Name/Title
History of Mayport : Mayport - Military gateway to FloridaEntry/Object ID
2021.59.12Tags
Library newspapersDescription
The History of Mayport : Mayport - Military gateway to Florida by Joe Pickett. Draft only
This article was submitted to the Public Affairs Office of Naval Station Mayport on November 21,1990 per pencil notation in upper right corner for approval and publication in the Mirror, the Naval Station Mayport base newspaper.
Article presents an overview of various forts/field guns located at mouth of the St. Johns River from 1565 to 1939 at which time a need for a naval facility near entrance to the river was realized. Construction was began in 1941 and was completed in January, 1942. The new Frontier Section Base no. 88 was commissioned in Dec. 1940 as an aircraft carrier facility. In May 1941, the mission was changed with Navy recruit training, patrol boat and air rescue training as its chief mission. The mission began to change again in 1943 with the advent of an aircraft landing field and taxiway. Following the retirement of Vice-Admiral Adolphus Andrews, Commander of the Eastern Sea Frontier in 1943, personnel were reassigned to sea duty or to other installations on the West Coast. Commander Sanders and a few of his officers were reassigned in late 1944 with only a boat maintenance unit remaining until the base closed in 1946. The Naval Auxiliary Air Station was commissioned April 1 or 2,1944. One report states April 1 but photographic records in the Base Library refute this. When Commander Sanders was reassigned to the Sixth Naval District at Charleston on November 14, 1944, his command was merged with LCDR M. P. Merritt, Commander of the new auxiliary air station. Mayport's Naval installation had a new Commanding Officer and a new mission which was to provide support facilities for the operation of a carrier task force used to qualify pilot trainees for carrier landings and later duty in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of operations. Aircraft carriers USS Guadalcanal, USS Solomon, and the USS Mission Bay visited. The first WAVES such as Lieutenant's Anita Mitchell and Irene Poole arrived but no date noted.Collection
LibraryLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
NewspaperNomenclature Primary Object Term
SerialNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
Mayport (Jacksonville, Fla.) -- History., Naval Station Mayport (Fla.) -- History.Publication Details
Call No.
Newspaper shelf filed by shelf location