While no one is betting that it will ever replace Narragansett or Newport as anyone’s favorite Rhode Island vacationland, the 3,000-acre bayside peninsula called Quonset Point significantly upped the ante this summer by sprucing up and introducing a trio of beaches which had been under-the-radar places known mostly to locals.

“Under the radar” has a double meaning at Quonset, a part of North Kingstown that served as a naval air station until 1974 and as a naval operations center until 1994. Since then, the Quonset Development Corporation has been busy turning the low, scrub-covered Point into an industrial and business park.

The submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat is there, along with more than 150 other businesses ranging from distributors of liquor and dog food to pool-filter makers, mussel-harvesters, electroplaters and bridge-building warehouses.

As an arm of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the QDC ( www.quonsetpointri.com) has a mandate to include a significant percentage of public access to the bay shoreline along with its development of Quonset.

To that end, three little-known beaches — Compass Rose, Blue and Spink’s — were spruced up earlier this spring with paved parking lots, benches, picnic tables, bike racks, new signage and landscaping. (A fourth beach, at Calf Pasture Point, is expected to become accessible via a bike path in the near future.) The three redecorated Quonset beaches are attractive additions to Rhode Island’s beach roster. In fact, they are far more attractive than you might think, given the fact that they are backed by a busy industrial park, airport and railroad line.

At about 800 feet long, Compass Rose Beach is the largest of the three and the easiest to get to. It is located near the end of Roger Williams Way (Route 403) between the Electric Boat piers and the parking lot for the fast ferry to Martha’s Vineyard ( www.vineyardfastferry.com). It’s not just for swimming, either: early on a recent evening, dozens of people were fishing from the sea wall and the beach.

The smaller Blue Beach (about 700 feet long) lies about a half-mile west of Compass Rose on a part of the bay shore that runs into the Shore Acres neighborhood. To get to Blue, you walk along a newly established gravel path a quarter-mile or so from its parking area, which has signs from Roger Williams Way. Both beaches face south, offering wide views of the new Jamestown Bridge, the island of Jamestown and the Narragansett shore.

The beach sand is fine with shells mixed in, and the bay water is calm and clear, safe for swimming and fishing, although not for shellfishing. There are no facilities or lifeguards, pets must be leashed, alcohol is prohibited, and the beaches are closed from dusk to dawn.

A third Quonset beach, Spink’s, is located at the end of Davisville Road near the two marinas at Allen’s Harbor. It faces east with a view of Prudence Island and Bristol’s Mount Hope Bridge, and it’s a good place to watch boats entering and exiting the narrow passage connecting the bay to the harbor.

Other attractions at Quonset Point include the public 18-hole North Kingstown Golf Course ( www.nkgc.com) and the Quonset Air Museum ( www.theqam.org), a showcase for more than two dozen vintage and military airplanes, with exhibits paying homage to Quonset’s history as a naval air station. Each June, the Rhode Island National Guard hosts its popular Air Show ( www.riairshow.org) at Quonset. With all of those attractions, plus the bike path, once it officially opens, Quonset Point is “under the radar” no more.