Naval Air Station Lee Field - Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs - Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida | |
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Green Cove Springs, Florida | |
Type | Naval Air Station Lee Field (1940 1943 Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs (1943-1962) Reserve Fleet (1946-1962) |
Site information | |
Owner | United States of America |
Controlled by | United States Navy |
Site history | |
In use | 1940-1965 |
Naval Air Station Lee Field was a United States Navy air base that opened on September 11, 1940, in Green Cove Springs, Florida to support the World War II efforts. The Air Station was on the St. Johns River in Clay County, Florida. The Air Station and Navy base was on 1,560 acres. The US Navy and United States Marine Corps used the site to train pilots on four 5,000-foot (1,500 m) asphalt runways. The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter plane was the most common plane use at the Navy Air Station. The Vought F4U Corsair was a common plane for the Marine Corps training. The base was named after Ensign Bejamin Lee, who was killed during World War I in a plane crash at Killinghome, England. Naval Air Station Lee Field was renamed Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs in August 1943. After the war, Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs was reorganized into a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) of Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The Naval Auxiliary Air Station closed in June 1962. [1] [2] [3] [4]
In 1946 the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida, also called the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Green Cove Springs opened next to the Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs in the St. Johns River. The Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida was part of the United States Navy reserve fleets, also called mothball fleet, was used to store the now many surplus ships after World War II. The freshwater was good for long-term storage for ships. At its peak the reserve fleet had 600 ships. In the fleet were destroyers, destroyer escorts, troop ships and US Navy auxiliary ships. Some ships in the fleet were reactivated for the Korean War and Vietnam War. [5] [6] The reserve fleet and Air Station were closed in June 1962. The land was deeded to the City of Green Cove Springs. In 1965, the site was sold to J. Louis Reynolds. The site today is the Clay County Port and Reynolds Industrial Park. [7] One runway remains as the Reynolds Airpark Airport (FL60). [8] Some of the former airfield land was used as a test track for anti-lock brakes by Kelsey-Hayes/TRW Automotive. At the site is the original Naval Air Station Lee Field air traffic control tower and aircraft hangars. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Military Museum of North Florida is located at the Reynolds Industrial Park opened in 2007. Located at 1 Bunker Avenue, Green Cove Springs, Florida, off State Road 16 East (Leonard C. Taylor Parkway) at 29°58′48″N81°39′12″W / 29.979914°N 81.653206°W . The Museum features indoor and outdoor displays of plane and vehicles. [13]
Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. Green Cove Springs is a part of the Jacksonville metropolitan area. The population was 9,786 at the 2020 census.
The third USS Raritan (LSM-540) was a LSM-1-class landing ship medium in the United States Navy following World War II. She was named for a river in New Jersey.
The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and sufficiently working as to be reactivated quickly in an emergency.
USS Sutton (DE-771) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1948. In 1956, she was transferred to South Korea, where she served as Kang Won (F-72) until 1977. The ship was then cannibalized for spare parts in the Philippines.
USS Parle (DE-708), a Rudderow-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was laid down on 8 January 1944 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, in Bay City, Michigan. She was launched on 25 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Harry V. Parle, mother of Medal of Honor recipient Ensign John Joseph Parle, and commissioned in New Orleans on 29 July 1944.
Naval Air Station Cecil Field or NAS Cecil Field was a United States Navy air base, located in Duval County, Florida. Prior to October 1999, NAS Cecil Field was the largest military base in terms of acreage in the Jacksonville, Florida area.
USS Menelaus (ARL-13) was laid down as a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship but converted to one of 39 Achelous-class repair ships that were used for repairing landing craft during World War II. Named for Menelaus, she was the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Clarence L. Evans (DE-113) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She was launched on 22 March 1944 by Dravo Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware, sponsored by Mrs. E. E. Evans; commissioned on 25 June 1944 and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.
USS Cates (DE-763) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
USS Otterstetter (DE-244) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
USS Ramsden (DE-382) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. Post-war, she performed other tasks with the U.S. Coast Guard and with the U.S. Navy as a radar picket ship.
USS Tweedy (DE-532) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 and from 1952 to 1969. She was sunk as a target in 1970.
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USS Benewah (APB-35) was a barracks ship of the United States Navy, and lead ship of her class. She was notable for her service in World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.
USS Ringness (APD-100) was a Crosley-class high speed transport that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. After spending 29 years in reserve, she was sold for scrapping in 1975.
USS Coates (DE-685) was a Rudderow-class destroyer escort in the United States Navy during World War II and later in the 1950s and 1960s.
USAMP Major General Wallace F. Randolph, sometimes also known as MG Wallace F. Randolph, was a 188.2-foot (57.4 m) mine planter built by the Marietta Manufacturing Company, and delivered to the United States Army Mine Planter Service in 1942. The ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1951, placed directly into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet without being commissioned classed as the auxiliary minelayer ACM-15, then reclassified minelayer, auxiliary (MMA) and named MMA-15, and finally given the name Nausett without any active naval service. After being stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, the ship was transferred to different owners, and eventually was scuttled off the coast of Florida as an artificial reef and fish aggregating device. The site is currently known as the Thunderbolt Wreck, and is considered to be an excellent and challenging dive site for advanced divers.
USS Rednour (APD-102) was a Crosley-class high speed transport that served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946. In December 1969, she was transferred to Mexico and served under the name Chihuahua until July 2001.
USS Julius A. Raven (APD-110), ex-DE-600, was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1946. She later served in the Republic of Korea Navy as ROKS Ung Po (PG-83).
USS Beverly W. Reid (APD-119/LPR-119), was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1947 and from 1967 to 1969.