Argentia (/ɑːrˈdʒɛntʃə/ ar-JEN-chə)[1] is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which reaches northward out into Placentia Bay creating a natural harbour 3 km (1.9 mi) in length.

The community adopted its present name (unofficially in 1895 and officially in 1901) for the presence of silver ore near Broad Cove Point on the east side of the harbour.

The Newfoundland Railway chose Port aux Basques to be its western terminus in 1893 and a new ferry intended for service to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, was built in Scotland.

Argentia was selected in 1940 to be the location of the United States Navy's Naval Station Argentia being built under the United States-British Destroyers for Bases Agreement (which preceded the introduction of Lend-Lease in 1941) which saw fifty obsolete US destroyers given to Britain in exchange for control of selected lands controlled by Britain in the Western Hemisphere.

The base was urgently needed as part of the trans-Atlantic supply line which joined North America to Britain, in order to provide anti-submarine patrols to protect shipping from the German U-boat fleet.

Take notice, therefore, that the said premises must be completely vacated by you and peaceably yielded up to the Government of Newfoundland, its servants, agents, on or before the date mentioned.

Signed: WW Woods, Commissioner for Public Utilities" Most people relocated to the nearby villages of Freshwater or Placentia.

However, what little had been paid as compensation (usually no more than a few thousand dollars for homeowners in Argentia) proved inadequate for building equivalent new homes due to severe wartime shortages of labour and materials.

The reason for the rush was made clear on August 7, 1941, when the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) carrying U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived at an anchorage outside Argentia near Ship Harbour.

As facilities and structures closed, assets were transferred to the Government of Canada under the terms of the U.S.-Britain lend-lease program; Newfoundland having become a Canadian province in 1949.

In June 2002, Inco announced an agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on a three phase plan to develop the Voisey's Bay nickel deposit.

[3] In October, 2013, Husky Energy and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced an agreement to amend the White Rose Development.

However, in December 2014, Husky announced that, due to declining oil prices, the decision to construct the Concrete Gravity Base (CGS) had been deferred.