The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first

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 ...

base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to th ...

. The Napa River goes through the

Mare Island Strait The Mare Island Strait is a strait, channel at in the San Pablo Bay separating Mare Island and the mainland in Vallejo, California in Solano County. The strait was formerly used by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard until its closure in 1995. The st ...

and separates the peninsula shipyard ( Mare Island, California) from the main portion of the city of Vallejo. MINSY made a name for itself as the premier

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

submarine port as well as serving as the controlling force in

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

shipbuilding efforts 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

.Battleship Iowa: Mare Island
/ref> The base closed in 1996 and has gone through several redevelopment phases. It was registered as a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

in 1960, and parts of it were declared a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

in 1975.

Beginnings

In September 1849,

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

William Pope McArthur William Pope McArthur (April 2, 1814 – December 23, 1850) was an American naval officer and hydrologist who was involved in the first surveys of the Pacific Coast for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Early life McArthur was born in Ste. G ...

was placed in command of the US survey

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

''Ewing'', which had been brought around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

to the West Coast by Lieutenant Washington Allon Bartlett. Upon reaching San Francisco, ''Ewing'' and the other ship assigned to the survey, , were hampered from progress due to desertions of their crews to the gold fields, including a mutiny when crew members rowing into the city from ''Ewing'' threw an officer overboard in an attempt to desert. They managed to survey the

before steaming to Hawaii to obtain crewmen from Hawaiian monarch

King Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula Kī ...

. They returned to San Francisco in the spring of 1850 with the coastal survey of northern California beginning on 4 April 1850 and continued up to the mouth of the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...

. On 1 August 1850, while still in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, McArthur purchased a interest in Mare Island for $468.50 then returned to San Francisco later that month to prepare charts and write reports. On 15 January 1852, Secretary of the Navy William A. Graham ordered a Naval Commission to select a site for a naval yard on the Pacific Coast. Commodore D. Sloat along with Commodore C. Ringgold, Simon F. Blunt and William P.S. Sanger (former overseer of construction of Drydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard) were appointed to the commission. On 13 July 1852, Sloat recommended the island across the Napa River from the settlement of Vallejo. The Navy purchased the original 956 acres (387 ha) of MINSY on 4 January 1853. McArthur's family share (he had died a few months after purchasing an interest in Mare Island) was $5,218.20. The Navy commenced

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...

operations on 16 September 1854 under the command of then-

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

David Farragut David Glasgow Farragut (; also spelled Glascoe; July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. F ...

, who later gained fame during the U.S. Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, when he gave the order, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" MINSY served as a major Pacific Ocean repair station during the late 19th century, handling American as well as Japanese and Russian vessels in the course of duty. USS Camanche monitor at Mare Island 1866

USS Camanche monitor at Mare Island 1866

In 1861, the longest lived of the

clipper ship A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Cl ...

s, , was brought to Mare Island Navy Yard for $15,000 of repairs. ''Syren'' had struck Mile Rock twice while trying to sail out of the Golden Gate.

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

first arrived for duty in 1862 under the command of Maj Addison Garland, who was the first officer to command the Marine barracks on the island. Mare Island Naval Shipyard also took a commanding role in civil defense and emergency response on the West Coast, dispatching warships to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

to subdue Native American unrest. MINSY sent ships such as south to Central America and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

to protect US political and commercial interests. Some of the support, logistics and munition requirements for the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

were filled by Mare Island. MINSY sent men, materiel and ships to San Francisco in response to the fires following the 1906 earthquake. Arctic rescue missions were mounted as necessary. Ordnance manufacturing and storage were two further key missions at MINSY for nearly all of its active service, including ordnance used prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. In 1911, the Marine Corps established two West Coast recruit training depots first at Mare Island, the second at

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...

, Washington. Mare Island eventually became the West Coast's only recruit training facility when the Puget Sound operation consolidated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1912. Instructors trained recruits there until 10 August 1923, when they relocated to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. The Marine Barracks Mare Island remained.

World War I

In April 1917, MINSY was the site of a major explosion that killed six people. On April 9, a gunpowder magazine containing 127,600 pounds of black powder blew up, damaging a number of surrounding buildings, and leaving a mystery as to what had caused it. Suspicion settled on an identified German agent and possible saboteur,

Lothar Witzke Lothar Witzke (May 15, 1895 – January 6, 1962) was a junior officer in the German Imperial Navy, who, after escaping from internment in neutral Chile, became a spy and saboteur on active service in the United States and Mexico during the First ...

