Naval Station Argentia
Naval Station Argentia AMSL | |||||||||||
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Naval Station Argentia (IATA: NWP) is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Construction
Established under the British-US
Civilian construction crews from civilian contractors George A. Fuller Company and Merritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation, rushed to build the base as well as an adjoining air field. On 15 July 1941, the Naval Operating Base was commissioned.[1] On 12 October 1942 the 17th Naval Construction Battalion began to arrive at the base and worked jointly with the civilians until 5 May 1943.[1] At that time it became a completely military operation.[1] Before that happened the 64th CB started to arrive in March followed by the 69th CB in June.[1] On 17 November 1943, Construction Battalion Maintenance Units (CBMUs) 525 and 526 arrived to take over the station maintenance with the CB's having completed the base's construction.[1]
Atlantic Conference
On 7 August 1941 the heavy cruiser
Second World War operations
On 28 August 1941
Beginning that summer, USS Prairie was used to house Flag Headquarters at the base.
February 1942 saw the Argentia base at the centre of one of the worst accidental disasters in the US Navy's history when USS Pollux and USS Truxtun grounded and were lost with heavy casualties 75 mi (121 km) southwest of the base. Over 100 victims were buried in Argentia's military cemetery.[2][3]
A US Navy-manned
In the spring of 1943 a 7,000 ton floating drydock was installed at Argentia, along with a ship repair facility. In August 1943, Task Force 24 Flag Headquarters moved ashore to permanent facilities after having been housed aboard USS Prairie.[6]
In 1944, Argentia served as one of the two stopover bases for the refuelling, maintenance, and crew changes of the six United States Navy (USN)
Aerodrome
In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as USAAF Aerodrome - Argentia, Newfoundland at 47°19′N 53°58′W / 47.317°N 53.967°W with a variation of 29 degrees west and elevation of 50 ft (15 m). The field was listed as "all hard surfaced" and had three runways listed as follows:[10]
Runway name | Length | Width | Surface |
---|---|---|---|
7/25 | 5,000 ft (1,500 m) | 300 ft (91 m) | Hard surfaced |
12/30 | 5,000 ft (1,500 m) | 300 ft (91 m) | Hard surfaced |
17/35 | 5,000 ft (1,500 m) | 300 ft (91 m) | Hard surfaced |
Fort McAndrew
Fort McAndrew 62nd Coast Artillery 422d Signal Battalion |
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By the end of 1942 the coast defence gun batteries in the Argentia area were as follows:[18][16]
Name | No. of guns | Gun type | Carriage type | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
Battery 281 | 2 | 6-inch gun M1905 |
shielded barbette | 47°17′26″N 53°58′46″W / 47.290422°N 53.979326°W |
Battery 282 | 2 | 6-inch gun M1905 | shielded barbette | 47°16′25″N 53°59′22″W / 47.273682°N 53.989544°W |
Battery 954 | 2 | 6"/50 caliber gun (Navy Mark 8) |
pedestal | 47°16′43″N 54°00′08″W / 47.278580°N 54.002147°W |
Battery 604 | 2 | 6"/50 caliber gun (Navy Mark 8) | pedestal | 47°18′51″N 54°00′16″W / 47.314169°N 54.004531°W |
Unnamed | 2 | 155 mm gun |
towed on Panama mounts | Unknown |
Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battery (AMTB) Roche Point | 4 | 90 mm gun |
2 fixed, 2 mobile | 47°19′02″N 53°58′41″W / 47.317214°N 53.977933°W |
AMTB Ship Harbour Point | 4 | 90 mm gun | 2 fixed, 2 mobile | 47°21′09″N 53°55′36″W / 47.352451°N 53.926576°W |
Battery 955 | 2 | 3-inch gun | pedestal | 47°19′21″N 53°56′59″W / 47.322600°N 53.949842°W |
Battery AMTB - Black Point | 2 | 90 mm gun M1/M2/M3 | pedestal | 47°11′40″N 54°02′25″W / 47.19458°N 54.04035°W |
In March 1943 the 24th CA Regiment was reduced to a battalion. In December 1943-January 1944 elements of the unit returned to the US for inactivation. In October 1944 the unit was reorganized, but was not fully inactivated until 8 September 1945. The date the unit was transferred to the US for inactivation is unclear.[17] Postwar, circa 1946 the coast defence batteries were inactivated. The 6-inch guns of Batteries 281 and 282 survive. Battery 282's guns are still in place, and in 1993 Battery 281's guns were moved to Fort Columbia in Washington state, US.[18]
Cold War operations
Following the war's end in August 1945, the first dependents of naval personnel were permitted to move to Argentia to live in permanent quarters on base.
