Meridon Naval Air Station Marin Bay

Meridon Naval Air Station Marin Bay
Marin Bay, Mahine Territory
MNAS Marin Bay as seen from above, July 2017.
Type	Naval base
Site information
Owner	Meridonian Navy
Controlled by	Fleet Region South
Condition	Operational
Site history
Built	1920
Garrison information
Current commander	CAPT Julia Versaile
Occupants	1 Carrier Air Group, 4 Carrier Air Group, 5 Carrier Air Group, 5 Patrol Group, 1 Naval Helicopter Group, 3 Naval Helicopter Group, 1 Mine Countermeasures Helicopter Group, 2 Fleet Transport Group, 1 Fleet Tactical Logistics Group
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: NMB, ICAO: RNMB, FAA LID: NMB, WMO: 818842
Elevation	5 feet (2 m) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 18/36 8,000 feet (2,438 m) Concrete 11/29 7,500 feet (2,286 m) Concrete
Other airfield facilities	20x helipads

Meridon Naval Air Station Marin Bay is a major installation of the Meridonian Navy located in the vicinity of Marin Bay, Mahine Territory. The Navy's largest airfield facility, it is home to over half of the Navy's carrier-based aircraft and is one of two master jet bases of the fleet, in addition to a number of additional commands including helicopter, airlift, and executive transport wings. It is headquarters to Fleet Region South, a major homeland command of the Navy. MNAS Marin Bay is also equipped with the facilities to support large warship formations, including that of the Sistine-class aircraft carrier, however it does not currently act as a home port to any major warships.

MNAS Marin Bay's commanding officer administers a number of surrounding facilities both adjacent to and outlying the base, including Naval Weapons Ground Ristpoint, a grouping of islands to the southwest of the island regularly used for naval weapons testing and exercises, Fleet Auxiliary Landing Field Mistere, and Fleet Logistics Facility Kiistone; among others. MNAS Marin Bay is host to over 60 additional tenant command units and employs thousands of civilians in the Marin Bay area.

History

Rear Admiral Armand Mauchaunt, an early proponent of Meridonian naval and military aviation and the owner of the property that would become MNAS Marin Bay.

The site where MNAS Marin Bay would originally be occupied by the villa and property of the Mauchaunt family, an aristocratic family primarily known for their business ventures involving the manufacturing and distribution of textiles and other industrial goods produced within the city. The house came to be owned by Armand Mauchaunt in 1901, who was at the time an admiral in command of military activities in the territory. This was at a time when many of the Mauchaunt's businesses were failing or being bought by competitors. Mauchaunt was avidly interested in new technological developments and encouraged the officers under his command to innovate to that end. Mauchaunt was particularly engrossed in the new developments in flying and aviation that were being trialed by inventors and military officers alike in the area. Mauchaunt's property offered a relatively large and flat area where test flights could be performed, and he regularly offered the use of his facilities to both naval test pilots and civilian aviators, spending much of his family's remaining funds on enhancing facilities on his property. When he died in 1913 without family to survive him, his will bequeathed the entirety of his estate to 'the development of the future of the Navy's aviation endeavors'.' In 1917, the Navy commissioned its first dedicated aviation station on the site of the property, originally named Armand Mauchaunt Field, but later changed to Meridon Naval Station Marin Bay.

Marin Bay was the site of much of the Navy's early aviation activities. From the field was coordinated many significant advances in both naval and military aviation, including the first landing and launch of an aircraft from a ship, the first aerial refueling operation, the first tests of integrating weaponry aboard aircraft, and the first instrument approach. In 1920, it became home to the first permanent naval flying organization, 1 Naval Flying Squadron. In the mid-1920s, it was redesignated as Meridon Naval Air Station Marin Bay, the first such facility to be designated such in the Navy. In the 1930s and 40s it was increasingly expanded and developed as a large-scale base, where it became host to the first aircraft carriers and their carrier aircraft. In the 1950s it became the first Meridonian military base to host jet aircraft squadrons. In 1951, it was redesignated as the headquarters of Fleet Region South following the closure of its previous base, and in 1959 it was established as one of two fleet Master Jet Bases alongside MNAS Tonara in Kalua. A major overhaul was completed in 1961 that completed significant infrastructure upgrades that would allow it to fully service any warship in active service with the fleet.

By the mid 1960s, Marin Bay was one of the Navy's largest facilities, servicing large numbers of aircraft squadrons and warship groups within its confines- from 1965 to 1979 it was home to nearly a fourth of the Navy's ships and three fifths of its airplanes. Due to the size of the facility it became a large part of the economy of Marin Bay. Its sailors contributed significantly to the local economy and the base's warehouses, hangars and docks offered thousands of civilian jobs. The base's significant expansion is regularly cited as one of the major factors of Marin Bay's explosive population growth in the latter half of the 20th century. The base regularly interacted with the local population in outreach programs. Fighter squadrons regularly performed in airshows both at the air station and at local airports- these fighter squadrons would go on to form the basis of the Navy's Silver Tridents aerial demonstration group. Starting in 1949, Marin Bay was one of five naval stations in Meridon to regularly conduct a yearly 'Fleet Week' festival, and continues to do so to this day.