| Naval Facility Point Sur | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Location | Monterey County, California, United States | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nearest city | Carmel, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 36°18′15″N 121°53′18″W / 36.30417°N 121.88833°W | ||||||||||||||||||
| Area | 92 acres (37 ha) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Established | 1957 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Governing body | California State Park | ||||||||||||||||||
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Naval Facility Point Sur was one of 30 secret sites worldwide that were built during the Cold War to detect Soviet submarines. In 1958, the U.S. Navy built a Naval Facility ½ mile south of Point Sur on the Big Sur coast to provide submarine surveillance using the classified SOund SUrveillance System (SOSUS). The public was told the station was engaged in oceanographic research.
Long-range acoustic listening was first tested and partially developed at Point Sur light station with an associated SOFAR station. The facility was one of the stand-alone SOSUS stations around the world. NAVFAC Point Sur played a key role in identifying the location of the wrecked Soviet submarine Soviet submarine K-129, a portion of which was eventually raised in a significant intelligence coup. The NAVFAC was closed in 1984, when its operations were computerized and its data transmitted to another location.
All but one building was donated to California State Parks in 2000, which used some of the buildings for housing for a period of time. The facility is now open to the public for tours on weekends.