New York Port of Embarkation

The New York Port of Embarkation was established in 1917 as the United States entered into World War I. Using seized docking facilities of German passenger and freight steamship lines on the Hudson River, the U.S. Army began moving troops and material to France to fight in the war.

Originally under the command of the Army's Department of the East, the need for a separate, more flexible and responsive organization with direct oversight from the War Department in Washington, D.C. became quickly evident.

To support the mobilization of troops, military camps were established to hold and stage units in the New York metropolitan area. Camp Kilmer in New Jersey and Camp Mitchel at Mineola and Camp Upton at Yaphank on Long Island were a few camps established for that purpose. For the mobilization of material, 60 temporary warehouses with over 3 million square feet of space were constructed at Fort Jay on the south half of Governors Island.

The need for more permanent dockside Army passenger, warehousing and shipping facility was recognized and the Brooklyn Army Base, later renamed the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) was constructed from existing terminal and docking facilities in Owls Head, Brooklyn, not far from Fort Hamilton, beginning in 1918.

With the onset of World War II, 85 percent of men and material headed to the European theater passed through the BAT. Some of the military camps either established or used to stage units at this time were Camp Shanks in Orangeburg, New York and Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania.

By 1960, the transportation of soldiers via air and material by commercial shipping no longer required a specific Army organization. The BAT closed and the New York Port Of Embarkation was abolished.