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San Francisco Bay was first explored by
Westerners in 1542 and
mapped in 1775, when de Alaya first sailed through the Golden Gate into the bay. The
Spanish
established the Presidio
in 1776 but settlements in the area remained
small until after the Mexican War of 1846. The gold rush of 1849
swelled the
population, and the transcontinental railroad established San Francisco as the
most important city on the West Coast.
As one of the finest natural anchorages in
the world, San
Francisco Bay became home of numerous naval facilities. These
included
shipyards at Hunter's Point, Oakland,
and Mare
Island and a naval air station at Alameda. The battleship
California
was built here, the first large warship built on
the West Coast.
Coastal defenses were headquartered at Fort Winfield
Scott and manned by 6 Coast Artillery Regiment
and 65
Coast Artillery Brigade and elements
of
18
Coast Artillery Regiment, with main batteries at Fort Baker, Fort
Barry, Fort Cronkhite, Fort Funston, Fort Miley, Fort Winfield Scott,
and Milagra Ridge. Hamilton Field north of the Golden Gate provided air cover while III Corps was based at the Presidio (though most of its combat troops were quartered at Fort Ord some 90 miles or 145 km south of the Bay.)
References
Leighton and
Coakley (1955)
Pearce
and Smith (1990)
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