USS Recruit (TDE-1) explained

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USS Recruit (TDE-1, later TFFG-1) was a landlocked "dummy" training ship of the United States Navy, located at the Naval Training Center in the Point Loma area of San Diego, California. She was built to scale, two-thirds the size of a destroyer escort, and was commissioned on July 27, 1949.[1] Recruit was commissioned for 18 years, for much of that period the only landlocked ship to hold that status in the U.S. Navy. After the closure of the Naval Training Center, she sat empty for the better part of 20 years, finally being opened to the public as a museum ship in 2023.

Background

In 1919, Naval Training Station San Diego was established through the efforts of U.S. Representative William Kettner to have the navy relocate recruit training from Goat Island to San Diego.[2] Her predecessor, a wooden "battleship" built in Union Square in New York City in 1917, was dismantled in 1920. Another land-based training ship existed prior to the Recruit, the .[3] During World War II, there was a minesweeper named, which was in commissioned in 1943, decommissioned in 1946, and was ultimately transferred to the Mexican Navy.[4]

Naval Training Center San Diego

Designed to be a two-thirds scale replica of a destroyer escort, her construction began in 1949.[5] That same year, the Recruit was commissioned by Rear Admiral Wilder D. Baker.[6] [7] "Sailing" on a sea of concrete at the Naval Training Center, she assisted with the training of over 50,000 new recruits per year, providing an education in the fundamentals of shipboard drills and procedures, using standard deck and bridge gear like that found on all naval vessels, including lifelines, accommodation ladders, signal halyards, searchlights, the engine order telegraph and the helm.[8] Below decks, the ship had six classrooms where recruits were trained, and adjacent to the ship were barracks where those recruits would be housed when not standing watches aboard the Recruit. Also below decks was a gas chamber where recruits were exposed to a diluted form of tear gas to know first hand of its effects. Due to her landlocked status, Recruit lacked an engine or screw, and therefore was affectionately nicknamed the "USS Neversail."[9] In 1954, she was modified from her original configuration. Reflecting her dual identity as both a ship and a building, she was also known as Building 430, located on Geary Drive between Evans and Chauncey roads.[10]

Recruit was decommissioned in March 1967, due to the inability to classify the unique ship in a computerized registry of Navy vessels.[11] She was later reconditioned in 1982, and refurbished to look like an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate; this reconditioning extended the ship's length to 233 feet.[12] That same year she was recommissioned. Commissioned or otherwise, she served continuously as a training facility from her construction in 1949 until the base was closed by the BRAC commission in 1997.[13] Redevelopment of the base began in the early 2000s and continues to this day, with the remodeling of a historic building into a new Performing Arts Center scheduled to open in 2024.[14] [15]

Liberty Station

When the base closed the Recruit remained, with the hope that she would someday become a maritime museum.[16] Maintenance became the responsibility for a private company placed in charge of repurposing the former training center.[17] In July 2001, Naval Training Center was listed in the National Register of Historic Places;[18] the Recruit is included in the Naval Training Center's listing.[19] In 2004, she was listed as a California Historical Landmark.[20] In 2014, partnering with the USS Midway Museum, the Recruit was refurbished.[21] The San Diego chapter of E Clampus Vitus also assisted with the renovation. She remains where she was built; is adjacent to a retail area of Liberty Station, as the redeveloped base is known; and can be seen from North Harbor Drive.[22] A conference building and several hotels are also located nearby.[23]

She appears to be the one of two surviving examples of the Navy's landlocked ships, or "landships". At Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois, there is the USS Trayer (BST-21), used for the battle stations phase of recruit training.[24] The, located at the United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge in Maryland, was dismantled when the base closed in the 1970s.[25] The, located at Naval Training Center Orlando in Florida, was also dismantled when this base closed March 31, 1995.[26]

Museum ship

The longtime hope to make the Recruit into a museum ship finally began to bear fruit in 2018, as plans took shape to commemorate the base's hundredth anniversary in 2023. The ship was acquired by the Seligman Group, which has redeveloped and owns many historical properties such as the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. The ship's history was studied, and she was refurbished inside and out. She was opened to the public in June 2023. Interior exhibits feature historical photos and recorded commentary from past service members.[27]

