NSGA Winter Harbor ME Disestablished 20 Years Ago

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."On February 28, 1935, the U.S. Navy Radio and Direction Finding Station, Winter Harbor, ME was officially commissioned, with Chief Radioman M. C. Gunn in charge of a complement of 11 sailors.

Chief Gunn departed the station in August, 1935; and Chief Gunn (later LTJG Gunn) returned to the station as the OIC from July, 1943 to February 1944.

Radio interception gradually supplemented HFDF as a form of communications intelligence. Site selection for interception operations was similar to that for the HFDF stations. Naval Radio Station Bar Harbor, Maine was involved as a Naval Monitoring Station as early as 1921, and ceased receiving as a Monitoring Station for the Navy Department on July 2, 1923. Bar Harbor was involved in intercept activities as early as November, 1931. The station was subsequently relocated across Frenchman Bay at Winter Harbor in early 1935. While the primary concentration of its activities had been diplomatic traffic between Europe and Tokyo, Winter Harbor was well situated for other forms of radio interception.

The Naval Security Group moved into Winter Harbor in 1940, with the establishment of Communications Intelligence Unit “W”. In August 1940, the U.S. Navy had six sites with diplomatic targets, which were all linked directly or indirectly through U.S. Army communication circuits, to Washington DC via radio and landline communications.

Twelve netted sites (six Navy and six Army) were authorized to intercept Japanese diplomatic traffic."...