Pearl Harbor Blast Zone: Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay

History Compiled by Ewa Historian John Bond

Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay – Where The SSBN’s Are

Everything shown here is from public government sources and not classified.

In fact everyone there knows about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Submarine_Base_Kings_Bay

Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is a Navy base located adjacent to the city of St. Marys in Camden County, Georgia, on the North River in southeastern Georgia, and 38 miles from Jacksonville, Florida. The submarine base is the U.S. Atlantic Fleet's home port for U.S. Navy Fleet ballistic missile nuclear submarines capable of being armed with Trident missile nuclear weapons. The base covers about 16,000 acres of land, of which 4,000 acres are protected wetlands.

Above are missile loading hangars and in the background is the maintenance facility for the SSBN’s

A former Army base—Kings Bay was a former Army cargo terminal. The decision to base the Trident submarines at Kings Bay started the largest peacetime construction program ever undertaken by the Navy, taking nine years to complete at a cost of about $1.3 billion. The building project included the construction of three major commands: Trident Training Facility (TTF), Trident Refit Facility (TRF), and Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic (SWFLANT).

The double fenced area at bottom left is the “special weapons” storage area for the SSBN’s missiles

Post Cold-War Era

The end of the Cold War and the reorganization of Naval and Air Force strategic weapons forces during the 1990s had a significant effect on the submarine base at Kings Bay. A high-level nuclear weapons policy review recommended that the Navy reduce its number of Trident Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines from 18 to 14 by 2005.

The decision was made to temporarily decommission the four oldest Ohio-class Trident missile submarines for extensive shipyard work, in order to convert them into guided-missile submarines (SSGNs) carrying large numbers (about 150) of conventionally armed Tomahawk cruise missiles. These converted submarines also have accommodations for significant numbers of Navy SEALs or Marines

For covert operations.

Several Trident submarines were transferred from the Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific Fleet. USS Pennsylvania departed on 4 August 2003 and USS Kentucky departed on 24 August 2003, bound for the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington as part of balancing the Trident fleet. In addition, both USS Louisiana and USS Maine were transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 2005.

Marine Corps Security Force Battalion, Kings Bay conducts security operations in support of Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic (SWFLANT.) The battalion is commanded by a senior Marine Corps officer and provides security operations as approved by the Chief of Naval Operations. As of June 27, 2008, MCSFCO was restructured from a company to a battalion. A similar sister battalion is stationed with the West Coast submarine base in Bangor, Washington.

Navy awards contract for Kings Bay dry dock work

March 26, 2020

https://www.fbnewsleader.com/regional/navy-awards-contract-kings-bay-dry-dock-work

The Navy awarded its first contract this week for what could be close to $1 billion dollars in improvements to accommodate Columbia class submarines at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.

Kings Bay is currently homeport to both guided-missile and ballistic-missile Ohio class submarines and will be the homeport for half of the Navy’s new class of strategic deterrent submarines. Kings Bay won’t receive its first Columbia class submarine for several years but major repairs are needed and facilities need to be built so sailors and civilians can work on both types of submarines during the transition. Estimated to cost roughly $841 million, projects include updating and constructing training and maintenance buildings, increasing pier space and doing major repairs on the covered dry dock.

The Navy’s Facilities Engineering Command Southeast (NAVFAC) has set up an office at Kings Bay to manage the project.

15 Facts About Kings Bay You Probably Didn’t Know

https://nuclearcompanion.com/15-facts-about-naval-submarine-base-kings-bay-you-probably-didnt-know/

Has the Deepest Covered Dry Dock in the Whole Western Hemisphere. The Trident covered dry dock stands as the deepest in the western hemisphere thanks to its 67 ft. of depth.

Regarding the dock’s dimensions, its 700 ft. long and 100 ft. wide. To fill its enormous base, with a capacity of 33 million gallons of water, the contractor had to build a concrete plant on site. This immense body of water can be pumped out for repairing a submarine, leaving it standing on blocks.

Trident submarines are big, measuring 580 feet and weighing 18,000 tons, twice as much as a World War II heavy cruiser. So the low depth of the water forced the US Navy to consider a special channel for them to reach the base. Submarines needed a depth of at least 50 ft.

Sub missiles are assembled locally with around 55,000 components from 1,800 suppliers from all the US. Kings Bay has the capacity to assembly its very own missiles for its Trident submarines. In charge of this task is the “Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic” (SWFLANT).

Located at the center of the base, the facility’s complex covers 800 acres. Clearly, this particular location is not arbitrary at all. This disposition responds to reducing damage in case of an explosion in the facility. That’s why 70 ft. earthen mounds flank it.

For piecing together the missiles, the facility gets the pieces directly from the manufactures. A lot of manufacturers. In fact, more than 1,800 suppliers have their pieces sent to the base. Rail cars and guarded convoys deliver all parts to the facility. There, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Co. is in charge of the assembly.

It has a whole Marine Company securing the base. Throughout its 16,000 acres, the base maintains rigorous security measures. Both land and sea are under constant surveillance. To cover this perimeter, the US Navy uses interlocking chain fences as well as patrol dogs. Watchtowers surround it while its own Marine Corps guard of 300 soldiers sentinel the area. Also, each of these buildings has double rows of chain-link fence.

The Strategic Weapons Facility, for its part, forms an even stricter perimeter. Inside its perimeter are the assembly buildings, as well as seventy magazines for the storage of warheads, rocket fuel, and motors.

Unlike Bangor, both humidity and temperature are significant concerns in southeast Georgia for HVAC systems.

Strict controls are also kept when translating the missiles to the submarines. Reinforced roadbeds move the missiles in canisters from the buildings to the submarines. In this slow process, the missiles go first to a covered wharf. There, the canisters are lifted vertically over the empty tubes where the missiles lower into their place.

Kings Bay’s submarines have to make a very long trip to get into deep water. As far as a hundred miles offshore, to be precise. That is until leaving the continental shelf itself. Before departing submarines have only around 60 ft of depth to navigate. Therefore, they are unable to fully dive and disappear into the water without making a large journey offshore first.

A whole different deal in comparison with the Pacific Navy base of Bangor, Washington. In the west coast of the US, that same continental shelf vanishes shortly after the coast. As a result, submarines can quickly dive into the ocean after leaving Puget Sound.

Submarine Missiles Are Not Armed While in the Base. Only after passing Cumberland Island Sound the crew connects the missiles to their ignition system. This system consists of a converter from DC to AC which delivers an electric charge of 2,800 volts. This electric charge ignites the Westinghouse steam generator which propels the under-pressurized-steam missiles. These electrical devices are the key part of launching. As such, they are kept apart when near the base to avoid any accidental launching.