On November 17, 1941, the U.S. Navy purchased the old Fort Caswell Military Reservation near Southport for use as a section base for the Inshore Patrol. Almost $1 million was appropriated to make it operational, build docking facilities and adapt the original buildings to the new use.
Operations began in early 1942. From the base's docks on the Cape Fear River, patrol boats, Coast Guard boats, armed yachts, fishing boats and minesweepers guarded the coast off Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals from German U-boats.
At the end of the war, the Navy Department retained the base for several years for the intention of using it for other things. It sold the property to the North Carolina Baptist State Convention in 1949.
GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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