Naval Base Tarawa was a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

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 opposing ...

effort. The base was located on

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

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 ...

in the Gilbert Islands 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 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 Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

. At Naval Base Tarawa the Navy built a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, seaplane base and two airbases. Construction started after the Battle of Tarawa ended November 23, 1943, part of Operation Galvanic.

History

To support the Battle of Tarawa a US Navy fast carrier strike group was founded. The strike group

flag ship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

s were the USS ''Yorktown'' and USS ''Essex''. New to the strike group was stationing US submarines around Tarawa to rescue downed aircrew quickly. A second fast carrier strike group supported the battle. The strike group flag ships were the: USS ''Lexington'' and USS ''Princeton'' and USS ''Belleau Wood''. From

Naval Base Funafuti Naval Base Funafuti was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1942 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on the Island of Funafuti of the Ellice Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean. The island is now Tuvalu, an isla ...

the US Navy sent 24

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wi ...

and PV-1 Lockheed Ventura planes to support operations. The USS ''Pursuit'' operated at the command ship during the invasion. The sub USS ''Nautilus'' (SS-168) did photo-reconnaissance before the invasion. Japanese submarine I-35 was sunk off Tarawa on November 23, 1943 by US destroyers. The Navy's staging for the operation was at

Naval Base Wellington A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

departing November 1, 1943. After the taking of Tarawa on November 27, US Navy

Seabee , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philippin ...

s built pontoon barge. The pontoon barge was used to bring the 98th Seabee Naval Construction Battalion equipment and gear ashore. The Seabee built a causeway dock so small boats and barges could unload supplies. The island did not have quality port. The first project was clearing and repairing the captured runways on the island. The 29th Seabee Naval Construction Battalion joined the project. The Seabee built a 1,900-foot by 32-foot

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

for the unloading of cargo ships. The island and the cargo ship had no timber for the pier

piling A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural elemen ...

. The Seabees were able to repurpose the train track rails, from a Japanese narrow-gauge railroad. The tug USS ''Tawasa'' and USS ''Arapaho'' (ATF-68) often worked at the port, as did the tanker USS ''Maquoketa'' (AOG-51). A temporary Seabee camp was built on the beach, lagoon side of Betio, and later a more permanent camp was built after the completion of the airstrip. On December 4, another Seabee group arrived to help with construction. On December 18 the 4,000-foot fighter runway was completed. The runway was paved with 10-inches of compacted crushed

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

, mined from the atoll

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'') ...

. Next, the bomber runway was completed, 7,050 feet long and 200 feet wide. A camp for 1,300 Seabees that operated the air base was built at the airfield. Seabees built a 100-bed

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 ...

hospital, control tower, an 500,000-gallon aviation-gasoline tank farm. Just outside the camp built a ammunition and bomb storage site. The US Navy

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. I ...

USS ''Solace'' supported the battle, later the

USS Relief (AH-1) The sixth USS ''Relief'' (AH-1), the first ship of the United States Navy designed and built from the keel up as a hospital ship, was laid down 14 June 1917 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched 23 December 1919; and commissioned 28 December 19 ...

supported the base in January 1944. The 74th Seabee Naval Construction Battalion landed on 285-acre

Betio Island Betio is the largest township of Kiribati's capital city, South Tarawa, and the country's main port. The settlement is located on a separate islet at the extreme southwest of the atoll. Betio Post Office opened on 5 April 1957 and closed in 1964. ...

Island to repair and improve the runway where. A few Japanese troops were still dug in and there were a few snipers at large. No Seabees were injured, but the random air raid did some damage. Betio Island was a mess, littered with war damage and debris. Seabee cleared out the Island and started work on the runway repair. Betio had no docks, gear was put on

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

and dragged to shore over tidal flats and reefs. A

fighter plane 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 ...

runway was built 4,400 feet long and 150 feet wide paved with coral concrete. The runway supported six medium bombers and US Navy patrol operations. A coral quarry was operated for the runway, road, and other uses. The 74th Seabee Naval Construction Battalion departed on March 1, 1944. Both islands had very limited fresh water, so Seabees installed a

evaporator An evaporator is a device used to turn the liquid form of a chemical substance, such as water, into a vapor. Uses Air conditioning and refrigeration Some air conditioners and refrigerators use a compressed liquid with a low boiling point, su ...

water supply, outputting daily capacity of 20,000 gallons. Mess halls, housing, storage depot, power station, and refrigeration storage was all built by the Seabees. A camp for

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 ...

stationed was also built. In the lagoon the US Navy founded a Seaplane base with seaplane tender USS ''Curtiss'' (AV-4), PBY Catalina and

Martin PBM Mariner The Martin PBM Mariner was an American patrol bomber flying boat of World War II and the early Cold War era. It was designed to complement the Consolidated PBY Catalina and PB2Y Coronado in service. A total of 1,366 PBMs were built, with the fir ...

