THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411080363
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
After holding its ground for 50 years as a sentinel on the Chesapeake Bay, Coast Guard Station Little Creek has begun to show its age.
Construction began this month to replace the station - identical to dozens of others built along the East Coast - with a $3.8 million three-story structure scheduled to open in January 1996. The existing station building, complete with its cedar siding, brass hinges and thresholds, will be razed.
The tower once used by Coast Guardsmen to count ships as they passed through the distant Thimble Shoals Channel was removed earlier. It was supposed to be repaired, but now will not return.
``We couldn't see anything anyway,'' said Master Chief Petty Officer Lorie Pruitt, pointing to the huge ships and barges blocking the station's view of Little Creek Inlet.
The crew of a German U-boat was held in the station's basement for interrogation after being captured in the bay during World War II.
At least two presidents - Jimmy Carter and John F. Kennedy - passed through on fishing trips.
It averaged 800 rescue calls a year, down to 400 now that the Coast Guard can't tow craft to shore in nonemergency cases.
Sets of rails entering the elevated boathouse were used to launch 30-foot rescue craft then. Today, the same tracks and a 1930-vintage electric motor are used to launch 1995 models.
When the station was built in 1936 - it wasn't officially commissioned until 1938 - there was no Little Creek naval base to the east.
But with time came growth as the naval base was born. Dredges deepened the harbor to the east and the Navy located its amphibious fleet there. On the other side, hundreds of recreation boats and commercial vessels moved in.
Built to house 15 people, the station today has 23 assigned there, and they have very little room.
Besides, new fire code restrictions call for fire escapes for the second and third floors. The Coast Guardsmen had been content with keeping a knotted hemp rope, tied to a large eyelet in their bedrooms, for such an emergency.
One still hangs on a hook in a bedroom.
``We can't even use the third floor office space after dark because of the fire code,'' Pruitt said.
Little Creek is one of the oldest Coast Guard stations still in service.
``The Coast Guard built these with a master set of plans all along the East Coast,'' Pruitt said. ``You could go into any one of these buildings, close your eyes and walk to the exact place.''
Yet, as sentimental as the Coast Guard is about the sturdy stations, nothing beats a modern building that keeps out the cold and heat.
``It gets so cold in here in the winter,'' Pruitt said. ``The boiler is shot. We can't get parts for it. The windows are not airtight. The winds blow right in your face.''
The station's personnel plan to save the building's artifacts. The unique rail system for launching boats, plus its steel cradle, will be sent to the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia at Virginia Beach.
Pruitt plans to keep an eye on his oak desk, believed to be original equipment.
``It's not going anywhere,'' he said. ``I will be real stingy about what goes out of here and what doesn't.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Master Chief Petty Officer Lorie Pruitt shows an artist's rendition
of the new Coast Guard station that will be open in January 1996.
Construction began this month.
by CNB