Old Portsmouth Naval Prison

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (NH), US

Former site of Fort Sullivan.

Now closed, this US naval prison, known as "The Rock," on Seavey Island in Kittery was the most feared for 66 years. It contained about 86,000 military inmates.

Old Portsmouth Naval Prison

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (NH), US

Former site of Fort Sullivan.

Now closed, this US naval prison, known as "The Rock," on Seavey Island in Kittery was the most feared for 66 years. It contained about 86,000 military inmates.

Prisons, Military - Historic - Forts and Batteries
Links: www.tripsavvy.com
By: kjfitz

Nearby:

Three Vessels

Spare submarine "noses"

Ship and Submarine

Conning tower from the USS Grayling (SSN-646)

Submarine sheds at Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Bridge and conning tower from the submarine USS Squalus / USS Sailfish (SS-192)

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (Seavey Island)

Neil Garvey's house (former)

Los Angeles class submarine

Los Angeles class submarine in drydock

Three Submarines

Comments

Anonymous

@ 2009-10-09 06:39:55

as a young Marine brig guard stationed at Treasure island Calif in 1960 I escorted a draft of Navy prisoners to the prison at Portsmouth,belive me,one look at that place was a chilling experience

chart

@ 2011-02-05 09:05:47

I was a guard there as a Marine in 1969. Manned a tower outside above the excersise yard. Very interesting duty but couldn't wait to get a new duty station. I would love to go back and look it over after all these years but don't know if it's at all possible to do that.

Anonymous

@ 2011-06-15 17:01:40

I was a Marine at the prison in 1970,correction superviser . I would love to back and see it , it was one of the most strange dutys I had in my 20 years in the Corps . Gunny B

Anonymous

@ 2013-03-26 18:46:30

For a closed place, there sure are a lot of cars there.
I recently read a novel which used this as one the settings for a mystery.
Until then, I'd never heard of it.

Anonymous

@ 2013-04-29 00:30:22

My dad did 2 years there . He got his life together in the 80's and i was born in the early 90's . Now i work for the system LOL . How ironic .

Anonymous

@ 2016-01-21 19:20:16

I recall seeing the prisoners being marched in front of our home,on their way to Garrish Island during the WWII..My dad was the head of the bureau of Yards and Docks for the Navy, and had designed the prison. Now who could I be?

Anonymous

@ 2016-09-10 14:53:00

In 1955 while in the Marines a friend got caught stealing mail packages costing $15. He was sentenced to Portsmouth for 35 years and a DD. He was made an example of what not to do. He was 19 years old. My God

Anonymous

@ 2021-07-14 00:11:59

spent 1 year as inmate interesting experience

Anonymous

@ 2023-01-21 20:59:00

i was there for a short stay of 5 months 8 days ,i got in a bar fight while stationed at camp lejune nc put in a small town jail for 7 days and was UA (awol) police didn;t notify the marine corps that i was there,went for office hours and was given 6 months confinement.i had already ask for vietnam and my request was honored after my release,i'll tell you that time there was not a bad experience my job was in the carpenter and all i did was replaced busted windows.