Early in January 1942 at the Naval Air Station in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, Frank J. Lafrate, working as a plan file clerk, was asked by a Navy lieutenant in charge of about 250 recruits in the newly established Construction Battalions to create a Disney-type insignia for the unit. The men were to receive military and construction training, follow the Marines ashore, and though not intended as an offensive group, defend themselves if necessary. Lafrate rejected a beaver as the symbol and chose a bee instead, seeing it as a busy worker that could also sting when provoked, which matched the character of the Construction Battalions. He then developed the image by giving the bee a white hat for the Navy, tools for construction skill, and a tommy gun for fighting ability, along with insignia for a third class petty officer and markings for machinist's mate, carpenter's mate, gunner's mate, and the Civil Engineer's Corps. He placed the letter Q on the outer circle for Quonset and combined the ideas of a bee and men who worked at sea to form the name Seabees. The drawing took about three hours on a Sunday afternoon, and after it was shown up the chain of command and sent to Washington, Admiral Ben Moreell requested only one change: replacing the Q with a hawser rope for national recognition.