Naval Air Station Tongue Point

rdf:langString Naval Air Station Tongue Point

rdf:langString Naval Air Station Tongue Point is a former United States Navy air station which was located within the former U.S. Naval Station Tongue Point, Astoria, Oregon. In 1919, the United States Congress approved the construction of a submarine and destroyer base on Tongue Point, a peninsula jutting into the Columbia River east of Astoria, Oregon. Construction was not started until 1921 and was completed in 1924. However, with the military downsizing following World War I, the base was never used. Prior to World War II, Tongue Point was designated as the site of a Naval Air Station (NAS). Ground breaking took place in 1939 but there were numerous delays until construction was finally completed in 1943. Hangars, an ordnance depot and fuel depot were constructed. PBY Catalina seaplanes then arrived and began coastal patrols. Tongue Point was also the location of the U.S. Naval Ship Yard Tongue Point for pre-commissioning and commissioning escort aircraft carriers built in shipyards in the Portland-Vancouver area. A naval communications intercept station was operational there during World War II. After World War II the air station was deactivated and the base was expanded to include a naval mothball site for the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NRDF), Pacific Reserve Fleet, Astoria (Columbia River Group) which was operated by the predecessors of the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) In 1962, the Navy transferred the base to the General Services Administration (GSA). One of the first Job Corps centers in the nation was opened at the site in 1965. Clatsop Community College operates the Marine and Environmental Research and Training Station (MERTS) at Tongue Point.