The United States Logistics Group (TUSLOG), was a cover designation prescribed by the U.S. European Command (EUCOM). In accordance with the demands of the Turkish Government, all U.S. military units and civilian components in Turkey were given designations as TUSLOG detachments. HQ TUSLOG was headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. TUSLOG Units were located in Spain, Libya, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. By 1994, all TUSLOG Units had been deactivated.
Field Station Sinop, nicknamed “Diogenes Station,” began operating in the mid-1950s. In the early 1960’s, Sinop was home to a 290-person U.S. Army Field Station and a NAVDET. Field Station Sinop (TUSLOG Det 4) was located 2 miles west of the town of Sinop, a fishing port and farming community with a population of just over 18,000 persons. The station was located on a 300 acre facility on a 700 foot hill, at the end of a peninsula.
TUSLOG Det 4 at Sinop, Turkey was a U.S. Army facility and listening post on the Black Sea Coast, during the Cold War. The base was locally known as the NATO “Logistics” base. Sinop is situated in a strategic location, just opposite Sevastopol, in the Crimea. Sinop was notorious for its geodesic domes and parabolic satellite dishes. In the 1960s, music blared constantly out of the main operations building, to trump Soviet intelligence, who surely were listening. Local Turks still refer to the blaring music, in Turkish, as the “radar.”
On May 12, 1961, a U.S. Navy Detachment of TUSLOG 28, NSGA Karamursel, Turkey; was established at the U.S Army Field Station (TUSLOG Det 4) in Sinop. The Detachment consisted of one officer and twelve enlisted personnel and was designated Navy Detachment (NAVDET) TUSLOG Detachment 4. NAVDET TUSLOG Det 4 was manned on a temporary basis until 1966, when the first PCS personnel arrived. NAVDET TUSLOGDet 4 was realigned in December, 1966, renamed and established as TUSLOG Det 28-1.
In July 1975, operations were suspended at all TUSLOG units in Turkey, at the request of the Turkish government. During this period, the U.S. and Turkey were not on diplomatic or political speaking terms. At issue was military bases and foreign aid. Operations resumed on January 16, 1979, after a diplomatic solution was mediated, and the dispute was settled between the U.S. and Turkish governments.
By January 16, 1979, Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA) Karamursel/TUSLOG Det 28, having also been on suspended operation, moved from Karamursel to Sinop. The U.S. NSGA Karamursel, Turkey was disestablished. When TUSLOG Det 28 reopened in early 1979 after the end of the Turkish Embargo, LCDR David Neiman was the Commanding Officer of the Navy Detachment. TUSLOG Det 28 was re-established at Sinop, but without the NSGA designation. Prior to the move, TUSLOG Det 28 had been located at Karamursel since January 1, 1957. TUSLOG Det 28-1 was absorbed back into the parent unit. The first Officer-in-Charge of TUSLOG Det 28 at Sinop was CWO4 R. W. Dickie. Operations were conducted in a temporary facility at Hippodrome. The Hippodrome facility was manned by both temporary and permanent personnel from Naples, Italy and Rota, Spain. The combined complement was 97 sailors. On April 1, 1980, operations were expanded to include both the Hippodrome and Main Operations.
TUSLOG Det 28 remained at Sinop until September 30, 1982 when the U.S. Navy assume control of the Field Station and renamed the U.S. Navy Field Station, Sinop, Turkey. LCDR W. Gravell, the OIC of TUSLOG Det 28 at the time, became the first Commanding Officer of the Navy Field Station. The complement was three officers and 81 enlisted men and women.
On July 15, 1992, operations were terminated at Hippodrome and on July 31, 1992, operations were terminated at Main Operations. The withdrawal of equipment and sailors commenced in August, 1992. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the U.S. Navy Field Station at Sinop closed down in 1992, and the U.S. Navy TUSLOG Det 28 ceased operations and was decommissioned on September 18, 1992. The last Commanding Officer of the Navy Field Station at Sinop was LCDR M. D. Loomis.
Source: Michael R. “MO” Morris, CTOCS, USN, Retired
18 September 2020 at 17:21
I was TAD to Sinop for 3 months starting the 1st of April in 1966. Permanent personnel were not assigned until after I left the first of July and there were some others from Karamursel Det 28 who were there after me. We Navy sailors all ate at a Turkish Restaurant in Sinop when not on a string of watches. The Roman ruins of the old city area were very nice to see.