, but the investigation proved inconclusive and the official verdict was that the cause was unknown. Stephen C. Ruder has suggested in a 2022 article that it may not have been an act of German sabotage but suicide by a civilian, Neil Damstedt, who was the principal victim and only individual inside the magazine at the moment of explosion. MINSY saw major shipbuilding efforts during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. MINSY holds a shipbuilding speed record for a destroyer that still stands, launching in just days in May–June 1918. Mare Island was selected by the Navy for construction of the only US West Coast-built dreadnought

battleship A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...

, , launched in 1919. In 1904, the pre-dreadnought battleship had been launched at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Washington. Noting the power of underwater warfare shown by German U-boats in World War I, the Navy doubled their Pacific-based

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

construction program at

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted ...

by founding a submarine program at MINSY in the early 1920s.

World War II

Base facilities included a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

, ammunition depot, paint and rubber testing laboratories, and schools for firefighters, opticians, and anti-submarine attack during

. MINSY reached peak capacity for shipbuilding, repair, overhaul, and maintenance of many different kinds of seagoing vessels including both surface combatants and submarines. Up to 50,000 workers were employed. Mare Island even received

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

cruisers and destroyers and four Soviet Navy subs for service. Following the War, MINSY was considered to be one of the primary stations for construction and maintenance of the Navy's Pacific fleet of submarines, having built seventeen submarines and four submarine tenders by the end of hostilities. Before World War II the Navy established Station I at Mare Island as one of four High Frequency Direction Finding (HFDF) stations on the Pacific mainland to track Japanese naval and merchant shipping east of Hawaii. The other stations were: Point Arguello, California (Station Z), Point Saint George, California (Station T), and Fort Stevens, Oregon (Station S).

War bonds

Patriotism and ''

esprit de corps Morale, also known as esprit de corps (), is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value ...

'' among the workers ran very high. Mare Island's military and civilian workforce raised almost $76M in war bonds; enough to pay for every one of the submarines built at MINSY prior to VJ Day. More than 300 landing craft were built at Mare Island.

Dry docks and slipways

Shipbuilding

Mare Island Naval Shipyard constructed at least eighty-nine seagoing vessels. Among the more important ships & boats built were: USS Langley (CV-1)

* 1858 –

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' en ...

, wood * 1872 – sloop-of-war, wood * 1874 – Steamer * 1875 –

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

, steel * 1886 –

Revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...

Cutter, wood * 1904 – training ship, steel

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

* 1907 – collier, steel * 1911 – collier, steel. Later converted to

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

* 1913 – tanker, steel * 1913 – Revenue Cutter Service harbor tug, woodCutters, Craft & Coast Guard-Manned Army & Navy Vessels
/ref> * 1913 –

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

, steel * 1913 – gunboat, steel * 1914 – tanker, steel * 1915 – tanker, steel * 1916 ,

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

– steel * 1916 –

, steel * 1916 – destroyer, steel * 1917 Fifteen

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War I ...

s – wood * 1917 – destroyer – (

Destroyers for Bases Agreement The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rig ...

)Fahey, ''The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet'', p. 17 * 1917 – destroyer * 1918 – destroyer – (

) * 1918 – destroyer – (

Guadalcanal campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the ...

–

Philippines campaign (1944–45) Philippines campaign may refer to various military campaigns that have been fought in the Philippine Islands, including: Spanish colonial period (1565–1898) *Numerous revolts against Spain during the Spanish colonial period; see Philippine revo ...

–

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

) * 1919 – destroyer – (

) * 1918 – destroyer – (

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

–

– Philippines campaign) * 1918 – destroyer * 1919 – destroyer – (invasion of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

– Philippines campaign) * 1920 – battleship scrapped before completion under terms of the

Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...

* 1920 – destroyer – (

) * 1920 – destroyer – (

–

) * 1921 – destroyer – (

) * 1922 – destroyer – (

–

) * 1922 – destroyer – (

–

Battle of Peleliu The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the US military, was fought between the United States and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of World War II, from September 15 to November 27, 1944, on the island of ...

) * 1922 – destroyer – (

) * 1927 –

(sank 6 ships in 14

Pacific patrols)Blair, ''Silent Victory Vol. 2'', p. 945 * 1 of 6 heavy cruisers ** 1928 – ( Battle of Savo Island – Battle of Rennell Island) * 1 of 7 heavy cruisers ** 1931 – (

– Battle of Cape Esperance –

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sometimes referred to as the Third and Fourth Battles of Savo Island, the Battle of the Solomons, the Battle of Friday the 13th, or, in Japanese sources, the , took place from 12 to 15 November 1942, and was t ...