In 1946, Fort McAndrew was transferred to the U.S. Army Air Forces which became the United States Air Force in 1947. In 1948, Fort McAndrew was renamed McAndrew Air Force Base.
In 1949, Newfoundland joined the Canadian Confederation as the 10th province. During the Cold War, Argentia Naval Station became a key "node" in the Northwest Atlantic's SOSUS network, helping to detect Soviet nuclear submarines. The base was the target of several espionage attempts between the 1940s–1990s as a result.
In 1955 McAndrew AFB was decommissioned and the facility was turned over to the US Navy with USAF personnel moving to other locations in Newfoundland such as
In 1959 the Navy deployed a portable Transit tracking station at the station, which recorded the doppler data from the 24-minute flight of the Transit 1A satellite launched on 17 September 1959. An ionospheric refraction value was calculated using the doppler data recovered by the portable station, and a correction factor was then applied to the data to produce a doppler curve unaffected by ionospheric refraction. The Satellite 1-A trajectory thus determined was in close agreement with range track data.[20]
In 1959 the United States Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Argentia was established as a Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) shore terminal. The next year NAVFAC Argentia was terminus for an atypical SOSUS shallow water system designated King Shallow Water composed of ten eight-element arrays, vice the usual forty element deep water arrays. The shallow water system was intended to monitor Soviet patrols into Hudson Bay.[21][22] In 1963 the first 2x20 array was installed terminating at NAVFAC Argentia. The shallow water system was deactivated in 1968.[21]
Between 1968 and 1994 the United States stored the Mk 101 Lulu and B57 nuclear bombs at Naval Station Argentia.[23]
Closure
In 1972 NAVFAC became a joint operations station for the US Navy and the Canadian Forces[21] but Naval Air Station Argentia was decommissioned and the land transferred in 1975 to the Government of Canada. It was subsequently transferred to the provincial government for development. On 30 September 1994 the US Navy left Argentia completely when NAVFAC Argentia was decommissioned (Canadian operations were transferred to Canadian Forces IUSS Centre in Halifax) and the last personnel moved out.[21]
Until 1994, the runways of the former airfield were utilized by the
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Naval Station Argentia, Building the Navy's Bases in World War II History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps, 1940-1946, Volume II, UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, 1947, p.46 [1]
- ^ "Pollux II (AKS-2)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command.
- ^ "Truxtun III (DD-229)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command.
- ^ a b Gaines, pp. 33, 38
- ^ Indicator Loop Stations at Indicatorloops.com
- ^ For a history of CTF 24, see https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Admin-Hist/139-CTF24/index.html#contents
- ^ "Blimp Squadron 14". Archived from the original on 13 November 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
- ^ Kline, R. C. and Kubarych, S. J., Blimpron 14 Overseas, 1944, Naval Historical Center, Navy Yard, Washington, D. C.
- ^ Kaiser, Don (2011). "K-Ships Across the Atlantic" (PDF). Naval Aviation News. Vol. 93, no. 2. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- ^ Staff Writer c.1942, p. 1
- ^ Stanton, p. 478
- ^ Harbor Defenses of Argentia at FortWiki.com
- ^ Technically, "transferred less personnel and equipment" back to their parent unit
- ^ Gaines, p. 28, 38
- ^ a b Stanton, p. 498
- ^ a b Fort McAndrew at FortWiki.com
- ^ a b Gaines, p. 16
- ^ a b Coast defences in Newfoundland at the Coast Defense Study Group website
- ISBN 1-55750-442-3.
- ^ Artificial Earth Satellites Designed and Fabricated. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Page I-5 (starts PDF download)[dead link]
- ^ a b c d "IUSS Alumni Association Home Page". iusscaa.org.
- ^ "Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS)". GlobalSecurity.org. 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ISBN 9781550022995.
Bibliography
- Gaines, William C., Coast Artillery Organizational History, 1917-1950, Coast Defense Journal, vol. 23, issue 2
- Hein, David. "Vulnerable: HMS Prince of Wales in 1941." Journal of Military History 77, no. 3 (July 2013): 955–989.
- Stanton, Shelby L. (1991). World War II Order of Battle. Galahad Books. ISBN 0-88365-775-9.
- Staff writer (c. 1942). Pilots Handbook of Aerodromes and Seaplane Bases Vol. 1. Royal Canadian Air Force.
External links
- Media related to Naval Station Argentia at Wikimedia Commons
- NAVFAC Argentia, Newfoundland established
- Photos: NAVFAC NF Argentia, 1960–1999