Naval Station Pearl Harbor
Naval Station Pearl Harbor | |
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Part of Navy Region Hawaii | |
Oahu, Hawaii | |
Coordinates | 21°20′57″N 157°56′38″W / 21.349270°N 157.943970°W |
Type | Military base |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Navy |
Site history | |
In use | 1899–present |
Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base | |
Nearest city | Pearl City, Hawaiʻi |
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Area | 13,107 acres (5,304 ha) |
Built | 1911 |
NRHP reference No. | 66000940[1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 15 October 1966 |
Designated NHLD | 29 January 1964[2] |
Naval Station Pearl Harbor is a United States
Overview
Naval Station Pearl Harbor provides berthing and shore side support to surface ships and submarines, as well as maintenance and training. Pearl Harbor can accommodate the largest ships in the fleet, to include dry dock services, and is now home to over 160 commands. Housing, personnel, and family support are also provided and are an integral part of the shore side activities, which encompasses both permanent and transient personnel.
Because Pearl Harbor is the only intermediate maintenance facility for submarines in the Middle Pacific, it serves as host to a large number of visiting submariners.
The Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station, Pacific (NCTAMS PAC), Wahiawa, Hawaii is the world's largest communication station. The headquarters site of this shore command is located in the central section of the island of Oahu, approximately three miles north of Wahiawa.
History
1899–1941
Following the annexation of Hawaii, Pearl Harbor was refitted to allow for more navy ships. In May 1899, Commander John F. Merry was made naval representative with authority to transact business for the Navy Department and its Bureaus. He immediately assumed control of the Coal Depot and its equipment. To supplement his facilities, he was assigned the Navy tug Iroquois and two coal barges. Inquiries that commenced in June culminated in the establishment of the "Naval Station, Honolulu" on 17 November 1899. On 2 February 1900, this title was changed to "Naval Station, Hawaii".
The creation of the Naval Station allowed the Navy Department to explore territorial outposts. In October 1899, Nero and Iroquois made extensive surveys and sounding of the waterways to Midway and Guam. One of the reasons for these explorations was to select a possible cable route to Luzon.
A coal famine and an outbreak of the bubonic plague were the only two incidents that hindered the Commandant from fulfilling his duties. Because of the severe coal shortage in September 1899, the Commandant sold coal to the Oahu Railway and Land Company and the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, Ltd. Although this indicated the affinity of economic ties with the Navy, it was to a certain extent counteracted by the quarantine of the naval establishment from December 1899 to February 1900, because of the bubonic plague. Approximately 61 deaths were recorded in Honolulu for this period. Work was consequently delayed on nascent Navy projects in Honolulu Harbor.
From 1900 to 1908, the Navy devoted its time to improving the facilities of the 85 acres (34 ha) that constituted the naval reservation in Honolulu. Under the Appropriation Act of 3 March 1901, this tract of land was improved with the erection of additional sheds and housing. Improvements included a machine shop, smithery and foundry, Commandant's house and stables, cottage for the watchman, fencing, 10-ton wharf crane, and water-pipe system. Pearl Harbor was dredged and the channel enlarged to accommodate larger ships. On 28 May 1903, the first battleship,
Under the above Appropriation Act, Congress approved the acquisition of lands for the development of a naval station at Pearl Harbor and the improvement of the channel to the Lochs. The Commandant, under the direction of the Bureau of Equipment, attempted to obtain options on lands surrounding Pearl Harbor that were recommended for naval use. This endeavor was unsuccessful when the owners of the property refused to accept what was deemed to be a fair price. Condemnation proceedings, under the Hawaiian law of eminent domain, were begun on 6 July 1901. The land acquired by this suit included the present Navy Yard, Kauhua Island, and a strip on the southeast coast of Ford Island. The work of dredging the coral reef that blocked Pearl Harbor progressed rapidly enough to allow the gunboat Petrel to proceed to the upper part of Main Loch in January 1905.
One of the early concerns of the growing station was that the Army would make claims on its property. Because of their facilities, as wharves, cranes,
Despite the warnings of the Bureau of Equipment, the
In 1908, the
As the
Sunday 7 December 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on Sunday 7 December 1941 brought the United States into World War II.[6][7][8][9][10]
Aircraft and midget submarines of the
The Japanese struck American ships and military installations at 07:51. The first wave attacked airfields of Ford Island. At 08:30, a second wave of 170 Japanese aircraft, mostly torpedo bombers, attacked the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The battleship Arizona was hit with an armor-piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, sinking it within seconds, killing 1,177 crew members.
The overall death toll was 2,467 people: 2,403 American citizens—2,335 members of the U.S. military and 68 civilians—and 64 members of the Imperial Japanese Navy.[13] Five U.S. battleships were sunk and the other remaining three were badly damaged. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. Three of the 21 would be irreparable. 188 U.S. aircraft were completely destroyed and 159 others were damaged. Japan lost 29 out of the 353 aircraft they attacked with. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the largest attack committed by foreign nationals on American soil in peacetime and in general prior to the September 11 attacks.
