lyonheart wrote:Hi Weberfan,
I'm quite familiar with PSP or 'Marston Mat', but given it's made out of steel, it will be a rather long while before such will be used on Safehold, especially in the 2 million ton volume made during WW2.
The small team of Seabees you refer to was usually a battalion of several hundred men tasked with building a fighter airfield in 2-4 weeks depending on various factors.
The Seabees in question were laying the PSP or 'Pieced Steel Planking' on top of the prepared load bearing surface they had spent at least a couple of weeks preparing; sometimes under very bad conditions it took monthes to get to that stage; it was extremely rare where the Seabees or anyone else could lay PSP on a sandy beach and have it hold up or last for more than a couple of weeks, and since a 200' X 5000' runway required some 2640 tons of Marston Matting [most fighter runways were 150' X 3000'], it obviously involved quite a bit of prior planning and preparation, with the 48 hour straight marathon of finally laying the PSP being a culmination of both a challenge to set a new construction or assembly record and a celebration of sorts, ie almost everyone released from all other duties to get the job finally done as quickly as possible.
Just laying it on top of an unprepared surface could lead to messes like Foggia, Italy; from the fall of '43 through the winter of'44, where the whole airfield complex had to be rebuilt of much sturdier stuff.
Since even the typical 'small' fighter airfield involved linking 3 of the above runways in a triangle, such an airfield with it its wider taxiways could run to 5,000 tons of PSP, which often took a while to assemble.
That didn't include the tens of thousands of tons of gravel [often by dredging coral reefs] used as a base, that had to found and processed first, so it was not a substitute for gravel.
I'm afraid my only suggestion that survived RFC's 'vicious gang of facts' was adding an extra set of wheels outboard of the originals to spread the current 10 ton load further.
LWeberFan wrote:Another rapid roadbuilding variant is the perforated steel mat - called the "Marston Mat" that has been used since WWII in various forms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Mat
I remember landing on the SATS airfield at MCAF 29 Palms many years ago - the "expeditionary field" they had out there. A bit slick when wet, but otherwise fine.
At the Wikipedia site, you'll note that a small team of Seabees could build a 200 ft by 5000 ft runway in a couple of days. So a 20-foot-wide road X 50,000-foot long road could be built in that time (OK, a bit shorter due to adverse current conditions).
As to the weight issue, a 15-inch by 10-foot segment weighed only 66 pounds. A LOT less than gravel, and a LOT smoother than corduroy...
Not disagreeing with you Lyonhart.
Just as a point of reference, however:
Per Wikipedia, one panel (15" X 10 feet) is 66 lbs.
5000 foot X 10 foot "road" would require 4000 panels.
4000 panels would weigh in at 132 tons (2000 lb/ton).
Given the armor plating on an average vessel, this isn't really that much.
Of course you have to consider the need for a prepared base to lay the mat upon. Of course you have to prioritize the steel production and use. I get all that... and more.
Cheers