Military

Blount Island Command (BICmd)

Blount Island Command (BICmd) is located in the middle of the St. Johns River, seven miles west of the sea buoy adjacent to the Naval Station (NS) Mayport, and twelve miles by way of the river northeast of downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville is located south of downtown Jacksonville and is twenty six miles from Blount Island. NAS Cecil Field is to the west of BICmd and Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia is 35 miles to the north.

After World War II, the shipping industry began to build larger merchant vessels, which found it difficult to navigate the St. Johns River. To correct the difficulties in navigating the natural flow of the river, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged an alternate straight line channel known as the James Point Cut. The spoil from the dredging operations was deposited on four marsh islands to form Blount Island. The property was turned over to the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) for development. JAXPORT could only develop the western portion of the island because of funding. In 1974, a joint venture between Westinghouse Electric and Tenneco Newport News Shipbuilding purchased the eastern half of the island to construct a facility that would build floating nuclear power plants. Due to the lack of economic demand, Tenneco Newport News Shipbuilding opted out of the venture in 1976. Westinghouse closed out all construction projects in 1979. In January 1986, Gate Petroleum purchased the property and the Marine Corps started MPF operations there in August 1986.