion, the building mirrors the HSAAP's general utilitarian-industrial architectural style. It is primarily a four-story structure with an exposed reinforced-concrete structural frame on the first three stories and a gabled, wood-frame, coal-feed house on the top story. The coal-feed house is connected by an overhead conveyor to a coal ramp situated a few yards to the southeast. The Producer-Gas Plant contains twelve, updraft, fixed-bed producer units that convert bituminous coal and steam into a synthetic gas. The gas is piped to fuel cracking furnaces in Buildings 7 and 20 for use in aceticanhydride production. At the time of its construction, the plant's updraft-producer design represented "the simplest and commonest type" of producer-gas g technology. This technology had enjoyed its greatest American vogue during the 1920s, when approximately 12,000 producer-gas plants were in active industrial use. After this peak period, producer gas waned in popularity, largely because of "severe competition [from] natural gas and fuel oil." By 1948, there were less than 2,000 bituminous gas producers in operation, and the number continued to decline during the next three decades. q When the energy crisis of the mid-1970's revived industrial interest in producer-gas technology, it was discovered that the HSAAP had "one of the few gas producer facilities in operation in the United States." Architecturally, the Producer-Gas Plant is virtually unchanged since it was first placed in operation in 1943. And apart from minor Holscon finny **»»'" HAER No. TN-10 Page 1\ modernization projects, such as the updating of its scrubbing trains for pollution-abatement purposes, the facility still retains its original equipnent. As an exceedingly rare and "highly intact example of a once conmon industrial process, the Producer-Gas Plant is a Category I historic property. For these reasons, it fulfills the "exceptional significance" criteria required by the National Register for properties less than fifty years old. The Producer-Gas Plant should be nominated to the National Register as part of a thematic group that includes the other significant historic properties at the HSAAP. Condition and potential adverse impacts. Architecturally and technologically, the Producer-Gas Plant is in good condition. There are no current plans to alter or demolish this structure, but continued maintenance and repair of the facility is needed to ensure its preservation. Preservation options. See the general preservation reommendations at the beginning of this chapter for Category I historic properties. RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Lines (Plant B) Primary Distillation Buildings (Buildings Bl, B3, B5, B7, B9) Collection Buildings (Buildings Cl, C3, C5, C6, C7, C9) Nitration Buildings (Buildings D1-D10) Ashing Buildings (Buildings E1-E10) Recrystallization Buildings (Buildings G1-G10) & Holston Army Munition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 0 Figure 15: Building B3 is representative of the Primary Distillation Buildings in the RDX-and-CompositionB manufacturing lines. (Source: Field inventory photograph, 1983, Jeffrey A. Hess, MacDonald and Mack Partnership.) Jti Figure 16 Building C9 is representative of (Imposition manufacturing lines (Source: Field in Mack Partnership, ventory pmtograph, 198 the Collection Buildings in the RDX?andn at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. 3, Jeffrey A. Hess, MacDonald and Page HAER No. Holston Army Ammunition Plant TNHIO Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 15 Figure 17: Building D10 is representative of the Nitration Buildings in the RDX-and-Conposition-B manufacturing lines at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. (Source: Field inventory photograph, 1983, Jeffrey A. Hess, MacDonald and Mack Partnership.) y? Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page 1 fe "8* i? 3 N,R sag JU ^ io 53 QJ^ CO £ TJ Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page /1 r™-^- ■-'-.'- & ■■;.-■> Jiil' ;C' v.-** O & m g s— •5 8 a rn tJ> iia £ CO 7f Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Pa e S I *3, Combined with aluminum powder at loading plants to form the explosive "Torpex," Composition B was particularly effective in underwater munitions, having almost twice the power of conventional TNT-loaded torpedos and depth charges, Torpex torpedos were of such supreme strategic importance that they were carefully rationed during the early years of the war: Originally issued to submarines with the best record of kills, the new product was distributed throughout the submarine fleet as fast as production permitted. Ship sinkings increased, and the Bureau [of Naval Ordnance] received reports that Torpex torpedos were able to break vessels in two. Comparative tests with captured enemy munitions showed that neither the Germans noc the Japanese possessed explosives as powerful as Torpex. As one historian of the HSAAP has noted, "Holston's greatest accomplishment . . . was its role in winning the Battle of the Atlantic, [which was] acknowledged by both the United Nations and the Axis alike as the most important single phase of the war." The large volume of Composition B produced at the HSAAP also "in great measure paved the way for the invasion of the European continent and for the final destruction of the Japanese war effort." 