"Argentia at War" Exhibit

Museum of the Atlantic Allies

Argentia, Route 100
Jun 15 - Sep 15
P.O. Box 121
Placentia, NL, A0B 2Y0
709-227-5272
Fax 1-709-227-3399

A visual art exhibit on the history of the former community of Argentia, and the U.S. Naval Base that replaced it is located in the Visitor Information Centre located just before the main entrance to the Argentia site.

History of Argentia as a Naval Base

Church service on the after deck of HMS Prince of Wales, during the conference which resulted in the signing of the Atlantic Charter.

Throughout 1940-1941 the U.S. Navy constructed an airfield and navy base and built an extension to the Newfoundland Railway to service their facilities, owing to the condition of local roads. The navy base construction in particular was a priority with Navy Operating Base Argentia being officially commissioned on July 15, 1941.

The reason for the rush was made clear on August 7, 1941 when the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) carrying U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in the Ship Harbour anchorage. Roosevelt inspected the base construction progress and did some fishing from Augusta over the next few days. Augusta was joined by the British warship HMS Prince of Wales carrying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on August 10, 1941. While in the Ship Harbour anchorage from August 10-12, the two leaders and their delegations managed to negotiate what was called the "Atlantic Charter" which established the basis for UK-US military cooperation and objectives. This history-altering agreement was signed on August 12 whereby both vessels departed for their home territories at high speed. The "Atlantic Charter" was publicly announced in a declaration on August 14, presumably after Prince of Wales had returned to UK waters.

On August 28, 1941 Naval Air Station Argentia was officially commissioned by the US Navy. Argentia would prove to be a very important base in the US war effort; by 1943 with the U.S. fully involved in the Second World War, Argentia saw upwards of 10,000 U.S. personnel passing through on the way to the European Theatre. An adjoining United States Army base was established as Fort McAndrew to provide anti-aircraft artillery protection for the navy base and naval air station. In 1946 Fort McAndrew became part of the United States Air Force and was renamed McAndrew Air Force Base in 1948. With VE in 1945, Argentia saw a drop in personnel but by the start of the cold war in 1947-1948, personnel numbers rose to 7,000. By the end of the Korean War in 1953, Argentia saw a total of 8,500 personnel posted in the area.

In 1955 McAndrew AFB was deactivated and turned over to the US Navy as the US Air Force moved its personnel to more remote and northern locations along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to build radar stations which would become part of the Pinetree Line and DEW Line systems. In the 1960s Naval Station Argentia became a key "node" in the U.S. Navy's SOSUS underwater hydrophone system. As such, the base was the target for several espionage attempts by the Soviet Union. By 1969 the total U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine contingents had dropped to 3,000 and to 1,000 by 1971.

As facilities and structures closed, assets were transferred to the Government of Canada under the terms of the U.S.-Britain lend-lease program; Newfoundland having become a Canadian province in 1949. In 1973 Naval Air Station Argentia was closed and by 1975 the entire north side of the base was out of U.S. hands. In 1994 Naval Operating Base Argentia, one of the US Navy's most modern facilities, was officially decommissioned and the entire site was transferred to the Government of Canada, and in turn to private sector and the provincial government.