The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
|
| Previous: Marcus Island | Table of Contents | Next: Mariana Islands |
Naval
Historical Center #50325
Mare Island (122.255W
38.073N) was the U.S.
Navy’s largest
construction yard on the West
Coast, having been established in 1854 across the Napa River from the city of Vallejo. It
was here that the battleship
California was laid
down between the world
wars. By
the start of the Pacific War, the base had thee drydocks and two
shipbuilding ways, and by 1945 this had expanded to four drydocks and
eight ways. However, the base suffered from heavy silting, and it was
normally used only by ships of cruiser size or smaller. A number of auxiliaries and older submarines and destroyers were here when war
broke.
References
"Building the Navy's Bases in World War II" (1947; accessed 2012-1-2)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2008, 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index
