Naval Base Samoa, codename ''Operation Straw'', was a number of

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 ...

bases at

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

in the central

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The bases were used during

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 ...

to support the island hopping

Pacific war The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

efforts of the

allied nations The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. ...

fighting 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 ...

History

The bases were in the Samoan Islands, the Samoan islands are divided in half at the

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

. The east half are the American Samoa islands and to the west are the

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); a ...

part of British Samoa during the war. In 1942 the US Navy used American Samoa as a staging base for upcoming missions in the south pacific. Lieutenant General of the United States Marine Corps, Charles F. B. Price, arrived on 28 April 1942 and set up this Pacific war command at the city of

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...

. In the early part of the Pacific war on 11 January 1942, Pago Pago was shelled by a

Japanese submarine I-20 ''I-20'' was one of five Type C cruiser submarines of the C1 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. During World War II, she operated as the mother ship for a midget submarine during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the attack of Diego-S ...

. Before the war, the Navy used Pago Pago harbor as a fueling station and a communication center. The center was part of the 1940 national defense program. In 1940 the center had a 300-foot wharf, a radio station, barracked, headquarters, shops, and motor pool, a power plant, water plant. On 1 July 1940 a Pacific Naval Air Bases contract was signed to improve the base at Samoa. The contract was for new fuel-oil, diesel, and gasoline tank farms. Also expansion of the station, an airbase, a dispensary, net depot, a new radio station, gun emplacements, bomb shelters, and

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

depot. When Charles F. B. Price arrived he took over overseeing the construction started by civilian labor. US Navy Seabee 7th Construction Battalion arrived in July 1942 and worked was shifted from contractors to Seabees. The Seabee 11th Battalion arrived late in August 1942 and took over the work. The Seabee 5th Construction Detachment arrived in April 1943 to help complete all the projects. The Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 506 arrived in May 1943 and the 11th Battalion departed for Naval Base New Caledonia. As the Pacific war moved east towards Japan, much of Naval Base Samoa was created and moved to US Naval Bases to the east in 1944. By 1945, Samoa remained a refueling station, emergency seaplane base, weather station, and communications center. Most of the bases were closed after the war. The station at

Tutuila Tutuila is the main island of American Samoa (and its largest), and is part of the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific. It is located roughly northeast of Brisbane, Au ...

was the last base closed in 1951.

Major bases

United States Naval Station Tutuila United States Naval Station Tutuila was a naval station in Pago Pago Harbor on the island of Tutuila, part of American Samoa, built in 1899 and in operation until 1951. During the United States Navy rule of American Samoa, from 1900 to 1951, it was ...

, Fleet Post Office (FPO) #129 at Pago Pago Harbor, depot, repair (1921–1951) ** Tafuna Airfield, used by the USN and USMC in the war, now Pago Pago International Airport, opened 6 April 1942 **300-bed Naval Mobile Hospital 3 **Destroyer repair base **Leone Airfield, emergency bomber 6,000-foot runway built in 1943 at *

Naval Base Upolu Naval Base Upolu was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1942 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on Upolu Island, Samoa in the Western Pacific Ocean, part of the Samoan Islands's Naval Base Samoa. After the A ...

Upolu Island Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximatel ...

, advanced Base (1942–1944) FPO#129 **Upolu Seaplane Base ** Faleolo Airbase * Palmyra Island Naval Air Station, advanced Base (1939–1947) * Naval Base Funafuti , Funafuti, Ellice Islands - Advanced base - Air Base, anchorage and small hospital

Minor bases

*Naval Base at Uea on

Wallis Island Wallis (Wallisian: ''Uvea'') is a Polynesian atoll/island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-nort ...

, a French Protectorate, the most west of the Samoa Islands. FPO# 207, US Navy set up a

Landing Craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

repair Base on the island's Mata Utu Harbor, also a fuel tank farm. *Naval Base at Savaii Island, main Samoa Island. FPO# 209, Marines arrived 30 May 1942 and set up a temp tent camp, codenamed Strawmanand later renamed Trap and then Lapover. * Blunts Point Battery built in 1940

Stations

*Base at

Ofu-Olosega Ofu and Olosega are parts of a volcanic doublet in the Manuʻa Islands, which is a part of American Samoa in the Samoan Islands. These twin islands, formed from shield volcanoes, have a combined length of 6 km and a combined area of . Together, ...

