US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May

Images of America: New Jersey

by Joseph E. Salvatore MD, Joan Berkey

Commissioned as Navy Section Base 9 in 1917, the US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May stands on the site of a former amusement park that bordered the Atlantic Ocean a few miles east of Cape May in southern New Jersey. Dirigibles, submarines, and minesweepers were based here during World War I. Because of its proximity to the ocean and Delaware Bay, the base was used by Coast Guard patrol boats and cutters to chase rumrunners during Prohibition in the 1920s. An airfield was established adjacent to the base in 1926, and in 1940, both combined to become Naval Air Station Cape May. The station protected the coast line from German U-boats during World War II. The Coast Guard took over the facility in 1946, and in 1948, the base became the only recruit training center in the country, today graduating more than 4,000 recruits per year.

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2012

Reviews

[Sidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often forget about the Images of America series when giving books, and remembered how fun they are to read when my dad gave me this one. The book is a quick, visual read of the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, and it was interesting to learn of the use of dirigibles after WWI and the use of the Coast Guard during the Prohibition.