13 Because of their pivotal role in the Allied war effort, the 116 buildings in the HSAAP1 s ten RDX-and-Composition-B manufacturing lines are Category I historic properties. They fulfill the "exceptional significance" criteria required by the National Register for properties less than fifty years of age. 14 They should be nominated Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page g a to the National Register as part of a thematic group that includes the other significant historic properties at the HSAAP. Condition and potential adverse impacts. Apart from Building D4, which was partially demolished and vacated after a fire in 1957, all buildings in the district survive in good condition. The buildings have experienced varying degrees of equipment modification, with the greatest alterations to the original Bachmann-method apparatus occuring in Lines 1 and 2. There are no current plans to alter or demolish any of these structures, but continued maintenance and repair of the district is needed to ensure its preservation. Preservation options. There is no need to preserve all ten of the RDX-and-Composition-B manufacturing lines, but at least one complete and fully equipped line should be selected, in consultation with appropriate Army personnel, on the basis of its condition and location for permanent retention as an historic district. The line should include a representative B Building, and a linear arrangement of Buildings C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N and 0, along with such auxiliary structures as barricades and wheeling ramps- The buildings in the designated line should be subject to the general preservation recommendations for Category I historic properties, as discussed at the beginning of this chapter. Since the HSAAP is a functioning plant with modernization requirements, the Category I preservation recommendations should be waived for the other nine manufacturing lines when deemed necessary by military planners. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page SH CATEGORY II HISTORIC PROPERTIES There are no Category II historic properties at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. CATEGORY III HISTORIC PROPERTIES Old Administration Building (Plant B, Building 1) Background and significance. Constructed in 1943 to serve as post headquarters for the HSAAP, Building 1 (Figure 5) is located in the administration area of Plant B. Comprising three parallel wings connected by a central circulation spine, the building is a two-story, brick structure with a wood-frame hip roof. In keeping with the installation's industrial-utilitarian character, the Old Administration Building has only minimal architectural detailing: pilasters separating window groups, contrasting spandrels, and a wood-fame, cross-gabled, entrance portico centered on the main facade. The structure functioned as post headquarters until 1980, when a new administration building was completed. office building by the Naval Reserve. It is currently used as an Because of the building's direct association with the HSAAP's nationally significant, World-War-II manufacturing program, it is a Category III historic property. It should be nominated to the National Register as part of a thematic group that includes the other significant historic properties at the HSAAP. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No, TN-10 Page 8 ^ Condition and potential adverse impacts. The Old Administration Building is in good condition and receives routine maintenance and repair. It closely resembles its original condition. There are no current plans to alter or demolish the structure. Preservation options. See the beginning of this chapter for general preservation recommendations for Category III historic properties that are eligible for the National Register as part of a thematic group. NOTES 1. Army Regulation 420-40, Historic Preservation (Headquarters, U.S. Army: Washington, D.C., 15 April 1984). 2. National Park Service, Secretary of Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Revised Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings, 1983 {Washington, D.C: Preservation Assistance Division, National Park Service, 1983). 3. National Park Service, "Archeology and Historic Preservation; Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines," Federal Register, Part IV, 28 September 1983, pp. 44730-44734. 4. National Park Service, Secretary of the Interior's Standards. 5. National Park Service, "Archeology and Historic Preservation." 6. National Park Service, Secretary of the Interior's Standards. 7. National Park Service, "Archeology and Historic Preservation." 8. B. J. C. Van Der Hoeven, "Producers and Producer of Gas," Chemistry of Coal Utilization, vol. 2 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1945), p. 1659. 9. Basil W. Waring and John F. Foster, "Producer Gas," Economics of Fuel Gas from Coal, eds. John F. Foster and Richard J. Lund (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950), pp. 15-16. 10. Holston Army Ammunition Plan, Annual Historical Review, 1 October 1978 - 30 September 1979," unpublished report prepared by HSAAP, in Administrative Archives, HSAAP. Holston Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. TN-10 Page