Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), formerly Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay and originally Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, is a

U.S. 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 co ...

facility and air station located on the Mokapu Peninsula of windward O'ahu in the City & County of Honolulu. Marine Corps Base Hawaii is home to Marines, Sailors, their family members, and civilian employees. The United States Marine Corps operates a

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

at the base. MCBH is home for the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, Marine Aircraft Group 24, Combat Logistics Company 33 (CLC-33), 3rd Radio Battalion, and the Navy's Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 2. The base lies between the two largest windward O'ahu communities of

Kailua Kailua () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the Koolaupoko District of the island of Oahu on the windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is in the judicial district and the ahupua'a named Ko' ...

and Kāne'ohe, and the main gate is reached at the eastern end of

Interstate H-3 Interstate H-3 (abbreviated H-3) is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the U.S. state of Hawaii on the island of Oahu. H-3 is also known as the John A. Burns Freeway. It crosses the Ko'olau Range along several viaducts and through t ...

. The main access to the base is by either H-3 or Mokapu Road. MCB Hawaii is located on the windward side of Oahu, approximately northeast of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

. Marine Corps Base Hawaii occupies the entire Mokapu Peninsula, an area of . Two areas of the base are classified as conservation land, including the Ulupa'U Crater area (northeast peninsula) and the Nu'upia Pond area (at the Mokapu Road).

History

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson designated of land on Mokapu Peninsula for the military. The Kuwaahoe Military Reservation, became known later, in 1942 as Fort Hase. In 1941, Army artillery units moved into the area. In 1939, the Navy constructed a small seaplane base and upon its completion, Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay's role was expanded to include the administration of the Kaneohe Bay Naval Defense Sea Area.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

On 7 December 1941, Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay was attacked approximately 9 minutes before the

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 ...

Post World War II

In 1951, the Marines assumed control of the air station activities when naval aviation moved to

Barbers Point Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Barbers Point , on O'ahu, also called John Rodgers (naval officer, World War I), John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport), is a former United States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamed Kalaelo ...

. On 15 January 1952, Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay was commissioned. On 15 April 1994, the Marine Corps consolidated all of its installations in Hawaii. MCAS Kaneohe Bay,

Camp H. M. Smith Camp H. M. Smith is a United States Marine Corps installation in the Hawaiian town of Aiea on the island of Oahu, near the community of Halawa (ha-LA-va) Heights. It is the headquarters of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), Sp ...

, Molokai Training Support Facility, Manana Family Housing Area, Puuloa Range, and the Pearl City Warehouse Annex combined to form a new command, the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, headquartered at MCBH Kaneohe Bay. All U.S. military units located in Hawaii fall under the command of the U.S. Pacific Command (

USPACOM United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, ...

) which is headquartered at

on Oahu. The Commanding General of Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) also commands 12 Marine Corps bases and stations in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, operational forces in Hawaii and

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest cit ...

, and units deployed to Southeast/

west Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes ...

. In 2010, parts of the movie ''

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 ...

'' were filmed aboard MCBH.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the base has a total area of 5.8 square miles (15.1 km²), of which 4.4 square miles (11.4 km²) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.7 km²), or 24.74%, is water.

Demographics

For census purposes, the area is demarcated as the Kaneohe Base

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

(CDP), with a population at the 2020 Census of 9,483. The CDP was formerly known as Kaneohe Station.

Education

The

Hawaii Department of Education The Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) is a statewide public education system in the United States. The school district can be thought of as analogous to the school districts of other cities and communities in the United States, but i ...

operates Mokapu Elementary School on the MCBH property. its enrollment was about 900, making it the largest school by enrollment on the Windward side of the island.

Renewable energy and "green" initiatives

Since 2004, MCBH has partnered with Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. to test the generation of electric power from ocean waves using a " PowerBuoy" wave energy converter, one of the first wave power projects in the U.S. The Azura wave power device is currently being tested in a 30-meter site at the base. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, under commanding officer Col. Robert Rice, installed solar water heaters on all base housing units, and on 8 December 2010, was scheduled to debut a "Net Zero" sustainable energy home, which uses solar power. The base fleet of government vehicles is also being changed over to hybrid and electric vehicles and most other "FlexFuel" vehicles now operate on E85 ethanol-based fuel. MCB Hawaii installed the first E85 pump in the state of Hawaii in November 2010, the first U.S. military installation in the world to do so.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Honolulu County, Hawaii Military facilities in Hawaii

Forts in Hawaii Populated places on Oahu 1918 establishments in Hawaii Populated coastal places in Hawaii