Nike Sites of Massachusetts and Rhode Island: Chronology

Aug 44	Project Nike initiated by the Army to develop a guided missile for air defense, 17 Aug 44. The month before the Germans fired the first missile used in modern warfare, the V-1, at London.
Jun 45	Bell Laboratories and Western Electric contracted to develop the Nike missile.
Oct 47	Flight of TU-4 Bull Bombers observed in flight over USSR- first indication of Soviet strategic bomber capability to range the USA, 23 October.
Early 1950	First Nike test firings.
July 50	Activation of the Army Antiaircraft Command (ARAACOM) in Washington, D.C. ARAACOM plans to deploy 66 AAA Missile battalions by late 1955.
Nov 50	ARAACOM moves to Mitchel Field, Long Island, to be near USAF’s Continental Air Command (CONAC).
Feb 51	Western Electric Company contracted to provide 1000 Nike Ajax missiles, 60 sets of ground equipment and 20 sets of assembly area and ordnance test equipment.
Apr 51	ARAACOM assumes control of Army antiaircraft units providing air defense of the Continental U.S. concurrently HQS moves to Colorado Springs to be near USAF’s new Air Defense Command (ADC).
Feb 52	ARAACOM issues plan for 66 AA battalions including 30 Nike and 36 gun battalions, 15 Feb 52. Major commands instructed to begin reconnaissance for tactical sites for Nikes
April 52	ARAACOM adopts a plan to utilize highly ready ARNG AA gun battalions in continental defense as the Special Security Force (SSF), 30 Apr 52.
Feb 52	ARAACOM issues plan to convert 28 (later 30) gun battalions to missile. This includes 2 battalions in the Boston area, the 704 (later after Korean demobilization 605th[Mar 53]), May 54 and 685 (later the 514th after Korean demobilization [Dec 52]) Mar 54, 15 Feb 52.
Jun 53	Initial proposals for Boston Nike sites; 514th Bn needs 2 sites, 605th BN needs 6 sites.
Aug 53	ARAACOM moves to Ent AFB, Colorado, collocating with USAF ADC.
Dec 53	First AC NIKE-AJAX unit occupies its site, beginning the transition of Army air defense from guns to missiles.
Jan 54	Construction contracts awarded for initial Boston area Nike sites.
Feb 54	514th BN site construction begins (projected finish Sep 54).
Mar 54	On-site ARNG air defense program commences with a 120mm gun battery in New York defenses. Boston programmed to get two Nike battalions (later changed to 3) from the conversion of two gun battalions.
May 54	First active Army Nike Ajax unit operational at Fort Meade, 30 May 54.
Jun 54	605th Bn contracts awarded; construction to begin Jul 54, projected completion Mar 55.
Sep 54	New joint unified command Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) established. HQS is dominated by USAF personnel. 1 Sep 54. ARNG on-site air defense program commences with ARNG gun batteries replacing AC units at 10 sites, marking first time ARNG units had Federal mission while on state duty 30 Sep 54. ARAACOM plans for 100 AA battalions (including 61 Nike battalions) by end of FY 56 and submits a budget for the construction of sites for these battalions.
Oct 54	Between 25 Jun and 1 Sep 54, 13 Nike-Ajax units have been activated.
Dec 54	17 Nike battalions are operational by the end of 1954.
Jul 55	ARAACOM HQS expanded to 67 officers, 10 warrants, 93 EMs and 52 civilians. CG made a three-star (Lt. General), 1 Jul 55.
Oct 55	50 ARNG units on-site as of end of FY 55 (30 Sep 55).
Dec 55	38 Nike battalions are operational by the end of 1955.
Apr 56	605th AAA BN redesignated as AAA Missile BN 19 Apr 56.
Jun 56	Boston has 1 90mm gun battalion and two Nike-Ajax battalions active; Providence has 2 Nike-Ajax battalions active.
Sep 56	23 ARNG SSF gun battalions on site as of 21 Sep 56.
Nov 56	AThree batteries incomplete: Bristol (Launcher), Coventry (Launcher), Beverly (IFC and Launcher)
Mar 57	ARAACOM redesignated US Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM).
Oct 57	Army terminates ARNG AA gun mission, 8 Oct 57.
Dec 57	Gun batteries around Boston (such as Lynn) are inactivated, 20 Dec 57.
Feb 58	704th and 772d AAA BNs, MA ARNG redesignated as missile BNs; 704th HHB listed as in Boston, 772 in Chelsea. 772 Btries listed A Charlestown, B Charlestown, C Chelsea, D Reading.
May 58	Sites begin conversion to Hercules: B-36 (Fort Duvall), B-73 (Lincoln), PR-38 (Bristol), PR-99 (North Smithfield).
Jun 58	First active Army Nike Hercules battery operational (in Chicago), 30 Jun 58.
Sep 58	720th AAA Missile BN, California ARNG, becomes operational as the ARNG’s first Nike-Ajax battalion, 14 Sep 58. It took 18 months to train up the unit (Apr 57- Sep 58).
Oct 58	1st Msl Bn, 57th Arty activated in Boston 1 Sep 58.
Dec 58	22 Dec 58- 243d AAA Msl BN (Nike) RI ARNG reorganized from gun Bn; 1957-58 marks high water mark of ARNG ADA program with 12 AAA BDE HHBs, 43 AA GP HHBs, 63 AAA detachments, 27 divisional AAA BNs and 119 AAA BNs, including 58 90mm Gun BNs, 14 175mm Gun BNs, 1 120mm Gun Bn, 11 AW (Mobile) Bns and 28 NIKE MISSILE BNs in 11 states; 298th AAA GP in Hawaii becomes first NIKE-HERCULES equipped ARNG unit with 6 batteries.
