Dates

• Existence: 1942 - 1946

Administrative History

The Farragut Naval Training Station (1942-1946) was a U.S naval training base in Idaho.

Farragut Naval Training Station is a former U.S Navy training center on Lake Pend Oreille in Bayview, Idaho. It was built in 1942 response to the surge of enlistees who rushed to sign up after the Pearl Harbor bombings in 1941. The site was chosen after Eleanor Roosevelt flew over the area on the way to Seattle and, as President Roosevelt was searching for a location to build a new training center, she suggested it to him. The station was named after Civil War hero Admiral David Farragut. It held six camps that housed and trained five thousand sailors each, each camp including barracks, a recreation hall, medical dispensaries, a rifle range, a mess hall, and a drill and parade ground. It was in use until 1946, and is believed to have trained 293,000 men from 24 different states. During those four years it was the largest city in Idaho and the second-largest U.S. naval trainig station. It was also used for a time as a prisoner of war camp. Today it is the site of a museum and memorial plaza honoring the station and it's naval recruits.

Citation:

NUCMC data from Idaho Oral History Center, Idaho State Historical Society for E. Anderson interview, 1989 (Farragut Naval Training Station; Idaho)

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps bases, Domestic, c1985 (Farragut, Idaho, Naval Training Station; naval training station located on peninsula at the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille; formally commissioned in Sept. 1942; by 1946 plans were under way to transfer facility to the Farragut College and Technical Institute)

Wikipedia, October 21 2015: (Eleanor Roosevelt suggestion, largest city in Idaho; second largest training center; also used as prisoner of war camp)

Bayview Historical Society, October 21, 2015: (named after Admiral David Farragut, Civil War hero; increase in enlistees after bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941; camps included barracks, medical dispensaries, rifle range, recreation hall, drill and parade ground; used as museum today, site of memorial plaza)

Idaho Military Museum, October 21, 2015: (trained men from 24 different states, trained 293,000 men)

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