Naval Training Center San Diego

USS Recruit (TDE-1) at Liberty Station (formerly Naval Training Center), San Diego.

The Naval Training Center San Diego ( NTC San Diego for short ) was a United States Navy base at the northern end of San Diego Bay from 1923 to 1997 . The Naval Training Center has been listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in San Diego County as of May 5, 2001 . A number of the individual buildings on the site have been designated as historic buildings by the City of San Diego.

After the end of the Cold War , the base was closed. Today it is home to Liberty Station , a mixed-use district that is being developed and developed by the City of San Diego .

Origins

At the beginning of the 1920s, the city hoped to promote economic development through close ties with the military, so the Navy made more than 80 hectares of land at Point Loma in the north of the bay available for the military to relocate the Recruit Training Station in Move to san francisco. Then Congressman William Kettner was the driving force behind the effort to establish the Naval Training Center and other Navy facilities in San Diego. The United States Congress approved the training center in 1919 and construction began in 1921. The base was commissioned two years later. The first commander of the site was Capt. David F. Sellers.

Construction and expansion

During its 70-year history, the Naval Training Center (NTC) San Diego has been dedicated to educating, educating and specializing in the US Navy and the US Naval Reserve . In order to fulfill these tasks, around 300 buildings with an area of almost 280,000 m² were built. When designing the first buildings on the site, the Navy architects, Lincoln Rogers and WL Menzies, opted for the Mission Revival Style . These buildings, which form the historical core of the former base, were aligned with the two main axes running in a north-south direction. Within a few years the harbor and the anchorages in San Diego Bay were deepened and the area of the Naval Training Station was expanded by 52 hectares through land reclamation . The expansion of the base took place in several phases, often in direct connection with expanded requirements for national defense - there was no general plan, and so the buildings are in small groups or scattered across the site. Ultimately, the base grew to an area of almost 220 hectares.

During the Second World War , up to 33,000 men were stationed at the base, of which 25,000 were recruits. In the post-war period, the strength of the crew decreased to 5800, but in connection with the Korean War , the full capacity was used again. In 1952, funds were made available to convert six recruits' quarters into classrooms and to expand the training facilities by establishing a permanent recruit camp on the vacant land south and east of the estuary . The six classrooms were put into service in 1953, and the new camp, which was later named Camp Nimitz , was completed in 1955. There were initially 16 buildings for 3,248 soldiers, the canteen with its various wings could serve 5,000 soldiers.

Camp Nimitz, circa 1960

In late 1965, the Vietnam War created a further need for trained Navy personnel. As a result, the number of recruits rose to more than 18,000 men. Further facilities for catering for 8,000 men were built and in the following five years further training rooms, administrative facilities and troop accommodation were built. These extensions were completed in 1970.

In the early 1990s, San Diego was the home port of more than one sixth of the US Navy's fleet. There were more than a dozen different military establishments in the city, which together with their 133,000 soldiers and another 30,000 civilians accounted for almost 20 percent of the local economy.

The 1994 paid wages for the military and civilian members of the NTC contributed 80 million US dollars in the local economy. In addition, the base was frequented by more than 28,000 visitors annually, 80 percent of whom came from outside, which added up to a further seven million US dollars in purchasing power. The Navy itself used $ 10 million a year to pay for supplies and services from local contractors.

particularities

The USS Recruit , a 2: 3 scale model of a warship, is still on land at the base . It was built in 1949 and was then put into service as a regular ship. It served to bring the recruits closer to what was going on on a ship. In 1967 the USS Recruit was decommissioned, but it continued to serve as a training facility. In 1982 the model was converted from a destroyer escort ship into a guided missile frigate. The structure, also known as the USS Neversail , is currently (2010) not in use. It has been proposed to set up a naval museum in it, but there are no concrete plans yet.

At the northern end of the former military base is a nine-hole golf course , the Sail Ho Golf Course. It was built in the 1920s and was used by military personnel. Today it is operated privately and is generally accessible. Sam Snead was the manager of this golf course while serving in the Navy. The two inconspicuous graves between two fairways, in which one of the former commanders and his wife are buried, are unusual for a golf course .

closure

The end of the Cold War led to the downsizing of the military and the closure of unneeded bases. In 1993 the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decided to close the Naval Training Center San Diego. Since 1994, the RTC Great Lakes in Illinois has been the Navy's only basic training unit.

The Navy closed the NTC facilities in stages. In 1995, fearing public safety problems, the city council and the Navy signed a lease for an initial 67 acres of the site. The agreement was later extended to more than half of the site, around 75 of the buildings. These buildings were rented by the city to various third parties, including film companies, nonprofits and commercial enterprises. Some municipal institutions also found a temporary home here. The Navy officially closed the base on April 30, 1997.

The southernmost part was not shut down, but was placed under the control of Naval Base Point Loma . The facilities there, including a clinic , a gas station and a small PX store . In addition, 500 apartments for military personnel were built.