. The US Navy Fleet Post Office was 808 SF Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. The USS ''Elder'' (AN-20) operating as

net tender A net laying ship, also known as a net layer, net tender, gate ship or boom defence vessel was a type of naval auxiliary ship. A net layer's primary function was to lay and maintain steel anti-torpedo or anti-submarine nets. Nets could be laid ...

laid nets to protect the lagoon.

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 ...

41st Bombardment Group operated

North American B-25 Mitchell 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 ...

out of Betio and Bonriki. Later Consolidated B-24 Liberator also operated from Betio and Bonriki. Bases were built on two other Gilbert Islands: Naval Base Abemama and Makin Island **US Navy stationed at Tarawa: *

VF-13 Fighter Squadron 13 or VF-13 was an aviation unit of the United States Navy. Established on 2 November 1943, it was disestablished on 20 October 1945. It was the first US Navy squadron to be designated as VF-13. Operational history VF-13 equipped ...

with PBY Catalina * VP-202 with Martin PBM Mariner * USS ''Curtiss'' (AV-4) to support PBY and PBM * VB-142 with Lockheed Ventura PV-1 * VB-144 with Lockheed Ventura PV-1 *VB-137 with Lockheed Ventura PV-1 *VS-66 with

Douglas SBD Dauntless The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/di ...

Antisubmarine Squadron - Scouting Squadron *CASU-16

Carrier Aircraft Service Unit US Navy K-class blimp Carrier Aircraft Service Units (CASU) were United States Navy units formed during World War II for the Pacific War to support naval aircraft operations. From 1942 to 1946, 69 Carrier Aircraft Service Units were formed to ...

*US Navy supported Hedron 4, a United States Marine Corps unit

Airfields

*On Bonriki Mullinix Field in honor of Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinix. *On Betio, Tarawa Airfield, called

Hawkins Field Hawkins Field is a baseball stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the home field of the Vanderbilt Commodores college baseball team.

in honor of USMC 1st Lt. William Dean Hawkins

Post war

*U.S. Marine War Memorial at Prince Philip Park. *Tarawa Coastwatchers Memorial, memorial plaque, In memory of 22 British subjects murdered by the Japanese at Betio on of October 15, 1942. *New Zealand Memorial to U.S. Marines and Navy New Zealand Memorial to U.S. Marines and Navy
'hmdb.org''

Gallery

File:Tarawa Atoll aerial photo Sept 1943.jpg, Aerial view of Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll before invasion of the island by U.S. Marines, 18 September 1943. File:80-G-57390 (18414744362).jpg, Seabee building Hawkins Field File:80-G-57388 (17798244333).jpg, Seabee building Hawkins Field File:USMC-M-Tarawa-3.jpg, Map of runway on Betio and landing plans File:Hawkins Field Betio Tarawa March 1944.jpg, Long range aircraft at

Hawkins Field (Tarawa) Hawkins Field is a former World War II airfield on Betio, Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands of the Central Pacific. The airfield was named in honor of USMC 1st Lt. William Dean Hawkins who was killed in the battle to recapture Tarawa, and earned th ...

, March 1944 File:Tarawa aerial view 24 Nov 1943.jpg, Aerial view of Betio, Tarawa Atoll, 24 November 1943, looking north toward "The Pocket", the last place of Japanese resistance. An emplacement just onshore with two 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns is visible near the left edge of the photograph. File:Gilbert Islands Aerial Imagery, 1943.jpg, Gilbert Islands 1943 File:Cemetery at Tarawa.jpg, The largest of 37 cemeteries on Tarawa

References

{{authority control Naval Base Tarawa Battle of Tarawa Naval Stations of the United States Navy Closed installations of the United States Navy 1943 establishments in Oceania 1945 disestablishments in Oceania Military installations established in 1943 Military installations closed in 1945

History

Airfields

Post war

Gallery

See also

References