Thursday, January 11, 2007
Kings Bay, GA
We got here at Kings Bay, Eagle Hammock RV Park on the submarine base right before New Year's Eve...and, spent a rousing, old-persons' celebration in the community room there with our retired military friends. The "rousing" consisted of finger foods, sparkling grape juice at midnight, and card games and dominoes and just plain enjoying the company while waiting for the big hour! Sounds exciting, doesn't it? We all worked real hard to keep Peter awake long enough to see the new year come in...and, I'm proud to say that we succeeded this year!
This is a really wonderful base: Naval Submarine Base at Kings Bay, GA, just outside the small, quaint town of St Marys. Originally the base was an Army base, obtained to build a military ocean terminal to ship ammunition in case of a national emergency. Construction began in 1956 and was completed in 1958. Since there wasn't an immediate operational need for the base, it was placed in an inactive ready status. It was used in 1964 to house area residents after Hurricane Dora and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, an Army Transportation Battalion of 1100 personnel and 70 small boats were positioned here.
In 1975, when the US and Spain were re-negotiating our base agreement, it was determined that we would withdraw our fleet ballistic-missile submarine squadron from Rota, Spain. As a result, the Naval Submarine Support Base Kings Bay was established in what they called "developmental status" on 1 July 1978. The base is now called Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay and as of 6 July 1979, all the submarines of the Submarine Squadron 16 from the Rota, Spain base were making their home here. By September 1997 Kings Bay had its full complement of Trident submarines (10). There are currently 5 ballistic missile submarines and 1 guided missile submarine assigned here, with the expectation that the USS Georgia will arrive here in 2007 and the USS Alaska will be here sometime in 2008 or 2009.
This is the "fake" submarine that adorns the entrance to the base at the Franklin Gate.
I guess they make missiles here, too. Here's a monument on post that says "Strategic Weapons Facility Atlantic"
There are some really interesting facts about the base, if you're interested. You can look them up on the internet at www.subasekb.navy.mil
They also have a nice golf course here...Peter played and I got to drive the golf cart (I love that - couldn't hit a golf ball, though, if my life depended on it!) The weather has been perfect here the last few days: lower humidity, sunny, a little breeze (just enuf to keep the bugs away), and temps in the upper 60s, lower 70s.
Pictures of one of the lakes on the golf course:
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