– Battle of the Philippine SeaTillman(2005)pp. 301–306 –

–

) * 2 of 18 destroyers ** 1934 – ( Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands – Philippines campaign) ** 1934 – ( Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands –

) * 1 of 8 destroyers ** 1935 – (

–

) * 31 of 65 s ** 1942 ** ... ** 1943 ** 1943 ** ... ** 1944 With the prelude to, and the outbreak of World War II, the Mare Island Naval Shipyard specialized in

s, and other than a few submarine tenders and destroyer escorts, no more surface ships were built there. MINSY continued building non-nuclear subs through the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

including two of the three ''Barracuda''-class submarines and , an early guided missile launcher. In 1955, Mare Island was awarded the contract to build , the first

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...

laid down at a Pacific base. The shipyard became one of the few that built and overhauled nuclear submarines, including several

UGM-27 Polaris The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980. In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missi ...

submarines. 1970 saw the launching of , the last nuclear submarine built in California. In 1972, the Navy officially ceased building new nuclear submarines at Mare Island, though overhaul of existing vessels continued. was decommissioned at Mare Island in 1980, then rigged for towing back to

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

, to serve as a museum of naval history. * 1 of 10 s ** 1936 – sank 6 ships in 7

Pacific patrols * 1 of 6 s ** 1936 – sank 9 ships in 11

Pacific patrols * 1 of 10 s ** 1937 – sank 12 ships in 13

Pacific patrols * 1939 – submarine tender – (

) * 2 of 12 s ** 1939 – sank 4 ships in 13

Pacific patrols ** 1939 – sank 11 ships in 12

Pacific patrols * 1941 – submarine tenderSilverstone, ''U.S. Warships of World War II'', p. 287 – (

) * 1942 – submarine tender – (

) * 8 of 77 s ** 1941 – Silverstone, ''U.S. Warships of World War II'', p. 195 (sank 23 ships in 14

Pacific patrols (3rd highest number for a U.S. submarine)Blair, ''Silent Victory Vol. 2'', pp. 953υ ** 1941 – (sank 18 ships in 12

Pacific patrols (11th highest number for a U.S. submarine) ** 1942 – Silverstone, ''U.S. Warships of World War II'', p. 197 (sank 20 ships in 7

Pacific patrols (6th highest number for a U.S. submarine) ** 1942 – (sank 9 ships in 11

Pacific patrolsBlair, ''Silent Victory Vol. 2'', p.954 ** 1942 – (sank 15 ships in 11

Pacific patrols ** 1942 – (sank 7 ships in 9

Pacific patrolsBlair, ''Silent Victory Vol. 2'', p. 953

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 ...

) ** 1942 – submarine (sank 16 ships in 11

Pacific patrols ** 1942 – (sank 3 ships 4

Pacific patrols * 1943 – submarine tender – (

) * 10 of 120 s ** 1943 – Silverstone, ''U.S. Warships of World War II'', p. 199 (sank 20 ships in 8

Pacific patrols (6th highest number for a U.S. submarine) ** 1943 – (sank 10 ships in 7

Pacific patrols ** 1943 – (sank 24 ships in 5

Pacific patrols (highest number for a U.S. submarine) ** 1943 – (sank 2 ships 6

Pacific patrolsBlair, ''Silent Victory Vol. 2'', p. 957 ** 1944 – Silverstone, ''U.S. Warships of World War II'', p. 203 (sank 21 ships in 5

Pacific patrols (4th highest number for a U.S. submarine) ** 1944 – (sank 11 ships in 5

Pacific patrols ** 1944 – (sank 1 ship in 3

Pacific patrols ** 1944 – (sank 4 ships in 3

Pacific patrols ** 1945 – (1

Pacific patrol) ** 1947 – * 1945 – submarine tender * 2 of 3 s ** 1951 ** 1951 * 1 of 2 s ** 1957 – Mariano G

* 1957 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1959 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1959 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1960 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1961 – submarine (nuclear powered) Blackman ''Jane's 1970–71'', p. 468 * 1961 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1962 – submarine (nuclear powered) Blackman ''Jane's 1970–71'', p. 403 * 1963 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1963 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1963 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1964 – deep submergence bathyscaphe * 1965 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1965 - submarine (nuclear powered) * 1967 – submarine (nuclear powered) Blackman ''Jane's 1970–71'', p. 466 * 1968 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1969 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1969 – submarine (nuclear powered) * 1970 – submarine (nuclear powered)

Riverine training

In 1966, during the

, the U.S. Navy transferred their Brown Water Navy Riverine Training Operations from Coronado, California, to Mare Island. Motorists traveling along Highway 37 could often see U.S. Navy River Patrol Boats, among other river assault type boats, maneuvering through the sloughs of what is now the Napa-Sonoma State Wildlife Area, which borders the north and west portions of Mare Island. U.S. Navy Reserve Units may still operate the slough portions of the State Wildlife Area for training purposes, as the navigable waters are considered

public property Public property is property that is dedicated to public use. The term may be used either to describe the use to which the property is put, or to describe the character of its ownership (owned collectively by the population of a state). This is in ...