Apr 59	MA ARNG units redesignated: 704 at 1st Msl Bn(Nike-Ajax), 241st Arty(HHB Boston, A Milton, B Needham, C Weymouth, D Hingham), 772 as 2d Msl Bn (Nike-Hercules), 241st Arty(HHB, C Chelsea, A, B Charlestown, D Reading); RI ARNG (243 Missile BN) units reorganized into 1st Gun and 2d Msl Bn(Nike-Ajax), 243 Arty(HHB, A Providence, B West Warwick, C Bristol, D Woonsocket) effective 1 May 59.
May 59	104th Artillery Brigade (AD), Mass ARNG, activated at Fort Banks.
Jun 59	3d Missile BN, 5th Artillery, officially redesignated as Nike-Hercules.
Aug 59	Beverly, Blue Hills, Reading and Needham Ajax sites operational under ARNG units, 18 Aug 59.
Dec 59	Sites PR-38 (Bristol) and PR-99 (North Smithfield) operational with Hercules.
Jul 60	Site B-5 (Danvers) begins conversion to Hercules.
Nov 60	ARADCOM plans on establishing 38 ARNG Hercules batteries (later changed to 48) using converted Ajax sites, rather than obtaining new sites specifically for Hercules, 15 Nov 60.
Dec 60	North Kingston and Foster Ajax sites operational under ARNG units, 6 Dec 60.
Jan 61	Site B-5 (Danvers) operational with Hercules.
Mar 61	ARNG Nike- Ajax program is completed as last ARNG Ajax unit reaches operational status.
Apr 61	Plans initiated to begin On-Site ARNG Hercules program. Of 68 active Army Ajax sites to close, DA decides to retain a number of the closed sites for projected sites for the proposed Nike Zeus system (successor to Hercules), 18 Apr 61.
Jun 61	Nike BNs in Boston-Providence report directly to 56th Artillery Brigade (AD) as intermediate group headquarters have been inactivated. 4-56 BN has 2 Ajax and 1 Hercules batteries; 3-5 BN has 2 Ajax, 1 Hercules batteries and one converting to Hercules.
Aug 61	ARNG manning 76 NIKE-AJAX and 6 NIKE-HERCULES sites in 15 states.
Nov 61	Active Army Hercules deployment completed. All active Army Ajax sites no longer operational, though some still under Army control.
Apr 62	Reorg of MA ARNG: Btry C 2-241 Arty in Beverly redesignated C 1-241; Btry C 1-241 So. Weymouth, redesignated C 2-241; D 2-241 Arty redesignated D 1-241 in Reading; D 1-241 in Hingham redesignated D 2-241.
Jun 62	All active Army Nike BNs in Boston-Providence have been designated as Hercules- only 3-5 Bn is still converting to Hercules.
Dec 62	First ARNG Nike-Hercules battery is operational (in Washington-Baltimore), 11 Dec 62.
Feb 63	MA ARNG loses 2d BN, 241st Arty: HHB, 1-241 Nike-Ajax in Needham; A Btry in Quincy, B Btry Needham, C Btry in Beverley, D Btry in Reading; 2-241 reorganized as follows: A, B Btries become 721 Ord Co, Charlestown, C (Weymouth), D (Hingham) becomes 1059 and 1058 Transportation Companies, HHB Hingham becomes 164th Transportation Battalion.
Mar 63	6 Mar 63 RI ARNG reorganized; 2-243 Arty with 3 Nike-Ajax batteries and 1 Nike Hercules Batteries reorganized as follows: HHB becomes 743 Ord BN, A (Ajax) in Providence becomes C 1-103 arty 105mm , C Ajax in Bristol becomes C 2-103 Arty, D Ajax Foster inactivated, B Nike-Hercules retained in N. Smithfield. Mass ARNG 104th Artillery Brigade inactivated- ARNG Nike units report directly to active Army 56th Brigade.
Jun 63	2-243 Bn, RI ARNG converting to Hercules (B Battery).
Aug 63	North Smithfield site operational as an ARNG Hercules site, 23 Aug 63.
Dec 63	24th Arty GP activated 20 Dec 63 in Pedericktown, NJ.
Jan 64	10 Jan 64 MA ARNG reorganized: 1-241 Arty reorganized with only 2 NIKE-HERCULES batteries; HHB in Natick, A Btry (from former C, D) in Lincoln, B Btry (former A, B) in Hull.
May 64	Last ARNG NIKE-AJAX site phased out in VA ARNG 18 May 64.
Aug 64	Lincoln and Hull sites operational as ARNG Hercules sites, 14 Aug 64.
Apr 65	Final ARNG NIKE-HERCULES site becomes operational in Cincinnati-Dayton, OH, 14 Apr 65.
Dec 65	MA ARNG 1-241st Arty reorganized with only 2 firing btries; HHB at Natick; 3d Missile BN, 5th Arty, redesignated 3d Bn, 5th Arty.
Sep 71	3d Bn, 5th Arty redesignated 3d Bn, 5th ADA 1 Sep 71.
Apr72	1-241st Arty redesignated 1st Bn (Herc), 241st ADA 1 Apr 72.
Feb 74	DOD announces the reduction of Continental US NIKE HERCULES batteries from 21 RA and 27 ARNG batteries to 4 RA (all in FL) starting Apr 74 and completed by Jun 75.
1989	Former Nike Housing Areas, still operational, are slated for closure by the first BRAC Report. Most are closed between 1990 and 1992.