Map of Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons
Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons also called Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons Island was a
US Amphibious Training Base at
Solomons, Maryland, on the
Dowell Peninsula, from 1942 to 1945 built to train troops for
World War II amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...
. Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons was the United States's first official naval amphibious training base, it was established in August 1942 on the
Patuxent River, called: USNATB, United States Navy Amphibious Training Base. The base closed April 1945 after training 67,698 troops.
History
Due to the urgent demand for Amphibious Training, Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons was founded as a temporary base. On July 22, 1944, had its maximum population of 10,150 troops on the base staff and amphibious landing training troops. The base had its own
power station, water system, barracks,
mess hall
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
s,
motor pool, and other facilities. On-ship training took place in
Chesapeake Bay. Many of the troops completed their
basic training at nearby
United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge. The first 3,300 Troops arrived at the base in July 1942 for an eight-week training program.
A
Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU) was started on May 14, 1943, at the Solomons base. The first team was made up of six officers and 18 enlisted troops trained at the base. Each NCDU were volunteers, training for the
Allied invasion of Sicily, called Operation Husky. In addition to Amphibious Training, for the war effort the US Navy had other operations and training at the base including:
Naval mine Warfare Test Station (NMWTS), Mine Warfare Experimental Station, and Naval Dispensary for the Training Base. The site of the Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons is now
Calvert Marina. In 1945, at the closure of Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons, the land was given to the
state of Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...
and used for Maryland Marine Police for Tidewater Fisheries Enforcement Patrols. In 1959 the US sold the land to a private
yacht club and marina. In 1981 the land was sold again. Some of the Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons 17 buildings have been converted for other uses. Across the Patuxent River from Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons is
Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
Naval Ordnance Laboratory Test Facility
While the Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons closed in 1945, the Naval Mine Warfare Test Station (NMWTS) and Mine Warfare Experimental Station continued to operate at what was known as the 295-acre Naval Solomons Annex under the
Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL). At the site the Naval Ordnance Laboratory Test Facility (NOLTF) was founded in 1947 and operated till 1950. The NOLTF worked on high and low-altitude aircraft drops for testing and training of mine drops, training and testing of
torpedo firing in the river, and with naval mines. By 1958, torpedo firing had ended and missile assembly was added to the Test Facility. In 1948 the
Bureau of Yards and Docks opened the
Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory (NCEL), which worked on amphibious equipment, at the Annex. In 1967 facility activities started to close and in 1971 site became a Naval Recreation Center Solomons (NRC) under
Naval District Washington (NDW), and administered by Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Naval Recreation Center Solomons is open to Active Duty Military and Reservist Military in active standing including spouses and dependents. Naval Recreation Center Solomons had cabins, store, camping, fishing, adventure zone, boat rental, pool and beaches.
Background
The
United States amphibious operations
The United States has a long history in amphibious warfare from the Battle of Nassau, landings in the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War, to some of the more massive examples of World War II in the European Theater of Operation on Norman ...
dates back to the early dates of the nation. On March 3, 1776, the
Continental Marines made their first amphibious landing in the
Battle of Nassau on to the beaches of the
Bahamas. While amphibious operations took place in the
American Civil War,
Spanish–American War, and
World War I, large-scale amphibious training bases were not established till World War II.
Before World War II the need for Amphibious Training Base was seen. In 1903, President
Theodore Roosevelt from his experience in the Spanish-American War established a Joint Army-Navy Board in 1903, but no Amphibious Training Base came out of this. One of the first small-scale Amphibious Training took place in
Culebra and
Vieques, Puerto Rico at the request of the Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels
Josephus Daniels (May 18, 1862 – January 15, 1948) was an American newspaper editor and publisher from the 1880s until his death, who controlled Raleigh's ''News & Observer'', at the time North Carolina's largest newspaper, for decades. A D ...
in 1913. During World War I, the
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
amphibious operations in Turkey did not go well for the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, thus some thought that amphibious warfare was at an end.
After World War I, in which
Japan fought on the Allied side, Japan
took control of German bases in China and the Pacific. In 1919, the
League of Nations approved Japan's
mandate
Mandate most often refers to:
* League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919
* Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate
Mandate may also ...
over the German islands north of the equator. The United States did not want any mandates and was concerned with Japan's aggressiveness. As such
Wilson Administration
Woodrow Wilson's tenure as the 28th president of the United States lasted from 4 March 1913 until 4 March 1921. He was largely incapacitated the last year and a half. He became president after winning the 1912 election. Wilson was a Democrat ...
transferred 200 Atlantic
warships to the Pacific Fleet in 1919.