In media

The USS Recruit is featured in the opening credits of the 1976 television sitcom CPO Sharkey which takes place in San Diego.[28]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: quarterdeck.org . April 29, 2010 . February 8, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110208004212/http://quarterdeck.org/book/recruit.htm . dead .
  2. McClain . Molly . 2008 . "Liberty Station" and the Naval Training Center in San Diego . The Journal of San Diego History . 54 . 2 . 73–84 . 21 November 2021.
  3. Book: Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation . 24 February 2014 . Naval Station Norfolk . Arcadia Publishing . 30 . 978-1-4396-4480-5 . 900733615 .
    News: . 25 June 2017 . Photos: The birth of a naval base: The Navy in Norfolk 1917-1919 . The Virginian-Pilot . Hampton Roads, Virginia . 2 December 2021.
    . Letters . All Hands . United States Navy . January 1975 . 2 December 2021.
  4. Web site: The USS Recruit . Patton . James . 8 May 2019 . Kansas WW1 . University of Kansas . 9 December 2021 .
    Web site: Forgotten History - The Battleship Built in Union Square . Stone . Sarah . 28 March 2016 . Today I Found Out . 9 December 2021 .
  5. Book: Jennifer A. Garey . 2008 . San Diego's Naval Training Center . Arcadia Publishing . 45 . 978-0-7385-5958-2 . 236352186 .
  6. Book: Jennifer A. Garey . 2008 . San Diego's Naval Training Center . Arcadia Publishing . 46 . 978-0-7385-5958-2 . 236352186 .
  7. . Changes in Recruit Training . Naval Training Bulletin . The Bureau of Naval Personnel . January 1951 . 2 December 2021.
  8. News: Former Navy training vessel 'Neversail' in San Diego is again shipshape. Los Angeles Times. 11 November 2015. Tony. Perry. 21 November 2021.
  9. Book: Jennifer A. Garey . 2008 . San Diego's Naval Training Center . Arcadia Publishing . back cover . 978-0-7385-5958-2 . 236352186 .
  10. http://www.sandiego.gov/ntc/overview/gallery/ussrec.shtml City of San Diego photo gallery
  11. Marc . Whetstone . Tom . Jansing . Jim . Stovall . 25th Anniversary USS Recruit . 53 . All Hands . 695 . United States Navy . December 1974 . 18 November 2021.
  12. Danese . Grandfield . USS Recruit . Campus . XI . 7 . Pensacola, Florida . Chief of Naval Education and Training . July 1982 . 2 December 2021 .
  13. David . Sears . The USS Recruit, The Navy's World War I 'Lanship' . VFW Magazine . Veterans of Foreign Wars . April 2017 . 18 November 2021 . 104 . 7.
  14. Web site: Naval Training Center, San Diego. www.militarymuseum.org. 21 June 2023.
  15. News: Jacobs Performing Arts Center Set to Debut in Liberty Station in 2024. Sklar. Debbie L.. November 16, 2022. Times of San Diego. 22 June 2023.
  16. Web site: City of San Diego . April 30, 2010 . May 6, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100506154506/http://www.sandiego.gov/ntc/overview/gallery/ussrec.shtml . dead .
  17. News: Bell . Diane . 6 October 2014 . Shabby USS Recruit gets baselift . Hartford Courant . Connecticut . 20 November 2021.
  18. Beall . Edson . 2001 . National Register of Historic Places 2001 Weekly Lists . National Park List . 94 . 20 November 2021 .
    2018. 160. Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 110. true. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180ACR110.
    Web site: California - List View . . National Park Service . 20 November 2021 . National Register of Historic Places - listed 2001 .
    Web site: Naval Training Center San Diego, California Redevelopment Profile . . October 2020 . Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation . United States Department of Defense . 20 November 2021 .
  19. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natregsearchresult.do?fullresult=true&recordid=83 National Register of Historic Places listing
  20. Web site: USS Recruit . . Office of Historic Preservation . California State Parks . 20 November 2021 .
    News: . 30 July 2005 . Navy's Neversail Ship to Be Preserved Evermore . Los Angeles Times . 20 November 2021.
  21. News: London . Christina . 11 November 2014 . USS Recruit Gets Into Shipshape . KNSD . San Diego . 2 December 2021.
  22. Web site: Location 15: USS Recruit . . 2021 . Liberty Station . Liberty Station Community Association . 20 November 2021 .
  23. Web site: The History of Liberty Station . . 2020 . Liberty Station Conference Center . 20 November 2021 .
    Web site: Logistics & Information . . 2021 . Tear 3m 2021 . National Defense Industrial Association . 20 November 2021 .
    Book: Joe Sanok . 5 October 2021 . Thursday is the New Friday: How to Work Fewer Hours, Make More Money, and Spend Time Doing What You Want . HarperCollins Leadership . 45 . 978-1-4002-2604-7 . 1262726421 .
    Book: . July 1998 . Environmental Impact Statement Disposal and Reuse of Certain Real Properties Naval Training Center San Diego . Northwestern University . Southwest Division Naval Facilities Engineering Command San Diego, California . United States Navy . 2–16 .
  24. Web site: Back to Basics . . 22 January 2020 . Naval Historical Foundation. . 22 January 2022 .
    News: Thornbloom . Scott A. . 28 June 2007 . Destroyer simulator Trayer commissioned at RTC . The Flagship . Norfolk . Public Affairs Office of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic . 22 January 2022.
    Wise . Jeff . 1 October 2009 . Surviving on the USS Trayer, the Navy's Disaster Simulator . Popular Mechanics . New York, New York . Heart Digital Media . 22 January 2022.
  25. Book: Christopher Knauss . 2007 . Maritime Cecil County . Arcadia Publishing . 40 . 978-0-7385-4446-5 . 1065964655 .
  26. News: The USS Bluejacket Sinks Far From The Sea. Hodges. Sam. November 19, 1991. Orlando Sentinel. 15 May 2013.
  27. News: Liberty Station’s land ship opens to the public with historical exhibit. Faurot. Tyler. June 18, 2023. San Diego Union-Tribune. June 20, 2023.
  28. Book: Department of Defense Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1978. 1977. Department of the Navy. 2 December 2021.

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