. The U.S. Navy Brown Water Riverine Forces were inactivated after the Vietnam War, maintaining only the U.S. Naval Reserve PBRs and auxiliary craft at Mare Island, until the 1996 base closure. U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Unit 421 Mare Island was also home to the Seabees CBU 421 who completed many construction projects in the bay area including renovation and restoration of St. Peter's chapel. St. Peter's is the oldest Navy Chapel in the United states built in 1901.

Pacific Reserve Fleet, Mare Island

Pacific Reserve Fleet, Mare Island was a large US

reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; ...

that opened in 1946 to store the many surplus ships after World War II. As part of the

United States Navy reserve fleets The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...

, the fleet "mothballed" ships and submarines. Some ships in the fleet were reactivated for the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

and

. The Reserve Fleet closed in 1996 with the shipyard. The ships were scrapped or moved to other reserve fleets.

Base closure

Mare Island Naval Shipyard expanded to over during its service life and was responsible for construction of over 500 naval vessels and overhauling thousands of other vessels. Though it remained a strong contender for continued operations, MINSY was identified for closure during the

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end ...

(BRAC) process of 1993. Naval operations ceased and the facility was decommissioned on 1 April 1996. The

California Conservation Corps The California Conservation Corps, or the CCC, is a department of the government of California, falling under the state cabinet-level California Resources Agency. The CCC is a voluntary work development program specifically for men and women betw ...

, Touro University California, and numerous commercial and industrial businesses are currently leasing property aboard the former naval shipyard. In May 2000, the Navy completed the transfer of a former housing area called Roosevelt Terrace using an "economic development conveyance"; a method to accelerate the transfer of BRAC facilities back to civilian communities for their economic benefit. The Navy is also transferring property at the shipyard to other government agencies such as Fish and Wildlife Service refuge, a Forest Service office building, an Army Reserve Center, a

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

communications facility, and a Department of Education school. File:Mare Island Shipyard at Night 2.jpg, Entrance to The Mare Island Naval Shipyard Industrial Area, April 2011 File:Mare Island Shipyard at Night 1.jpg, The Mare Island Naval Shipyard facility, April 2011

Appearances in popular culture

The shipyard was featured by

Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing '' California's Gold'' and his human interest s ...

in '' California's Gold'' Episode 704.

References

Notes Bibliography * Blackman, Raymond V.B. ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1970–71''. London: Jane's Yearbooks. * * Lott, Arnold S., Lt. Comdr., U.S.N. ''A Long Line of Ships: Mare Island's Century of Naval Activity in California''. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, 1954. * Silverstone, Paul H., ''U.S. Warships of World War II''. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1968. * Steffes, James, ENC Retired. ''Swift Boat Down: The Real Story of the Sinking of PCF-19''. (2006); . * Tillman, Barrett ''Clash of the Carriers''. New York: New American Library, 2005. . * 1941 Society of Naval Architects Bulletin, Harold W. Linnehan, writing as a visitor from Design section, Mare Island, California.

External links

Brief history written in 1939
– 1928.

Elbridge Ayer Burbank Elbridge Ayer (E. A.) Burbank (August 10, 1858 – April 21, 1949) was an American artist who sketched and painted more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans from 125 tribes. He studied art in Chicago and in his 30s traveled to Munich, Germany f ...

pencil sketch.
National Park Service ''World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area:'' Mare Island Naval ShipyardMare Island Historic Park Foundation
* * * * * * *St.Peter's Chapel "http://www.mareislandmuseum.org/venues/st-peters-chapel/" {{Authority control United States Navy shipyards San Pablo Bay Buildings and structures in Solano County, California Historic American Engineering Record in California Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area Military installations closed in 1996 Formerly Used Defense Sites in California Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Solano County, California History of Solano County, California 1854 establishments in California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California Shipyards on the National Register of Historic Places Mare Island Transportation buildings and structures in Solano County, California National Historic Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area Closed installations of the United States Navy Shipyards building World War II warships

Beginnings

World War I

World War II

War bonds

Dry docks and slipways

Shipbuilding

Riverine training

Pacific Reserve Fleet, Mare Island

Base closure

Appearances in popular culture

See also

References

External links