With new concerns in the Pacific, in 1921, Marine Commandant Lieutenant General
John A. Lejeune
John Archer Lejeune (; January 10, 1867 – November 20, 1942) was a United States Marine Corps lieutenant general and the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Lejeune served for nearly 40 years in the military, and commanded the U.S. Army's 2n ...
asked
Major Earl "Pete" Ellis to make up plans for an amphibious war with Japan, as to be prepared. Ellis wrote ''OpPlan 712: Advance Base Operations in Micronesia'', which outlined modern amphibious warfare. The
Fleet Marine Force was founded on December 7, 1933. Fleet Marine Force was a combined Force of both the US Navy and the United States Marine Corps. On December 7, 1941, Japan carried out a surprise military strike on the
Naval Base in Pearl Harbor. Japan hoped to eliminate US military force in the Pacific as it soon carried out attacks across the South Pacific. The attack led the US to enter World War II. During World War II the United States was fighting on two fronts, the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
and the
European theatre. The Pacific War was an amphibious operation of
Island-hopping
Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II.
The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to ca ...
and the European theatre required amphibious operations to get a foothold on the
European continent. European theatre saw major amphibious operations at the invasion of
North Africa,
Southern France
Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...
,
Sicily,
Italy and
Normandy.
On January 5, 1942
Seabee Navy Construction Battalions officially began operation.
In July 1943 Seabee started an
Amphibious Construction Battalion
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
, with
Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 as the first unit, which operated in the Pacific War. Seabee were given the task of clearing beaches of obstacles and establishing beachhead bases.
In addition, Seabees built and operated sea ports, airfields and served as elements the United States Marine Corps.
Other bases opened on both coasts of the United States.
Due to the demand for Amphibious Training, overseas bases were founded in
North Africa and the South Pacific.
The United States Navy needed to train with the US Army and US Marine Corps, as amphibious landing require complex operations:
* Strategic planning
* Amphibious vessels need to arrive and be loaded with all the supplies and troops needed for the operation.
* Must be
reconnaissance of the landing site
* Landing site may need
obstacles removed, and the water depth checked.
* Landing must be timed to the
tide.
*
Air cover
Military aviation comprises military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logistical supply to forces statio ...
must be timed to landing.
* Beach checked for
landmines
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
and other obstacles.
* After troops and vehicles debark, support supplies are unloaded the beachhead
supply depot
Supply depots are a type of military installation used by militaries to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to military units. Supply depots are responsible for nearly all other types of ...
Legacy
*In
Dowell, Maryland
Map of Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons on Dowell Peninsula, Maryland from 1942 to 1945. Dowell is just north of Solomons, where the base was located
Dowell is a small, rural unincorporated community in Calvert County, Maryland
Mary ...
, in
Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of t ...
on Dowell Road, at is a Maryland Historical Society historic marker to Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons. The Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons marker read:
**''This nation's first naval amphibious training base was established here at Solomons where between 1942 and 1945 some 68,000 sailers, marines, coast guardsmen, and soldiers were trained. They formed the major components of the amphibious forces which landed at Guadalcanal, North Africa, Sicily and Normandy. Ironically, some of those trained here at Solomons, Maryland, participated in the landings in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.''
*The
''"On Watch" Monument'' is a bronze sculpture, commemorating the World War II Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons from 1942 to 1945. The ''"On Watch" Monument'' at was made by
Antonio Tobias Mendez
Antonio Tobias Mendez (born 1963) is an American sculptor.
Works
Mendez has produced over twenty public monuments: his sculptures include Thurgood Marshall, Don Shula, Mohandas Gandhi, Major Taylor, and part of the United States Navy Memorial. ...
at Solomons, Maryland.
*
Calvert Marine Museum has a Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons Collection in the
maritime history
Maritime history is the study of human interaction with and activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it ...
section.
* The Calvert Marine, which serves boats and ships is on the former site of the Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons on Black Creek.
*The Harbours Point Park is on the former site of the Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons.
*The Senior Officers Quarters, Solomons ATB, is now the Calvert Marina Clubhouse.
*Naval Recreation Center (NAVRECCEN) Solomons, also known as Naval District Washington (NDW) Solomons Complex, is on the former site of the Naval Mine Warfare Test Station (NMWTS), also called the he Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL), on 296 acres on Point Patience.
Naval Recreation Center (NAVRECCEN) Solomons, ''maryland.gov''
/ref>
See also
* Patuxent River Naval Air Museum
*United States Marine Corps Reconnaissance Training Company
The United States Marine Corps Reconnaissance Training Company trains Marines in the amphibious environment as a Reconnaissance Marine, MOS 0321. It is under the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion (AITB) of the School of Infantry (West), Ma ...
*United States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...
*US Naval Advance Bases
US Naval Advance Bases were built globally by the United States Navy during World War 2, World War II to support and project U.S. naval operations world-wide. A few were built on Allies of World War II, allied soil, but most were captured enemy f ...
*
References
{{authority control
Closed installations of the United States Navy
Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons
Military installations established in 1942
1942 establishments in Maryland
1945 disestablishments in the United States