Coast Guard Base Alameda also referred to as Coast Guard Island is an artificial island in the Oakland Estuary between

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

and

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is home to several major

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

commands and cutters, including the

Coast Guard Pacific Area Coast Guard Pacific Area & Defense Forces West (PACAREA) is an Area Command of the United States Coast Guard, a regional command element and force provider tasked with maritime safety, security, and stewardship throughout the Pacific. The comma ...

. It is one of the largest Coast Guard bases on the West Coast. From 1942 until 1982, the island was the site of the Coast Guard's recruiting training center (boot camp), enlisting and training hundreds of thousands of Coast Guardsmen including many of the 214,239 who served in the Pacific and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

Theaters of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

is situated in the historic Brooklyn Basin, now known as Embarcadero Cove. It is within Alameda city limits, but is tied to land only via a bridge from Dennison Street in

Tenant commands

The island houses a number of

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...

commands and its facilities are managed by Base Alameda. Over 1200 personnel are assigned to the island. Area commands include: * Pacific Area and Defense Force West * Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center Pacific (MIFCPAC) * Sector San Francisco (Prevention Department; the remainder of Sector San Francisco is housed at nearby Yerba Buena Island) * Pacific Regional Fisheries Training Center (formerly known as Training Team West) * Maritime Safety and Security Team 91105 (MSST 91105) It is also the homeport for four Legend-class cutters: *

USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750) USCGC ''Bertholf'' (WMSL-750) is the first maritime security cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She is named for Commodore (United States), Commodore Ellsworth P. Bertholf, fourth Commandant of the Coast Guard, commandant of both the Revenu ...

* USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751) *

USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752) USCGC ''Stratton'' (WMSL-752) is the third of the United States Coast Guard. It is the first "white hull" cutter named after a woman since the 1980s ( was launched in 1984). ''Stratton'' is named for Coast Guard Captain Dorothy C. Stratton (1899� ...

* USCGC Munro (WMSL-755) Coast Guard Island also houses and supports a number of other Coast Guard commands with detachments or regional offices located on the island, including: *

Coast Guard Investigative Service The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) is a division of the United States Coast Guard that investigates crimes where the U.S. Coast Guard has an interest. It is composed of civilian ( GS-1811), active duty, reserve enlisted, and warrant offic ...

(CGIS) Pacific Region * Legal Service Command West * Personnel Service Center Detachment Alameda * Coast Guard Office of Civil Rights Detachment Region 3 *

Coast Guard Office of Civilian Human Resources The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

(CG-121), Human Resources Operations Division, Human Resources Center-West * Surface Force Logistics Center Detachment Alameda * Shore Infrastructure Logistics Center Detachment Alameda *

Coast Guard Office of Contingency and Deployable Logistics The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

, DOL-42 ( Pacific Area) and DOL-43 ( (Atlantic Area) * Atlantic Area International Port Security Detachment Alameda Coast Guard Engineering Support Unit (ESU) Alameda and Naval Engineering Support Unit (NESU) Alameda were also located on the island until those units were decommissioned in 2013. The functions and capabilities of the units remain as departments within Base Alameda. The facilities on Coast Guard Island also include an industrial service center, enlisted

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

, a medical and dental clinic, and public works facilities to service the island.

History and formation

Originally known as Government Island, this artificial island was formed in 1913 by the

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

project that extended the Oakland Estuary to San Leandro Bay. The Coast Guard first came to the island in 1926 when it established "Base 11" under an Executive Order signed in September 1931 that gave title to a tract for a permanent base. Improvements were started at that time and by 1933 included streets, utilities, spur tracks, a trestle bridge from Oakland, a transformer station, and rebuilding of the existing wharves. The cost was more than one and a half million dollars and provided facilities for Base 11 and the Coast Guard Store (warehouses).

Establishment

The shore establishment expanded in 1939 with the amalgamation of the Lighthouse Service. A training center was established in 1940 to meet the service's increased personnel needs. An area of was acquired from the City of Alameda in 1939 with an additional purchased by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1942. The entire island of was devoted to training center facilities. The first contract provided for five barracks, mess hall and galley, engineering and administration buildings, an infirmary, roadways, heating, plumbing, electrical and fire protection. The contract was awarded February 21, 1942 and completed June 30, 1942 at a cost of $1,680,082.94. Additional contracts for another half million dollars provided for additional barracks, clothing issue building, paving a drill field, band room, incinerator, anti-aircraft trainer building, and docks for small boats.

Recruit Training Center

The training center was first opened on June 1, 1942 with accommodations for 900 men. It was solely to train recruits. Specialty training was added later to include fireman,

signalman A signalman is a person who historically made signals using flags and light. In modern times, the role of signalmen has evolved and now usually uses electronic communication equipment. Signalmen usually work in rail transport networks, armed for ...

, laundryman, radioman, boatswain's mate, cooks and bakers, and

port security Port security is part of a broader definition concerning maritime security. It refers to the defense, law and treaty enforcement, and counterterrorism activities that fall within the port and maritime domain. It includes the protection of the sea ...

. After the war, Government Island remained a Coast Guard Training Center with addition of the Weather Bureau, Internal Auditors, and the Bureau of Roads. During the late 1960s the Training & Supply Center was the Coast Guard's largest field unit on the West Coast. The Training Center graduated 60-100 seaman apprentices and fireman apprentices each week. The Supply Center provided support to the western area districts including Squadron One and Squadron Three in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. The cutters '' Taney'', '' Gresham'', and '' Barataria'' were homeported on the island at the time. In 1982, the Training Center was closed and recruit training was moved to

United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May (TRACENCM) is the home of the Coast Guard enlisted corps and is the Coast Guard's only enlisted accession point and recruit training center, located on 1 Munro Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey. His ...

, New Jersey, where it remains today. Support Center Alameda was established June 1, 1982 and the island was renamed Coast Guard Island. The

, Coast Guard 11th District (then known as Coast Guard 12th District), and

Marine Safety Office San Francisco Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

moved from downtown San Francisco to the island. On June 24, 1987, Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific was established and located on the island until its decommissioning. The Support Center was redesignated as

Integrated Support Command Alameda Integrated Support Command Alameda (ISC Alameda) is a large operating base of the United States Coast Guard, located on Coast Guard Islandin Alameda, California Now known as Base Alameda ISC Alameda provides a wide variety of services in direct s ...

on March 15, 1996, and today is Base Alameda.

Notable Commanders

Era

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

A. J. Carpenter, Commanding Officer of Alameda and District 3. *

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

Era

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Henry P. Kniskern, Commanding Officer *

Michael L. Woolard, Commanding Officer 2011–2015. *

Jonathan P. Hickey, Commanding Officer 2015–2018.

References

External links

Coast Guard description
{{Authority control Geography of Alameda, California Islands of Alameda County, California Islands of Northern California United States Coast Guard bases Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area Islands of San Francisco Bay