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Pearl Harbor Shipyard
The Navy established a coaling station at Pearl Harbor in 1842, but practically abandoned it in 1870 because of a policy requiring the use of wind for powering naval vessels. A recommendation from Maj. Gen. John McAlister Schofield and Lt. Col. Barton S. Alexander in 1873 suggested that the Kingdom Of Hawaii cede a part of Oahu known as "Pearl Harbor" and its surrounding land. The United States, in return for the 800 acres of land, allowed the sugar planters to ship their sugar to the U.S. duty-free. The treaty containing these provisions was put into action in 1875. The treaty was not sufficient for the U.S.'s needs for a number of reasons, the greatest being the seven-year duration. Hawaii's sugar trade was one of its largest sources of income and they were afraid to lose it, so they agreed to allow the U.S. permanent possession of Pearl Harbor and the strip of land surrounding it.
Work on the shipyard was slow in coming. There were difficulties obtaining funds and in 1913, the dry dock collapsed and had to be started over. Finally, in July 1919, one year after the time stipulated in its contract, the dry dock was completed. In August 1919 Secretary of the Navy Daniel's wife pressed a button and water flowed into the structure. The first docking occurred on October 1, 1919.
Pearl Harbor's strategic location in the Pacific Ocean heightened its reputation after World War I. It was seen as the "Gibraltar of the Pacific," and pivotal in the defense of the United State's West Coast. Even so, the decades of the 1920s and 1930s saw Pearl Harbor's growth slowed due to the Great Depression and other international complications in the Pacific Ocean resulting from the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference. Despite these difficulties, there continued to be development. Channel work began in the early 1920s was completed by June 1929. However, piloting the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga was still dangerous and the fear of running aground was a real possibility -- a fate of eleven ships between 1921 and 1928.
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal changed the posture that the Navy had adopted with regards to the halting of Oahu installations. The National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 authorized the President to utilize funds for military and naval construction. Some $10 million came from these funds to the Hawaiian Island projects, providing improved roads, a Navy radio station at Lualualei, and some ten landing fields. The Hawaiian Dredging Company received more funds to continue dredging the channel and harbor in order to meet the increased demands made by a changing fleet. By 1938, the channel widened to 1,000 feet and deepened; even the carriers could enter with ease.
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese Navy sent aircraft over Oahu in two massive waves, inflicting major damage on battleships and aircraft. The damage sustained was great and much of production was brought to a halt in order to take care of needed repairs. The attack brought the United States into World War II. Pearl Harbor Navy Yard's main mission in the war's early stages was to serve as an emergency repair base. Until the Battle of Midway in 1942, Pearl Harbor was also the Navy's front line of defense. From October 1943 through July 1945 the yard worked on 5,554 ships, an average of 252 per month.
After the war ended in 1945, Pearl Harbor facilities were either consolidated or reduced, with the shipyard and supply depot receiving the greatest cutbacks. The Korean and Vietnam Wars led to increased activities, but not to the level of activity seen in WWII. Pearl Harbor moved from battleships to aircraft carriers after the Japanese attack; the atomic age and advent of ballistic missiles have changed it again. Now, the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base serves as a major installation for some twenty nuclear, conventional, and missile-launching submarines. As of September 1994, the total civilian work force was 4,255 (compared to 36,000 during WWII). The shipyard's budget in 1994 was $380M.
Sources:
- Coletta, Paolo E., Ed. United States Navy and Marine Corps Bases, Domestic. London: Greenwood Press, 1985. Ppgs. 431-463.
- "Pearl Harbor Navy Yard"
http://sun00781.dn.net/man/company/shipyard/pearl_harbor.htm - "The History of Pearl Harbor"
http://www.phnsy.navy.mil/phhistor.htm