The first shots fired were from the destroyer Ward on a midget submarine that surfaced outside of Pearl Harbor; Ward sank the midget sub at approximately 06:55, about an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor.[14][15]
West Loch Explosion, 1944
Just after 3 p.m. on Sunday 21 May 1944 an explosion in a staging area for
A subsequent Naval Board of Inquiry never determined the exact cause of the disaster. But it concluded the initial explosion was caused when a mortar round aboard LST-353 detonated during an unloading operation because it was either dropped or went off when gasoline vapours ignited. The incident – together with the Port Chicago disaster two months later – led to major changes in weapon handling practices within the United States Navy.[16][17]
Post-World War II years
Over the years, Pearl Harbor remained a main base for the US Pacific Fleet after
On 29 January 1964, the Navy base itself was recognized as a
From 1932 to 1983, the most recognizable structure on the submarine base was the 100-foot-tall
Bloch Arena located on the base is still in use today and hosted the collegiate Pearl Harbor Basketball Invitational and was home to the
On 4 December 2019, while the nuclear submarine USS Columbia was in dry dock at Pearl Harbor, 22 year-old Machinist Mate Auxiliary Fireman Gabriel Romero shot and killed two naval station civilian employees and injured another before shooting and killing himself. Romero was one of Columbia's crew and been assigned to the armed Topside Roving Patrol aboard the vessel; both weapons involved in the shooting were issued from the Columbia. Later investigation by the Navy determined that Romero was "likely unfit" for service on a submarine and that officers aboard the Columbia had failed to recognize signs of Romero's degrading mental state.[20][21][22]
Environmental contamination
On 14 October 1992, the US EPA added the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex as a superfund to the so-called National Priorities List.[23]
Vessels
Surface ships presently homeported
As of November 2023
Ticonderoga-class cruisers (2)
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (9)
- USS Hopper (DDG-70)
- USS Decatur (DDG-73)
- USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108)
- USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110)
- USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112)
- USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118)
- USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120)
- USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121)
Submarines presently homeported
As of November 2023
Los Angeles-class submarines (11)
- USS Topeka (SSN-754)
- USS Columbus (SSN-762)
- USS Charlotte (SSN-766)
- USS Tucson (SSN-770)
- USS Columbia (SSN-771)
- USS Greeneville (SSN-772)
- USS Hawaii (SSN-776)
- USS North Carolina (SSN-777)
- USS Missouri (SSN-780)
- USS Mississippi (SSN-782)
- USS Minnesota (SSN-783)
- USS Illinois (SSN-786)
- USS Vermont (SSN-792)
As part of the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the Navy announced in early 2006 that it would shift 60% of its attack submarines to the Pacific by 2010.
USS Missouri
USS Missouri (BB-63) ("Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo") is a United States Navy Iowa-class battleship, and was the fourth ship of the U.S. Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship built by the United States, and was the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II.
Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the
Missouri received a total of 11
See also
- United States Navy submarine bases
- World War II United States Merchant Navy
- Naval Base Hawaii
- Naval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 23 January 2007.
- ^ a b "United States Naval Base, Pearl Harbor". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
- ^ Naval Base Hawaiipacificwrecks.com
- ^ "Shipyard Highlights – Hawaii". honolulumagazine.com. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- OCLC 1663720.
- ^ FDR Pearl Harbor Speech. 8 December 1941. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy.
- ^ Apple, Russell A.; Benjamin Levy (8 February 1974). "Pearl Harbor" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory. National Park Service. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ "Pearl Harbor" (pdf). Photographs. National Park Service. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ^ Island of Oahu, Attack on Pearl Harborhmdb.org
- ^ Base PlansUS NAvy
- ISBN 0-07-050669-8
- ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ "Pearl Harbor Facts". Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
- ^ Town, Maalaea (12 November 2021). "The Impact of World War II on Hawaii and the Aftermath". maalaea.com.
- ^ Building BAses, Pearl Harbor and the Outlying Islands US Navy
- ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
- ^ "Killer Subs in Pearl Harbour". Transcript, Nova. PBS. 5 January 2010. Archived from the original on 10 January 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
- ^ "Airport Diagram – Daniel K Inouye Intl (HNL) (PHNL)" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ "Hawaii to play in Pearl Harbor basketball invitational". WUSA. 28 June 2016.
- ^ "Case Study: Gabriel Romero" (PDF). Center for Development of Security Excellence, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ LaGrone, Sam (29 September 2020). "Investigation Finds USS Columbia Shooter Was Likely Unfit to Serve on Submarines". USNI News. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ Twenty-six bases are in the process of being re-aligned into twelve joint bases, with each joint base's installation support being led by the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force. See Joint Base Background (part 4 of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam webpage)[permanent dead link] (on Hickam AFB's official website). Retrieved 2010-06-18. To access other parts of the webpage, go to the bottom of the right-hand scroll bar and click on the down arrow (or the "page-down" double arrow). To go to earlier parts of the webpage, click on the up arrow (or the "page-up" double arrow). See Hickam Air Force Base#Internet webpage, for a partial list of the webpage parts that discuss joint basing and BRAC.
- ^ "EPA/ROD/R2006090001499 2006 EPA Superfund Record of Decision: PEARL HARBOR NAVAL COMPLEX" (PDF). EPA. 28 June 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
- ^ NAVSEA. "SHIPS DETAIL SSN 786". NAVAL VESSEL REGISTER. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
External links
- Official website
- . . 1914.