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 A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

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 ( – 304 AD), also called Saint Lucia () and 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 Catholic Church, Catholic, Angl ...

. 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, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, then part of the

British colonial The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming p ...

territory of the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

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 Frequency Analyzer and Recorder and Low Frequency Analysis and Recording (LOFAR) are the equipment and process respectively for presenting a visual spectrum representation of low frequency sounds in a time–frequency analysis. The process was ...

, 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 The Bahamas, 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 incor ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

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 Boeing P-8A Poseidon specific tra ...

and returned to the Barbados Regiment that day at Evening Parade. NAVFAC Barbados was operated by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

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 Glendairy Prison, also called Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Prison, was the correctional facility located in the country of Barbados. The prison, which housed up to 1,000 male and female inmates, was located in Station Hill, St ...

.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 state, unitary Parliamentary system, parliamentary republic, where the president of Barbados is the head of state and the prime minister of Barbados is the head of government. Structure The countr ...

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