Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base
| Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay | |
|---|---|
| Kings Bay, Georgia | |
SuBase Kings Bay insignia
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| Coordinates | 30°46.9′N 81°32.1′W / 30.7817°N 81.5350°WCoordinates: 30°46.9′N 81°32.1′W / 30.7817°N 81.5350°W |
| Type | Submarine base |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | United States Navy |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1 July 1978 |
| In use | 6 July 1979 – present |
Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is a base of the United States Navy located adjacent to the town of St. Marys in Camden County, Georgia, in southeastern Georgia, and 38 miles (61 km) from Jacksonville, Florida. The Submarine Base is the U.S. Atlantic Fleet's home port for U.S. Navy Fleet ballistic missile nuclear submarines armed with Trident missile nuclear weapons. This submarine base covers about 16,000 acres (6,400 hectares) of land, of which 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) are protected wetlands.
Archeological research has revealed a pre-Columbian Indian presence throughout the area, dating back thousands of years.
Early in the 19th century, much of what is now the submarine base was the site of several plantations, including Cherry Point, Harmony Hall, New Canaan, Marianna and Kings Bay. Beginning in the 1790s, Thomas King built a plantation along the bay. John Houston McIntosh built a considerably larger plantation known as New Canaan, where he grew cotton and sugar cane.
The plantation system declined following the Civil War, and the land was broken up into smaller holdings. No residents were paid the going rate for the land that was used to build the submarine base. One land owner was paid four thousand dollars for 62 acres of deep water land. Such residents harvested shrimp, fish and other seafood, and trapped and hunted to supplement small-scale farming of corn, sugar and other vegetables.
The US Army began to acquire 7,000 acres (28.33 km2; 10.94 sq mi) of land at Kings Bay in 1954 to build a military ocean terminal to ship ammunition in case of a national emergency. Construction began in 1955 and was completed in 1958. A 200' wide channel was dredged to Cumberland Sound, and included two turning basins.
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