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18 September 2020 at 20:04
I was assigned to Det 28 in 64 and part of 65. I was being moved to SINOP in late 65 but was redirected to the VALDEZ and joined that crew Christmas 65 in Cape Town.
Ron Gant
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25 November 2020 at 12:49
I was on the USNS Robinson out of Capetown. Saw your vessel a couple of times, all white wasn’t it?…
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18 September 2020 at 23:28
The Sinop compound appears to have been no more than about 1 mile EAST of Sinop, not two miles West.
42.029754, 35.169928
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21 September 2020 at 19:12
While at Karamursel in the laten1950s several of us traveled to Trabzon, Samsun, and Sinop for a site/survey/ feasibility study. Later in my career I returned to Sinop for a one year tour. I am probably one ov very few who can claim to having sat a position at Karamursel, Trabzon, Samsun, and Sinop.
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21 September 2020 at 19:14
‘Ananomus above wascfrom
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18 November 2020 at 21:03
Sinop was my first command, and a deeply-memorable experience on many levels.
We were very conscious of our location and role during the Cold war, and had opportunities to both hone and apply professional skills that made a difference. Female CTI’s in particular sought out and qualified for roles that were not then broadly available to them in the Navy. Sinop’s mission and capabilities gave them, and indeed all of the crew, professional opportunities that were unique in the world at that time.
The exchange rate was such that every American sailor was quite wealthy by local standards, and a number of the CT’s traveled extensively throughout the country, learning and collecting souvenirs. We only had two officers, though, at least until I was relieved by LCDR Clyde Lopez in the spring of ’83.
Throughout my year in command, we tried to dream up recreational and morale-building activities, including a Navy Day Ball during which we hosted RADM P. W. Dillingham, COMNAVSECGRU, and persuaded the 6th fleet band to fly in and play for us. That went so well we organized a “spring prom” – another excuse to dress up and have fun; the band returned.
To my amazement, after the base closed the town of Sinop repurposed itself as a “tourist destination” (at least by local standards). Right next to the Buyuk Hotel (now a ruin, if not already demolished – I attended its dedication in 1982), they built a pier capable of berthing large cruise ships (a fact which will astonish pre-1990’s Sinop veterans). Thereafter, for a number of years Regent Cruise Lines scheduled an annual cruise around the Black Sea, which stopped at Sinop every other year. I took that cruise in 2014 and spent a day in the town of Sinop, including a taxi ride up to The Hill. We couldn’t enter the old base – the Turks were then using it actively – but we skirted the fence and went out the back road, past Hippy to the old Turkish site on the point…Never thought I’d see Bird S*** Rock again…I used to run out there, from the base and back, EVERY day…(never again).
The core of the Navy is the Fleet, but the heart and soul of the old SECGRU was the diverse scattering of overseas bases, especially the small ones, which served as crucibles for the emergence of many great careers and rewarding, memorable lives. I had other leadership opportunities later, but never anything like Sinop. It was my great honor and privilege to serve with such dedicated young sailors, in the performance of such important work.
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19 November 2020 at 01:25
Captain Gravell, thank you for your comment. Please let me know if you ever want to contribute to Station HYPO. Sincerely, Mario
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29 December 2020 at 23:55
I was stationed at Sinop, Turkey from February 1959 for a year, till I went to Korea with the Army Security Agency as a Cryptographer. fortunately I was 18 years old, so the out house latrines, chopping wood to keep warm in our Jamesway huts wasn’t all that bad. I learned much in my military MOS which helped me tremendously in Korea. I still think about Sinop and the men I worked with, and the dogs they had as pets. No women were there at the time. town was off limits during public executions, and don’t look at the women down town. their men would go crazy and want to do strange things to you via sharp knives. I could probably write a short book about what we did, but it would probably mostly be classified. Had to have a top-secret/crypto clearance to perform my military duties. The things were did at the time were amazing. 1959 was a very, very interesting year monitoring our friends across the sea.
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31 December 2020 at 16:22
I was a CT aboard the USS PETERSON (DD969) during our MED 94-95, when we did a port visit to Samsun Turkey. Some DIRSUP members and I met up with one of the locals who had worked at Sinop. It was wintertime, so the town air was mostly coal smoke, so heavy, it was like smoking packs of unfiltered Camels. With the changing times, one wonders if technology has permanently replaced such stations like Sinop. (We know that old adversaries change names but seem to be adversarial again.)
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