, Radio Station, FPO# 67 *Base at

Swains Island Swains Island (; Tokelauan: ''Olohega'' ; Samoan: ''Olosega'' ) is a remote coral atoll in the Tokelau Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The island is the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute between Tokelau and the United States, whi ...

, Radio Station, FPO# 68 *Base at Tau Islands, Radio Station, FPO# 60 *Base at

Vaitogi Vaitogi is a village in American Samoa. It has many missionaries and tourists who are attracted by shopping for local products. Vaitogi might be most famous of its legends about the Turtle and Shark (Laumei ma Malie). It is said that once, at a ti ...

radio direction finder Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...

Station, FPO# 70 *On Atafu Island, in the

Tokelau Islands Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, ...

, to the north of Samoa, the

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 ...

built and operated a

LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...

station from 1944 to 1946. *On

Gardner Island Gardner Island is a largely ice-free island which lies about 3 km west of Broad Peninsula in the southern Vestfold Hills, in Prydz Bay on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. It has been designated an Imp ...

, in the Phoenix Islands, to the north of Samoa, the United States Coast Guard built and operated a

station from 1944 to 1946.Tokelau Islands
'northamericanforts.com''

Supported airfields

Naval Base Samoa and Naval Base Fiji supported three airfields to the north: *Naval Base to support

Nanumea Airfield Nanumea Airfield is a former World War II airfield on the island of Nanumea in the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu). History World War II Nanumea Airfield was built by United States Navy Seabees during the Pacific War as an alternative stri ...

Nanumea Nanumea is the northwesternmost atoll in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu, a group of nine coral atolls and islands spread over about of the Pacific Ocean just south of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Nanumea is with a popul ...

, Ellice Islands, closed 1945 *Naval Base to support

Nukufetau Airfield Nukufetau Airfield is a former World War II airfield on the south-eastern side of Nukufetau on Motulalo Island during the Pacific War. History Nukufetau Airfield was built by United States Navy Seabees on Motulalo island as an alternative strip ...

Nukufetau Nukufetau is an atoll that is part of the nation of Tuvalu. The atoll was claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act some time in the 19th century and was ceded in a treaty of friendship concluded in 1979 and coming into force in 1983. It has a ...

, Ellice Islands, closed 1945 *Naval Base Canton Island to support

Airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

in the Phoenix Islands, closed 1945 * To the east,

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

: * Robinson (Omoka) Field, Camp Durant and Naval Seaplan Base Penrhyn on

Penrhyn Island Penrhyn (also called Tongareva, Māngarongaro, Hararanga, and Te Pitaka) is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. The northernmost island in the group, it is located at north-north-east of the capital ...

* Amuri Field, Aitutaki Island, Aitutaki Station Naval Hospital

Seabees

Seabees had the men and equipment to build airfields and sea bases. At the base, Seabees built a camp for the crews and a depot for the supplies they need for the project. Seabees often worked in shifts around the clock to open airfields as quickly as possible. On a project was completed they move to the next project.

Post war

*The Museum of Samoa at

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

Gallery

File:Pacific_Theater_Areas;map1.JPG, Pacific War Theater Areas map 1942 File:Wallis, Futuna, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Fidji (Polynésie ancestrale) multilingue.svg, Wallis, Futuna, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Fidji islands File:Samoa islands 2002.gif, Samoa islands File:Marine_tractor_pulls_OS2U_on_Funafuti_Beach_1943.jpg, US Navy Marine tractor pulls Vought OS2U Kingfisher on Funafuti Beach in 1943 at Naval Base Funafuti File:Samoa-CIA WFB Map.png, Samoa map File:American Naval Base, Samoan Islands.png, American Naval Base, Samoan Islands File:Blunts Point Battery - American Samoa - 1986.jpg, Blunts Point Battery Wallis Island 1943 US navy footage.ogv, Wallis Island 1943 US Navy film File:Landing Craft Repair Base, Wallis Island, 1943.ogv, Landing Craft Repair Base, Wallis Island, 1943.ogv File:Samoa - Location Map (2013) - WSM - UNOCHA.svg, Samoa Map File:US -American Samoa.png, American Samoa File:South Pacific islands 1945.jpg, South Pacific islands in 1945

References

External links

American Samoa Military Bases website
{{USWWII Military in American Samoa Buildings and structures in American Samoa Naval Stations of the United States Navy Closed installations of the United States Navy 20th century in American Samoa 1940 establishments in Oceania 1944 disestablishments in Oceania Military installations established in 1940 Military installations closed in 1944