USN NAS Bermuda, Kindley Field, 1970-1995

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US Naval Air Station Bermuda
Active	1970-1995
Role	Anti-submarine, Search and Rescue
Equipment	P-3 Orion, UH-1 Iroquois

S-3 Viking at USNAS Bermuda.

The United States Navy's, Naval Air Station Bermuda, was located at the US Air Force's former Kindley Air Force Base, from 1970 to 1995.

1 History
2 US Navy Commands formerly in Bermuda
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The US Navy moved its anti-submarine air-patrol operations to the USAF Base at Kindley Field when its Martin flying boats were removed from service in the 1960s. They were replaced by Neptune landplanes, which could not operate from the existing Naval Air Station, which had no runway. The US Navy took over the airfield entirely from the USAF in 1970. The base continued to operate anti-submarine patrols, first with Neptunes, then with P-3 Orions, until 1995. By that time, the range of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) had so increased that Soviet submarines no longer found it necessary to come within range of Bermuda-based bombers in order to strike their targets in the USA. Reflecting this, the US Naval air detachment at Bermuda had been steadily reduced from a full squadron to two aeroplanes. Shortly after a scathing investigative report on US television labelled the base as the 'Club Med of the Navy', all three US Naval bases in Bermuda were slated for closure by BRAC. Except for the NASA tracking station on Coopers Island (at the Eastern End of NAS Bermuda), all US facilities in Bermuda were closed in 1995.

The Bermudian government took over operation of the field in 1995, being obliged to spend a great deal of money making it conform to international civil standards. This involved changes to lighting systems, fencing, and razing any objects over a certain height, within a certain distance of the runway (which included both the former base commander's residence, and the hillock it stood on). The US Government still held the lease, which was for 99 years, however, until negotiations were completed regarding the clean up of toxic waste left behind. The cost of clean-up of all US Navy facilities in Bermuda was then estimated at $65.7 million, although that included $9.5 million for replacing the Longbird Bridge. Threats were made that, if the Bermuda government did not allow the US Government to wash its hands of responsibility, the US Navy would take the field over again and close it to all air traffic. The final compromise negotiated by the UK, Bermuda, and USA governments, which comprised an $11 million payment for the replacement of Longbird Bridge, has been denounced by many in Bermuda as a betrayal, but the field has now been transferred entirely to the Bermuda Government as the Bermuda International Airport.

Areas for clean-up identified in 1997 by a private contractor were:

Cleaning up petroleum and heavy-metal contamination
Eliminating friable and non-friable asbestos
Demolishing derelict and unsafe buildings
Replacing Longbird Bridge, which they described as unsafe and prone to malfunction

The estimated costs was $65.7 million: