Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), formerly

Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay or MCAS Kaneohe Bay is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) airfield located within the Marine Corps Base Hawaii complex, formerly known as Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF) Kaneohe Bay or Naval Air Station (N ...

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 or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

facility and air station located on the Mokapu Peninsula of windward

O'ahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

in the

City & County of Honolulu Honolulu County (), officially known as the City and County of Honolulu (formerly ''Oahu County''), is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Hawaii, one of five counties in the state. The city-county includes both Urban Honolulu (t ...

. Marine Corps Base Hawaii is home to Marines, Sailors, their family members, and civilian employees. The United States Marine Corps operates a

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

at the base. MCBH is home for the

3rd Marine Littoral Regiment The 3d Marine Littoral Regiment (3d MLR) is a regiment of the United States Marine Corps that is optimized for Littoral zone, littoral maneuver in the Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific Theater. Based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, the regiment falls under ...

Marine Aircraft Group 24 Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) is a United States Marine Corps aviation unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. MAG-24 is subordinate to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and the III Marine Expeditionary Force, III Marine Expeditionar ...

, Combat Logistics Company 33 (CLC-33), 3rd Radio Battalion, and the Navy's

Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 2 A Patrol Wing (PatWing) was a United States Navy aviation unit with the commander of a Patrol Wing known as the Commodore, the ComPatWing or COMPATWING. From 1 November 1942 to 30 June 1973 Patrol Wings were designated "Fleet Air Wings". On 26 ...

. 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'ol ...

and

Kāne'ohe Kāneohe () is a census-designated place (CDP) included in the City and County of Honolulu and in Hawaii state District of Koolaupoko on the island of Oahu. In the Hawaiian language, ''kāne ohe'' means "bamboo man". According to an ancient H ...

, and the main gate is reached at the eastern end of

Interstate H-3 Interstate H-3 (H-3) is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Hawaii on the island of Oʻahu. H-3 is also known as the John A. Burns Freeway, after the second governor of Hawaii. It crosses the Koʻolau Range a ...

. 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

. Marine Corps Base Hawaii occupies the entire Mokapu Peninsula, an area of . Two areas of the base are classified as conservation land, including the Ulupaʻu 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 Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay or MCAS Kaneohe Bay is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) airfield located within the Marine Corps Base Hawaii complex, formerly known as Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF) Kaneohe Bay or Naval Air Station (N ...

's role was expanded to include the administration of the Kaneohe Bay Naval Defense Sea Area.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Naval Air Station Kanoehe Bay during the Pearl Harbor Raid

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 Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

. The gunners there shot down 3 airplanes, two went into

Kaneohe Bay Kāneohe () is a census-designated place (CDP) included in the City and County of Honolulu and in Hawaii state District of Koolaupoko on the island of Oahu. In the Hawaiian language, ''kāne ohe'' means "bamboo man". According to an ancient ...

while another one crashed into the base of Radar Hill. The crash site has a memorial to the pilot who died.

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, home to John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport), is a former United States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamed Kalaeloa Airport. Parts of the former air station ...

. On 15 January 1952,

was commissioned. On 15 April 1994, the Marine Corps consolidated all of its installations in Hawaii. MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Camp H. M. Smith, 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. Indo-Pacific Command (

USINDOPACOM The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is the unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific region. It is the oldest and largest of the unified combatant commands. Lead ...

) which is headquartered at Camp H. M. Smith on Oahu. The Commanding General of Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) also commands 12 Marine Corps bases and stations in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, operational forces in Hawaii and

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

, and units deployed to

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

west Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

. In 2010, parts of the movie ''

Battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

'' were filmed aboard MCBH.

Incidents

On 20 November 2023, a

P-8A The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an American maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It was developed for the United States Navy as a derivative of the civilian Boeing 737 Next Generati ...

Poseidon of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

approached to land on Runway 22 in rain and reduced visibility. It was unable to stop and overshot the runway, ending in

Kāneʻohe Bay Kāneohe Bay, at , is the largest sheltered body of water in the main Hawaiian Islands. This reef-dominated embayment constitutes a significant scenic and recreational feature along the northeast coast of the Island of Oahu. The largest populatio ...

. The crew of 9 was rescued by

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...

boats. The plane was from Patrol Squadron 4 ("Skinny Dragons") based at

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, Washington, Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington (state), Washington. The main ...

in Washington state.Navy Plane Overshoots Runway and Ends Up in Ocean, but All 9 Aboard Escape Unharmed
Audrey McAvoy and Beatrice Dupuy,

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Military.com Military.com is a website that provides news and information about the United States military, service members, veterans, and their families as well as foreign policy and broader national security issues. Founded in 1999, the site has been a divi ...

, 2023-11-21

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the base has a total area of , of which is land and , or 24.74%, is water. It is dominated by two large volcanic formations, Radar Hill and Ulapau Crater. Radar Hill stands 646 ft tall and is home to Kansas Tower which is a former Radar Station hence the name Radar Hill. On the other side of the base lays Ulapau Crater. It stands 659 ft tall and loms over the base.

Demographics

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

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

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

2020 census

2000 Census

As of the 2000 census, there were 11,827 people, 2,332 households, and 2,283 families residing on the base. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,388 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the base was 66.6% White, 12.1%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.1% Native American, 5.3%

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n, 1.2% Pacific Islander, 7.6% from other races, and 6.1% from two or more races. 14.6% of the population were

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race. For every 100 women, there were 202.6 men. For every 100 women age 18 and over, there were 258.8 men. The median income for a household on the base was $34,757.

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, ...

operates Mokapu Elementary School on the MCBH property which goes from kindergarten to 6th grade. 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 Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is a U.S. publicly owned renewable energy company, providing electric power and communications solutions, services and related for remote offshore applications. The company's PowerBuoy wave energy conversion techno ...

to test the generation of electric power from ocean waves using a "

PowerBuoy PowerBuoy is a series of low-carbon emission marine power stations manufactured by Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), a renewable energy company located in New Jersey. PowerBuoys are most commonly used to provide power to offshore payloads generate ...

" 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 Military installations established in 1918