The Role of TVA During WWII

Secret Military Facilities

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During the war, TVA’s contributions began with its mapping department, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  This department used aerial reconnaissance and techniques perfected in the course of mapping the Tennessee Valley to make crucial maps of Europe for Allied aviators.  In addition, the TVA nitrate plants in Alabama supplied the raw material needed for thousands of tons of munitions.

The main contribution of TVA, however, was the huge amount of electric power it provided to customers during the war, including an A-31 bomber factory located in Nashville, Tennessee.  Another TVA customer located in Alcoa, Tennessee, just south of Knoxville, was the Aluminum Company of America, the largest aluminum plant in the world which was used to provide aluminum for the 50,000 planes that President Roosevelt demanded in May 1940 for the air force.  In 1941, Alcoa gave its Fontana property to the federal government and ten days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, a bill was signed authorizing the construction of Fontana Dam.  Soon after that, TVA launched the construction of two more dams, Cherokee and Douglas.  Their roles were also to support the wartime production of aluminum. 

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