This was what is now known as Naval Station Mayport just two years after it was commissioned in 1942 and set up as a submarine maintenance and refueling facility as well as a home port for minesweepers during WW II. It was not until 1952 that the first carrier called the base home.
There was no caption with this particular photo but it was part of a group of small prints from photographs taken while Loyd Sandgren worked as a Navy Photographer stationed at Mayport. A note with an adjacent print reads “Photos were taken from the weather tower. Showing weekly inspection.” The back of the print is stamped U.S. Naval Frontier Base, Mayport, Florida. There is no date on this print but a date on another print with the same stamp is from 1944.
Loyd told me that when he was stationed at the base there was only a sand road to get there. It is hard to imagine such a spartan facility spawning what the base has become.
Tags: historic photograph, inspection, Mayport, Naval Station Mayport, navy, ships, U.S. Naval Frontier Base, vintage photography
