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Naval Air Station Bermuda

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Naval Air Station Bermuda
Aerial view of NAS Bermuda, 1993.
Summary
Airport typeMilitary: Naval Air Station
OperatorUnited States Navy
LocationSt. David's Island
In use1970 - 1995
Elevation AMSL12 ft / 4 m
Coordinates32°21′51″N 064°40′43″W / 32.36417°N 64.67861°W / 32.36417; -64.67861
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
12/30 9,898 3,017 Asphalt

Naval Air Station Bermuda (Kindley Field) (usually described in Bermuda as United States Naval Air Station Bermuda, and not to be confused with the former Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda or the United States Naval Air Station Bermuda Annex, which had previously been designated US Naval Operating Base Bermuda, then US Naval Air Station Bermuda), was located on St. David's Island in the British Colony (now termed a British Overseas Territory) of Bermuda from 1970 to 1995, on the former site of Kindley Air Force Base (originally built for the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War as Kindley Field). It is currently the site of Bermuda International Airport.

History

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Tucker's & Morgan's Islands, circa 1901

Prior to American entry into the Second World War, an agreement was arranged between the governments of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the loan of a number of obsolete, mothballed ex-US Naval destroyers to the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, in exchange for which the USA was granted 99-year base rights in a number of British West Indian territories. This Destroyers for Bases Agreement, a forerunner of the Lend-Lease Agreement, had the sleight-of-hand effect of placing the defence of those territories in the hands of the neutral USA, allowing British forces to be sent to the sharper ends of the War. Although not part of this exchange, Churchill also granted the US similar base rights in Bermuda and Newfoundland, however no destroyers or other war material were received by Britain in exchange.

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Naval Operating Base Bermuda; Naval Station Bermuda; U S Naval Air Station Bermuda

The grants came as a surprise to the Colonial Government, when US engineers arrived in 1940 to begin surveying the colony for the construction of an airfield that was envisioned as taking over most of the West End of the Island. Frantic protests by the Governor and local politicians led to those plans being revised. The US Army would build an airfield at the North of Castle Harbour. The US Navy would build a flying boat station at the West End. The US Navy began initial operation of Anti-submarine patrols by an Inshore Patrol squadron flying Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes operating from the Royal Air Force station on Darrell's Island (which the Royal Air Force had taken over in 1939, at the same time as the Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda was handed to the Royal Navy along with control of the Fleet Air Arm).[1] Its own base opened in 1941 as the Naval Operating Base, but was initially a construction site.[2][3]

PNCO Cadre of the Bermuda Regiment trains in the Internal Security (IS) role at NAS Bermuda Annex in 1994.

Two islands at the western side of the Great Sound, Tucker's and Morgan's, were levelled, adding 36 acres (150,000 m2) to Bermuda's landmass, and creating a peninsula extending from the Main Island. The entire base measured 260 acres (1.1 km2). It was not long enough to allow a useful runway, but did have extensive tarmac and hangar areas. Large Martin flying boats could be pulled ashore for hangarage, and servicing. When the area was first occupied by the US Navy, it was titled the Naval Operating Base. Once the Naval Air Station was completed, the US Navy relocated its air operations to it from Darrell's Island. The base continued to be used for this purpose until 1965, when the last flying boats were withdrawn from service. US Navy P-2 Neptune landplanes, based at the USAF's Kindley Air Force Base, then took over the maritime patrol role. The former Naval Air Station was redubbed the Naval Air Station Bermuda Annex (NAS Annex). It served primarily as a dock area for US Naval shipping, until the closure of all of the US bases at the end of the Cold War, in 1995.

Kindley Field

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The US Navy moved its anti-submarine air-patrol operations from the old flying boat base, to the USAF Base at Kindley Field when its Martin P5M Marlin flying boats were removed from service in the 1960s. They were replaced by Lockheed P-2 Neptune landplanes, which could not operate from the Annex (the old flying boat base), which had no hard surface runway ashore. The US Navy took over the airfield entirely from the USAF in 1970 and the base continued to operate anti-submarine patrols, first with P-2 Neptunes, then with Lockheed P-3 Orions. In the 1980s, the P-3s were occasionally augmented by carrier-based S-3 Vikings operating ashore, as well as Canadian Forces' Lockheed CP-140 Aurora and Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.2 aircraft.

A P-3C from VP-16 returning to NAS Bermuda, 1985.

By the early 1990s, the range of Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) had so increased that Soviet submarines no longer found it necessary to come within range of Bermuda-based patrol aircraft in order to strike their targets in the United States. This was followed by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and a general lessening of tensions between the USSR's successor state, the Russian Federation and the US.

Reflecting these developments, the US Naval air detachment at Bermuda had been steadily reduced from a full squadron of Regular Navy P-3Cs on six month rotations to an average of three P-3B or P-3C aircraft, primarily from Atlantic Fleet Navy Reserve P-3 squadrons on 60-day rotations, plus the air station's own UH-1N Twin Huey search and rescue aircraft. In 1992, a scathing investigative report by Sam Donaldson, of ABC News, labelled the base as the 'Club Med of the Navy', because of its questionable use by senior military officers and DoD civilian and other U.S. Government civilian officials as a de facto vacation retreat.[14] Subsequently, all three US Naval bases in Bermuda were slated for closure by BRAC. Except for the NASA tracking station on Coopers Island (at the Eastern End of NAS Bermuda), all US facilities in Bermuda were closed in 1995.[15][16]

An S-3 Viking of VS-22 at NAS Bermuda, 1985.

The Bermudian government took over operation of the field in 1995, being obliged to spend a great deal of money making it conform to international civil standards. This involved changes to lighting systems, fencing, and razing any objects over a certain height, within a certain distance of the runway (which included both the former base commander's residence, and the hillock it stood on). The US Government still held the lease, which was for initially set at 99 years back in WWII however, until negotiations were completed regarding the cleanup of toxic waste left behind. The cost of clean-up of all US Navy facilities in Bermuda was then estimated at $65.7 million, although that included $9.5 million for replacing the Longbird Bridge. The final compromise negotiated by the UK, Bermuda, and USA governments, which comprised an $11 million payment for the replacement of Longbird Bridge, has been denounced by many in Bermuda as a betrayal, but the field has now been transferred entirely to the Bermuda Government as the Bermuda International Airport. It was an alternative landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle.[17]

The U.S. Navy tug USS Palatka (YTB-801) leaving Bermuda in August 1994.

Areas for clean-up identified in 1997 by a private contractor were:

  • Cleaning up petroleum and heavy-metal contamination
  • Eliminating friable and non-friable asbestos
  • Demolishing derelict and unsafe buildings
  • Replacing Longbird Bridge, which they described as unsafe and prone to malfunction

The estimated cost was $65.7 million:

  • $11.7 million would be spent on the environmental cleanup.
  • $30.9 million would be spent on removing asbestos.
  • $8.6 million would be spent on demolition.
  • $5.1 million would be spent on managing the work.
  • $9.5 million would be spent on replacing Longbird Bridge.

The lands which hosted the base were formally returned to Bermuda in 2002.[18]

Pollution discovered at Morgan's Point in 2002

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Main article: Pollution at Morgan's Point (Bermuda)

The military base, being self-contained and obeying the laws of its home county, had been very detached from the rest of the island. Without feeling a strong connection to Bermuda, and knowing that their presence was only temporary, the full costs of disposing of sewage and waste fuel on the base was likely never calculated. A 2002 report by the Department of Environmental Protection of the Ministry of the Environment estimated that 520,000 gallons of oil and several tons of raw sewage had been pumped into Bassett's Cave on the former NAS Annex, and a further 55,000 gallons of jet fuel pumped underground 200 ft (61 m) away.

In the decade since the pollution was discovered it has been left almost totally undisturbed. The base is very rarely opened to the public, and all talk of developing the lands has been stonewalled by the Government. The cave formation has kept the oil somewhat contained and the now abandoned base has not been opened to development for fear that the pollution may spread and have catastrophic costs. In order for one to properly analyze the situation, these costs must be well understood.

Additional US Navy Commands formerly in Bermuda

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Former names

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Stranack, Lieutenant-Commander Ian (1990). The Andrew And The Onions: The Story Of The Royal Navy In Bermuda, 1795 – 1975. Bermuda: The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press. ISBN 9780921560036.
  2. ^ Partridge and Singfield, Ewan and Tom (2014). Wings Over Bermuda: 100 Years of Aviation in the West Atlantic. Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, Ireland Island, Sandys Parish, Bermuda: National Museum of Bermuda Press. ISBN 9781927750322.
  3. ^ Pomeroy, Squadron Leader Colin A. (2000). The Flying Boats Of Bermuda. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, HMDX, Bermuda: Printlink Ltd. ISBN 9780969833246.
  4. ^ The Royal Gazette: Book Review by Roger Crombie: Base hit. Author Grearson produces absorbing account of a key chapter in Bermuda's history. Published 4 Nov 2009 (Updated 10 Feb 2011)
  5. ^ The Royal Gazette: US wanted more time to close USNAS. Americans would leave the Naval Air Station. It is closing in September, 1995. Published 26 Apr 1994 (Updated 9 Feb 2011)
  6. ^ The Royal Gazette: Millions last night saw Navy chiefs face a -, Published 8 Apr 1994 (Updated 8 Feb 2011)
  7. ^ The Royal Gazette: A sailor who "blew the whistle" on the US Base says he has been victimised by Navy chiefs for his "Club Med" allegations, Published Mar 29, 1994 (Updated Feb 9, 2011)
  8. ^ The Royal Gazette: History can be a strange thing. Sometimes the fate of nations have been changed by the most trivial things, Published Mar 25, 1994 (Updated Feb 8, 2011)
  9. ^ The Royal Gazette: Bermuda may get two-year reprieve on base, Published Nov 1, 1993 (Updated Feb 8, 2011)
  10. ^ The Royal Gazette: Base decision may occur next week, Published Oct 23, 1993 (Updated Feb 9, 2011)
  11. ^ The Royal Gazette: Base's future now in hands of US Congress, by Don Grearson News Editor. Published Oct 21, 1993 (Updated Feb 9, 2011)
  12. ^ The Royal Gazette: Dellums reassures Premier on US base, Published Oct 20, 1993 (Updated Feb 9, 2011)
  13. ^ The Royal Gazette: Archived 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine The year in Review, Published Dec 31, 1993 (Updated Feb 8, 2011)
  14. ^ [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
  15. ^ Johnston-Barnes, Owain (29 October 2012). "NASA pleased with its return to Cooper's Island". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  16. ^ "The History of Kindley Air Force Base". NASA Bermuda. 1 July 1970. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  17. ^ "STS-ELS". globalsecurity.org.
  18. ^ "Bermuda (12/09/11)". Previous Editions of Bermuda Background Note. United States Department of State. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
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