Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Barbados, TWI, in commission 1957 to 1979, was the most southern of the Atlantic Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) shore terminals. It had the distinction making the first system detection of a Soviet nuclear submarine in 1962 as that submarine was transiting off Norway. The facility was located adjacent to the Harrison Point Lighthouse, Parish of

Saint Lucy Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also called Saint Lucia ( la, Sancta Lucia) better known as Saint Lucy, was a Roman people, Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, ...

. Since decommissioning the remaining structures have been put to use by the government of Barbados.

Naval Facility

Naval Facility Barbados was the southernmost of the original Atlantic Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) shore terminals. The facility was commissioned on 1 October 1957, with a complement of about 12 officers and about 88 enlisted personnel. It was located adjacent to the Harrison Point Lighthouse in the Parish of

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

, then part of the British colonial territory of the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

The facility, in which output of the array at sea was processed and displayed by means of the

Low Frequency Analyzer and Recorder (LOFAR) Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LOW ...

, was commissioned about one-month following the U.S. Navy Facility established in the island of

Eleuthera Eleuthera () refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

where the first operational array had been installed in 1952. A significant event in SOSUS history occurred on 6 July 1962 when NAVFAC Barbados made the first detection and identification of a Soviet nuclear submarine off the coast of Norway as it entered the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap. The facility's commanding officer was enlisted by the Commanding Officer,

Barbados Regiment The Barbados Regiment is the land force component of the Barbados Defence Force. Its main tasks are the defence of Barbados from external threats, internal security and assisting the local police in maintaining law and order. The regiment also pr ...

during the regiment's 75th anniversary dinner to recover the regiment's cannon that had been stolen in February 1956. The cannon had ended up in California and had been identified as the Barbados cannon in 1968. The prospective commanding officer of NAVFAC Barbados was then enlisted in a Navy effort called "Operation Golden Gun" to transport the long lost cannon back to its rightful place. The cannon was flown into Barbados 12 June 1978 by a plane of

VP-30 Patrol Squadron 30 (VP-30) is a maritime patrol squadron of the United States Navy, established on 30 June 1960. It is based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. Mission VP-30's mission is to provide Lockheed P-3C Orion and Boeing P ...

and returned to the Barbados Regiment that day at Evening Parade. NAVFAC Barbados was operated by the United States Navy for twenty-two years and was officially decommissioned on 31 March 1979. Motto: Arcana Maris Quaerere

Government of Barbados use

The structures of the former facility were used as a temporary prison in 2005 after a fire at HM Glendairy Prison.Former naval base at Harrison Point identified as isolation centre
- By Sandy Deane, March 2, 2020, Barbados Today newspaper The

Government of Barbados The Government of Barbados (GoB), is a unitary parliamentary republic, where the President of Barbados represents as the head of state and the Prime Minister of Barbados represents as the head of government. Structure The country has a bicam ...

announced 29 February 2020 that the abandoned facility would be allocated funding to be used as a COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation Centre.Facility at Harrison Point to be used as COVID-19 isolation center
- 2 MARCH 2020, Loop Barbados news

References

External links

NAVFAC BarbadosOperation Golden Gun
(Photos)
NAVFAC Barbados, TWI - Page 1 of 2
Togetherweserved.com
NAVFAC Barbados aka Barbados Oceanographic Research Facility
operated from 1957 – 1979 and was a top secret US cold war submarine listening post {{DEFAULTSORT:Naval Facility Barbados 1957 establishments in Barbados Military installations closed in 1979 Closed installations of the United States Navy Barbados–United States relations United Kingdom–United States relations Saint Lucy, Barbados

Naval Facility

Government of Barbados use

See also

References

External links