World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePrior to 1939, the tip of the Mokapu Peninsula between Kaneohe Bay and Kailua Bay in Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii hosted Fort Hase, a US Army base. In 1939, the US Navy acquired 464 acres, or 1.88 square kilometers, of land on the peninsula to establish Naval Air Station Kaneohe for the operation of PBY Catalina seaplanes. The seaplane base was attacked by the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor raid in Dec 1941 (in fact, Kaneohe was attacked several minutes prior to Pearl Harbor itself), destroying 27 of the 36 PBY Catalina aircraft stationed there and killing 18. During the war, Naval Air Station Kaneohe was a training center for aviation, naval gunnery, turret operations, celestial navigation, sonar, and other subjects. Fort Hase was effectively abandoned by the US Army shortly after the war, and Naval Air Station Kaneohe followed suit in 1949. In 1952, US Marine Corps established Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay on the peninsula, taking over the territory formerly operated by US Army and US Navy. In 1994, it was consolidated, along with other area bases, into Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Kaneohe Naval Air Station Interactive Map

Photographs

Maps

Kaneohe Naval Air Station Timeline