anchorage close by. The only anticipated drawback of this location was the absence of heavy surf, which would be encountered in both theaters. In March 1942, the Navy rented sleeping accommodations for twenty personnel and obtained permission for dockage and anchorages in the harbor at Solomons. By end of March, USMC had also rented a house at Cove Point to serve as a command post. Amphibious training landings had begun before a base was even selected. The officers of the transport USS Harry Lee (Ap-17) were instructed to establish a boat pool of fifteen boats; personnel to man them would be quartered at the Rekar’s Hotel in downtown Solomons. On 1 April, the Lore Company’s marine railway, boatyard, and shops (currently Zahniser’s Yachting Center) were leased for the operation, and a house was rented in the Solomons to serve as Navy training headquarters. The Lee and a second US Navy attack transport, USS Hunter Liggett, carried Army and Marine battalions to the Solomons throughout March and April—joined by the WWI destroyer USS Stringham in May. Many of the Marines that trained that spring would participate in the August 1942 amphibious attacks at Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the South Pacific. In April 1942 Comdr. William F. Royall and others arrived from Norfolk to vet the Solomons as an amphibious training base. Other sites that were considered but
USS Harry Lee (Ap-17)
The 328-ft. LST-265 during training maneuvers at Cove Point, Maryland, January 1944. ultimately rejected included nearby Cove Point, Drum Point, Cedar Point, and Point Patience. From early May through early June 1942, Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Commander, Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, asked for authorization and received approval to establish the ATB on the peninsula between Mill and Back creeks—just below the present site of Dowell. Original plans called for a base that would accommodate 500 men, which subsequently increased to 1,000, then ultimately 2,000 men. This necessitated re-evaluation and
redesign of the base—including construction of navy boat yards, oil storage tanks, and its own power plant. To build the base, the Navy needed to acquire all the real estate upon which the base was to be built. This was approved by the end of June 1942, much to the dismay of those whose homes were appropriated. While these plans were being carried out, bids to build the base were requested; the contract went to the Byrne Organization for the onshore work, and Diamond Construction Co. for the waterfront piers, docks, and marine railway. Outraged property owners protested and delayed the start of the construction, but ultimately the work went forward, and in July 1942 the first group of trainees were billeted on site. A formal “declaration of taking” comprising 96.75 acres in fourteen parcels was signed by Acting Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 13 November 1942. Amphibious training demands were expected to be met by February 1943 with a “final readiness” benchmark of 1 April 1943. The Solomons area was selected in good part because its beaches were similar to what the men would encounter at the invasion sites and because the swamps that bordered the beaches provided a buffer from civilians who lived in the area. There was also a minimum of vessel traffic in the region. The only other potentially significant
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