Davisville, in Washington County, is a village in the town of North Kingstown in the U.S. state of Rhode Island that was formerly the home of the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center, which housed the United States Navy's SeaBees.
Both Amtrak and MBTA's Providence/Stoughton Line pass through Davisville, though there is no railroad station here. A proposed MBTA station is currently being considered.
It was located at Quonset Point on Narragansett Bay, an area now included in the town of North Kingstown. The Navy acquired the property in 1939 and built Naval Air Station Quonset Point. In 1942, adjoining properties were developed for training Seabees, including the Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) at Davisville. After World War II, the Naval Air Station remained in operation, but the NCBC was inactive until 1951, when the site was designated Headquarters, NCBC. The Naval Air Station was decommissioned in 1974. NCBC Davisville was selected for closure during the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC 1991) program and operational closure occurred on April 1, 1994. The land eventually was obtained by the State of Rhode Island.
The State of Rhode Island has invested heavily into the transportation infrastructure of the Quonset Business Park, including rail, water/sewer, and the $170 million Rte 403 Connector, a 4-lane highway connecting the Park to Route 4.
Today, the Park is the largest industrial park by employment levels in R.I. It is located on Narragansett Bay, Route 1 and Route 403. This 3,174-acre (12.84 km2) master-planned business park had, in 2007, nearly 150 businesses with infrastructure capacity for 18,000 total employees. The largest business is General Dynamics Electric Boat. Also located in the Park is the North Atlantic Distribution, Inc (NORAD), [1] the 7th largest automobile importer in North America. In 2011, the facility imported 150,519 autos and another 41,797 autos came by rail. [2] There are some thousand cars at any time stored within the Park.
Within the park, the Quonset State Airport, which uses the former Navy Air Station Quonset Point runway, is managed by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, is a general aviation facility with an 8,000 ft (2,400 m) runway.
Also located within the park are the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park, a non-profit museum developed on 6.5 acres (26,000 m2) by former U.S. Navy Seabees which includes the former Navy concrete chapel, seven vintage Quonset huts, and a huge Seabee statue; and the non-profit Quonset Air Museum located in buildings that were originally built for the Naval Air Station Quonset Point (NASQP).
In 2007, the State of Rhode Island announced plans for a $150-million mega-yacht shipbuilding and repair yard that includes a training center on 43 acres (170,000 m2) within the Park, and an $80 million mixed-use development: The Gateway Project. The over 450,000-square-foot (42,000 m2) Gateway Project will include a hotel, visitor center, local grocer, drug store, coffee shop, restaurants, a bank, small shops, two anchor stores and will surround the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park. However, one of the anchor stores closed soon after opening and remains vacant; by 2016 no visitor center, drug store, or coffee shop had been constructed. [ citation needed ]
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 context, "Seabee" can refer to all enlisted personnel in the USN's occupational field 13 (OF-13), all personnel in the Naval Construction Force (NCF), or Construction Battalion. Seabees serve both in and outside the NCF. During World War II they were plank-holders of both the Naval Combat Demolition Units and the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). The men in the NCF considered these units to be "Seabee". In addition, Seabees served as elements of Cubs, Lions, Acorns and the United States Marine Corps. They also provided the manpower for the top secret CWS Flame Tank Group. Today the Seabees have many special task assignments starting with Camp David and the Naval Support Unit at the Department of State. Seabees serve under both Commanders of the Naval Surface Forces Atlantic/Pacific fleets as well as on many base Public Works and USN diving commands.
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 census. North Kingstown is home to the birthplace of American portraitist Gilbert Stuart, who was born in the village of Saunderstown. Within the town is Quonset Point, location of the former Naval Air Station Quonset Point, known for the invention of the Quonset hut, as well as the historic village of Wickford.
Quonset Point, also known simply as Quonset, is a small peninsula in Narragansett Bay in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Its name is widely known from the Quonset hut, which was first manufactured there. Quonset is an Algonquian word meaning "small, long place".
The Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America serves all of the state of Rhode Island and some of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Its several camps include Camp Yawgoog, Champlin Scout Reservation, and Camp Norse.
Scouting in Rhode Island has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
Lincoln Carter Almond was an American attorney and politician who served as the 72nd Governor of Rhode Island from 1995 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he was previously the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1969 to 1978 and again from 1981 until 1993.
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. Hundreds of thousands were produced during World War II, and military surplus was sold to the public. The name comes from the site of their first deployment at Quonset Point at the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center in Davisville, Rhode Island.
Quonset State Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located on Quonset Point, in northeastern North Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, adjacent to Narragansett Bay. It is a general aviation airport and there is no scheduled airline service available. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2023–2027, in which it is categorized as a regional reliever facility.
Route 403, also known as the Quonset Freeway, is a numbered state highway located in Washington County and Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The route is a nominally east–west limited-access freeway for its entire length. A spur of Rhode Island Route 4, Route 403 serves Davisville and the Quonset Business Park, providing freeway access to Interstate 95 and the northern Providence metropolitan area from the industrial zone. The western terminus of the freeway is at a trumpet interchange with Route 4 in East Greenwich. The route has three unnumbered interchanges along its 4.5-mile (7.2 km) length, including a junction with U.S. Route 1 in North Kingstown, before terminating at an at-grade intersection with Roger Williams Way and Commerce Park Road in Quonset. Route 403 is the highest numbered route in Rhode Island.
The Pine River is a river in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It flows approximately 8 km (5 mi). There are no dams along the river's length.
Quonset Point Air National Guard Station is the home base of the Rhode Island Air National Guard 143rd Airlift Wing. Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point was a United States Naval Base in Quonset Point, Rhode Island that was deactivated in 1974. Next to NAS Quonset Point was Camp Endicott at Davisville, home of the Naval Construction Battalions known as the Seabees. Quonset Point also gave its name to the Quonset hut, a standardized temporary structure used by the U.S. military starting in World War II. Former US President Richard M. Nixon went through basic naval officer training at Quonset Point in 1942.
Coasters Harbor Island is a 92-acre (370,000 m2) island in Narragansett Bay, Newport, Rhode Island. The island is home to the Naval War College (NWC), an education and research institution of the United States Navy that specializes in developing ideas for naval warfare and passing them along to officers of the Navy.
Camp Endicott was a United States Navy Seabee facility, part of Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. A surviving portion of the camp, now mostly demolished, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Nantucket was a United States Navy facility located in Nantucket, Massachusetts operational from 1942 to 1945. It existed as an auxiliary air facility of Naval Air Station Quonset Point.
The Quonset Air Museum was an aerospace museum located in Quonset Point Business Park in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Naval Construction Battalion Center is a 1,100-acre (450 ha) U.S. Navy industrial complex located in Gulfport, Mississippi. It serves as home base for the Atlantic Fleet Seabees, which are the Navy's construction battalions.
The Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center was a United States Navy Seabee base located in Davisville, Rhode Island. It operated from 1942 until 1994, when after it was recommended for closure during the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It was made up of Camp Thomas, Camp Endicott, the Advanced Base Depot, and the Advanced Base Proving Ground, and was located next to Naval Air Station Quonset Point for most of its existence.
Seabee Museum and Memorial Park is a non-profit military history museum in Davisville, Rhode Island, devoted to the Seabees of the U.S. Navy.
The Seaview Transportation Company, also known as the Seaview Railroad, is a terminal railroad in North Kingstown, Rhode Island that serves the port of Davisville and surrounding industries. The railroad began operations in 1978 on trackage that formerly served Quonset Point Air National Guard Station.
Naval Base Brisbane was a major United States Navy base built in the early part of World War II at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. At first, operated as a base for patrol aircraft and convoy escort aircraft to protect the last leg of the Pacific War to the Southwest Pacific. As the US Navy expanded in the island hopping campaign, Naval Base Brisbane expanded to include a submarine base, repair depot, seaplane base and other facilities. US Navy operations started on April 14, 1942, and ended after the war in 1945.
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