Cavite (120.907E 14.483N) is a small city on a peninsula jutting into Manila Bay. The Spanish established a navy base here, which was taken over by the U.S. Navy after the Spanish-American War. In 1941, the base had extensive workshops and warehouses, including the largest Navy torpedo arsenal outside the U.S., and dry docks large enough for destroyers and submarines.
The base was almost completely demolished by a Japanese air raid on 12 December 1941, a task made simpler for the Japanese by the lack of any antiaircraft guns capable of reaching above 12,000 feet. The Japanese bombers were able to bomb from well about this altitude, in a leisurely and thorough manner, almost as if on exercise.
Cavite was retaken by the Americans on 13 February 1945, during the second Philippines campaign.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index
