Naval Base Abemama was a naval base built by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1943 to support the

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 ...

effort. The base was located on

Abemama Abemama (Apamama) is an atoll, one of the Gilberts group in Kiribati, and is located southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator. Abemama has an area of and a population of 3,299 . The islets surround a deep lagoon. The eastern part of ...

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

, also called Hopper Atoll, in the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

in the Central Pacific Ocean. The base was built as one of many

advance bases US Naval Advance Bases were built globally by the United States Navy during World War II to support and project U.S. naval operations world-wide. A few were built on allied soil, but most were captured enemy facilities or completely new. Advanc ...

in the

island-hopping Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to ca ...

campaign towards the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

. At Naval Base Abemama the Navy built a seaport and airbase. Construction started after the Battle of Abemama ended November 24, 1943, part of Operation Galvanic.

History

After the taking of Abemama US Navy

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...

s The 95th Seabee Naval Construction Battalion landed on Abemama on November 28. The island was taken with minor fighting by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

that landed on November 24, 1943. The Seabee built a long by wide coral runway for

fighter planes Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domination o ...

. The Apemama Airfield was named,

O’Hare Field Abemama Airport is the airport serving Abemama, Kiribati. It is located on the north of the atoll, 200 meters northeast of the village of Tabiang. The airport is served by Air Kiribati from the international airport at South Tarawa. History ...

. The coral-paved runway was completed on December 10, with the first plane landing on December 13. The runway was extended to to support

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s by December 21. Later, it was extended to and widened to to support heavy bombers, like the

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

. A sand runway was built for smaller planes. The Seabee built a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

dock and a coconut log pier so ships could unload supplies and was used for minor repair of

Landing Ship, Tank Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore with ...

s and small boats and ships. A 12,000-barrel aviation-gasoline tank farm was built. Seabee built with

quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I ...

s: storage depot, a small hospital, a power station, refrigeration storage, offices,

mess hall The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

, Seabee camp and workshops. Tents city built for personnel stationed at the port and airfield. Abemama atoll is long and wide with a protected

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

. The lagoon offered good fleet anchorage. Local native labor was employed in the initial phase of construction. A workforce of 426 was hired to unload at the beach and supply coconut logs for the pier. There were four bombing raids on the runway during the construction, one

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

was lost and there was minor damage to the airfield. A low-tide coral quarry was operated for the runway, roads and other uses. The Abemama location provided bombing missions to adjacent Japanese bases in the Gilberts and

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

. By 1944 the war has moved west to more forward bases. As such most operations at Apamama had moved off the island. Seabee Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit, CBMU 557 maintain the base, for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, until its closure in the fall of 1944. The Bases were built on two other Gilbert Islands:

Naval Base Tarawa Naval Base Tarawa was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1943 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. The base was built as one of many advance ...

and Makin Island.

Airfield

, now

Abemama Airport Abemama Airport is the airport serving Abemama, Kiribati. It is located on the north of the atoll, 200 meters northeast of the village of Tabiang. The airport is served by Air Kiribati from the international airport at South Tarawa. History ...

United States Army Air Forces units based at Apemama: *30th BG-Bomber Group, January 4 to March 20, 1944 *30th BG, 27th BS (

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

) February 26 to March 14, 1944 *30th BG, 392nd BS (B-24) January 10 to March 17, 1944 *

45th Fighter Squadron The 45th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve unit. It is assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command's (AFRC) 924th Fighter Group and stationed at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The squadron currently flies the Fa ...

-FS (

P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

s) January 4 to April 5, 1944 (operated from the Makin *January 15–24 March 1944) *47th BS (

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

) December 22, 1943 to April 20, 1944 * 48th Bombardment Squadron - BS (B-25) December 22, 1943 to April 23, 1944 *7th AF, 9th Troop Carrier Squadron-TCS (

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

) March 27, 1944 to August 4, 1944 *41st BG, 48th BS (B-25) departed July 23, 1944 for Saipan *41st BG, 47th BS (B-25) departed July 23, 1944 for Saipan

Post war

Vought F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

and a B-24 Liberator from the base, are abandoned and still at the airfield, now Abemama Airport.Abemama Airport
'pacificwrecks.com''

References

{{USWWII Gilbert Islands Naval Stations of the United States Navy Closed installations of the United States Navy 1943 establishments in Oceania 1944 disestablishments in Oceania Military installations established in 1943 Military installations closed in 1944

History

Airfield

Post war

See also

References