World War II Database

Contributor: David Stubblebine

ww2dbasePearl Harbor is a natural lagoon harbor on the south shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The Hawaiians called the harbor mouth and surrounding lands Pu'uloa, meaning Long Hill, and the sprawling inner bays Wai Nomi, meaning Pearl Water.

ww2dbaseWhaling vessels from the United States began frequenting Honolulu Harbor in the early 1800s and a growing US Naval presence followed. In 1820, a newspaper based in Honolulu urged the establishment of a US Navy base in Hawaii to protect American whaling interests. In 1869, when Hawaii was still a sovereign nation, the US Congress appropriated $50,000 to deepen the channels leading into Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbaseAfter King Kalakaua ascended to the Hawaiian throne in March 1874, the United States was granted exclusive rights to enter Pearl Harbor and authority to establish "a coaling and repair station." Upon the annexation of Hawaii by the United States in 1887, the US Navy's presence and their development of the Pearl Harbor anchorage began increasing steadily. The official opening of the 85 acre Navy facility at Pearl Harbor was on November 17, 1899 with the name Naval Station, Honolulu. The name was changed to Naval Station, Hawaii in February 1900. The harbor was dredged deeper and the channel widened to accommodate larger ships. On May, 28 1903, the battleship USS Wisconsin became the first battleship to enter Pearl Harbor for coal and water.

ww2dbaseThe Naval Station continued expanding and in 1908 the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was established. Almost right away work began on a graving dock, Drydock #1, but in 1913 before it was completed it collapsed due to underground pressures. After a blessing from an Hawaiian Priestess to ward off more disaster, construction resumed and the dock opened in 1919.

ww2dbaseIn 1917, the 335 acre Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor was purchased for joint Army and Navy use in the development of military aviation in the Pacific. The Army established Luke Field on the northwestern half of the island and the Navy operated Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor on the other half (later, Naval Air Station Ford Island).

ww2dbaseIn February 1933, the US Navy conducted Fleet Exercises in Hawaii that included a mock attack on Pearl Harbor. Within the exercise, the attack was "successful" and the harbor defenses were considered to be a "failure."

ww2dbaseIn response to Japan's spreading military influence in Asia, the United States continued to develop the facilities at Pearl Harbor throughout the 1930s. During that time, the Army's air program moved to the new Hickam Field and the Naval Air Station expanded to fill all of Ford Island, with a large seaplane base at one end of the island and a paved 4,500-foot runway down the center.

ww2dbaseIn 1939, the Pacific Fleet Headquarters was transferred from San Diego to Pearl Harbor leading to accelerations in the base’s development. Work was begun on a second large drydock capable of holding a battleship and a smaller third drydock. At the dawning of the 1940s, the Pearl Harbor Naval Base consisted of a Coaling Station, a Net Depot, a fully capable Naval Repair Shipyard, a Submarine Base, a Supply Depot, a Marine Barracks, a Naval Hospital, a 335 acre Air Station, expansive Fuel Storage Tanks, a Weapons and Ammunition Depot, and over 140 berthing locations capable of mooring more than 250 ships.

ww2dbaseOn Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, over 100 US Navy ships were present inside Pearl Harbor in various states of readiness plus a wide variety of yard craft. The Imperial Japanese Navy executed a well planed combined air and submarine attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as on other Army and Navy facilities around the island. US forces sustained very heavy losses in men, ships, and aircraft while the Japanese sustained comparatively light losses. The engagement, which did not even last two hours, was a decisive victory for the Japanese and an unequivocal defeat for the United States.

ww2dbaseLargely untouched in the attacks were the substantial shipyard facilities and fuel storage tanks. Three days after the attack, the seriously damaged Light Cruiser Helena was floated into Drydock #2, the first ship ever to enter this newly completed facility. The repair and salvage capabilities at Pearl Harbor proved to be indispensible over the next days and months. Of the eight battleships in the harbor during the attack, only three were floating at the end of the day. All but two of those that were sunk were refloated within five months and the capsized Oklahoma was righted and refloated 13 months after the attack. Only the Arizona was not salvaged and she remains on the floor of Pearl Harbor still. About the time the last of the ships damaged in the attack was repaired, ships with battle damage from Coral Sea started showing up and the repair functions continued. The Repair Basin and Drydocks were steadily active over the entire course of the war as ships passed to and from the combat zones.

ww2dbasePearl Harbor was also the Fleet Headquarters so the US Navy's command and intelligence functions were centered there. Nearly every operation in the Western Pacific involving US forces was launched, at least conceptually, from Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbasePearl Harbor acted as a vital forward link in the wartime supply chain as well. The westward flow included personnel from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard and materiel consisting of all manners of bombs, bullets, and beans. Pearl Harbor was just as vital in the eastward flow of wounded men and damaged ships. Pearl Harbor’s nickname "Crossroads of the Pacific" became a reality during that time.

ww2dbaseWartime needs called for more expansion to the base facilities. Construction began on a fourth large drydock at the location of the old Coaling Station and also on four new aircraft carrier piers along the edge of the Pearl City Peninsula. All of these went into service in 1944 and are in service still.

ww2dbasePearl Harbor's geography, with its collection of lochs and small bays, lent itself well to the various functions of the base being separated into different locations in and around the harbor. The hazardous operations were naturally situated in the most remote locations and so the Weapons and Ammunition Depot and all ammunition ships were concentrated in the West Loch, well away from the harbor's other functions.

ww2dbaseOn Sunday, May 21, 1944, a small flotilla of LST transport ships was in the West Loch being loaded with ammunition and supplies for the upcoming landings in the Mariana Islands. For reasons that are still in dispute, a mortar round aboard LST-353 exploded and caused a raging fire. The fire burned through the ammunition faster than men could fight it and it quickly spread to other ships, setting off additional explosions. Over a 24 hour period, six ships were damaged to the point that they sank and there were more than 550 casualties. The salvage operations afterward were substantial but because of the secrecy surrounding the pending Marianas operation, the entire salvage effort took place under extremely tight security; so tight that few records of the salvage were created and many questions about the event linger to this day.

ww2dbaseAfter World War II, Pearl Harbor remained a vital base for the US military performing the same functions as during the war. During the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, the ability of the United States to sustain military operations 7,000 miles across the Pacific was due in large measure to the facilities at Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbaseIn 1962, the confines of Ford Island brought the Navy to the same conclusions the Army reached in 1935 and the Naval Air Station was downgraded to an Auxiliary Landing Field. In 1999, it was closed altogether as an active airfield but the land remained part of the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.

ww2dbaseThe base at Pearl Harbor continues to be very active and very important today, although in 2010 there was a change in the facility’s command structure. The Pearl Harbor Naval Base and the adjoining Hickam Air Force Base were combined under a single command and is now called Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

ww2dbaseThe Pearl Harbor Naval Base itself is a National Historic Landmark and there are several locations within the base that are themselves National Landmarks, including the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum, the USS Missouri Museum, and the Pacific Aviation Museum at Ford Island.

Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station Interactive Map

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Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station Timeline