Swinger Bay, is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

on the north west shore of

Milne Bay Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...

, in

Milne Bay Province Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,345 km2 of land and 252,990 km2 of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. The province has ...

, Papua New Guinea. It was named by

John Moresby Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. Life and career Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...

after HMS ''Swinger''. It is also known as ''Stringer Bay''."Stringer" is the "approved" U.S. name with "Swinger" the "variant in the official National Geospatial Intelligence Agenc
Geonames Search
results. U.S. military records and histories of the war period use "Stringer" instead of "Swinger" for the bay. Swinger Bay, and the city on the bay

Alotau Alotau is the capital of Milne Bay Province, in the far south-east of Papua New Guinea, on the tip of the Papuan Peninsula. It is located on the northern shore of Milne Bay and the township is conveniently situated within the Alotau Urban LLG. Bei ...

, was selected as a site for an amphibious training centre in 1943 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which relocated from HMAS Assault, Port Stephens, Australia. Construction started in late 1943 by a detachment of the 91st Naval Construction Battalion (

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

), whose main element had arrived 21 October 1943 from

Port Hueneme, California Port Hueneme ( ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard, California, Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura ...

in . The detachment built facilities on a site noted as being high and relatively dry, for about 800 men and 30 officers that included storage, shops, housing, roads, water and electrical systems and a jetty to water of depth. The 91st was relieved by

105th Naval Construction Battalion 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in January 1944. The amphibious training centre consisted of housing for 1,500 men in

quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel with a semi-circular cross-section. The design was developed in the United States based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I. Hund ...

s and developed on waterfront for training purposes. Rabi Camp (also spelled Rabe), part of HMAS Ladava, was attacked by Japan in 1942 in the

Battle of Milne Bay The Battle of Milne Bay (25 August – 7 September 1942), also known as Operation RE or the Battle of Rabi (ラビの戦い) by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese naval infantry, known as ''Kaigun ...

. Rabi Camp was on the north shore in Swinger Bay at . The Gama River flows into Swinger Bay. In March 1945, the amphibious training centre closed and relocated to

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...

, Philippines.

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References

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Bays of Papua New Guinea Geography of Milne Bay Province {{MilneBayProvince-geo-stub