http://www.navy.mil/search/print_bbs.asp?bbs_id=732Navy NewsStand - The Source for Navy NewsPearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Bulletin BoardA 1958 History of Pearl Harbor and Our ShipyardStory Number: phnsy031113-0111/13/2003FromOn Oahu right now there are headquarters for Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific, the world's largest military command. Also located on this island are headquarters for the Pacific Fleet, our Submarine Forces, Fleet Marines, Pacific Air Forces, Pacific Army Forces, and naval construction forces. Admirals and generals here control U.S. fighting men on nearly half the world's surface. In view of these facts, it's quite interesting to note that, less than 200 years ago, this place was isolated and undiscovered. One hundred years ago France, Great Britain, America and Russia were agreed that Oahu held the key to the north Pacific Ocean. As for Pearl Harbor itself, the sheltered inlet was the subject of favorable comment and speculation for 82 years before someone did something about it. For nearly 20 years after Captain James Cook's arrival in the Hawaiian Islands, Pearl Harbor lay completely unnoticed by foreigners. Hawaiians themselves gave it little attention, as a matter of fact. They drove canoes through the surf at Waikiki instead, and it was not until foreign sailing ships began crowding Oahu's shoreline that Honolulu harbor itself was used.WAI MOMIIt was 1793 before a non-Hawaiian got a look at what was then called Wai Momi ("water of pearl"). Captain George Vancouver, the man who introduced cattle to the Islands, was asked by his friend King Kamehameha to investigate the basin. A sandbar, which allowed only ships with 15-foot draft or less to enter, blocked the harbor, so Vancouver sailed a small boat there. Though his trip only took him in a couple of miles, he later wrote favorably of Pearl's possibilities. In 1816 the Russian explorer Otto Von Kotzebue checked on the place, and said Europeans could make it the world's finest harbor if it were in their hands. Kotzebue, however, did little to follow up his theory. Early stories of the Islands show he fell victim to its beautiful women, and it may be his exploring took quite another tack.KAMAHAMEHA DIESThe first truly careful check of Pearl Harbor took place in 1824. Kamehameha II was visiting London with his queen that year, and both died, she of measles and he of an abscessed lung. The British assigned HMS Blonde to carry the bodies home, which provided a nice cover for another enterprise, since the English also put a party of scientists aboard Lord Byron's vessel. One of the scientists, Lt. Charles B. Malden, made a thorough survey of the entrance, harbor, and all three lochs of Pearl Harbor. His chart was good enough to be published by the Royal Hydrographic Office, and appears to be the first usable aid to mariners who were interested in Pearl Harbor. Malden's find astounded his colleagues, for he discovered the basin to have nearly 30 miles of protected shoreline. All of it was steep, which meant that in many places a ship's captain could moor without use of a dock, by stringing lines to trees, then stepping ashore. Interior depths were suitable for any warship then in existence, according to soundings, and the harbor was recognized as one of the world's largest natural anchorages. Malden's chart focused attention of maritime nations on Oahu, for here was an excellent spot to base a fleet. Food and provisions were abundant, the population was easy-going, and conditions regarding navigation and weather couldn't be better. Besides, there was no other port even comparable within a radius of more than 2000 miles. First shedding of American blood at Pearl Harbor occurred exactly 147 years before the beginning of World War II, when the U.S. sloop Lady Washington combined with the British sloop Jackal to help King Kalanikupule put down a local uprising. Forces from Ewa were attacking the royal troops, so the two ships slipped into the Pearl River basin and laid down a shore bombardment. The king's army won, and on the following day, December 7, 1794, the victorious vessels exchanged salutes. A British shot went wild, killing Captain Kendrick of the Lady Washington and a number of his crewmen. No one remembered the incident for long, however, because it was a type of accident all-too-frequent in those days of crude ordnance.PEARLS DISCOVEREDPearls have been found at Wai Momi twice. Once was ln 1798, when King Kamehameha I barred all divers but his own from the place immediately, and the small beds there returned a profit only to the monarch. The other time was when a shipyard worker, eating oysters he'd ordered for lunch one day in 1953, bit down on a pearl. This second event received much more attention than the first. From 1819 until shortly after the Civil War when oil was pumped in Pennsylvania, the U.S. whaling industry centered about Oahu. It became a resupply and trading point, and all nations expanding their commerce started eying it. Pearl Harbor was unnoticed because of the sandbar across its entrance, and Honolulu was the port used. The only extensive use of Pearl was in connection with the sandalwood trade. This fragrant lumber was sold to Yankee traders for resale in the Orient. Before they killed off thousands of subjects through overwork and stripped the forests, the Hawaiian chiefs used Pearl Harbor as an assembly point for this material after it was cut in the mountains. It was then taken out by water to ships in Honolulu for transportation west. American naval attention started to focus strongly on Pearl Harbor in 1840, and continued thereafter. Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, one of our most noted explorers, was asked by Kamehameha III during that year to survey the basin. He stated it could be the Pacific's biggest and best harbor, once the sandbar was removed. Then, in 1843, an over-eager British officer tried to seize the Islands and annex them to his homeland. His country disavowed the move, but Dr. G. P. Judd, minister for foreign affairs here feared a repeat of the incident. Judd asked U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant F. W. Curtis, here with the USS Constitution, to make a military survey of Oahu, and to suggest how it best be defended from attack. Curtis made recommendations for construction of forts and location of cannon, and also urged investigation of Pearl Harbor's potential.HAWAII PROSPERSBy mid-century the kingdom of Hawaii was getting wealthy. Great Britain was ready to annex the realm at the first sign of official encouragement, and France was nagging officials for preferential treatment in the field of trade. The local government was greatly influenced by Americans living here, however, and in 1854 it drafted a request for annexation to the U.S. for protection. Kamehameha III died that year, though, and his successor was against the plan, so nothing came of it. The chief result was that the U.S. Navy was ordered to help guarantee the safety of Hawaii against any aggressors. Though U.S. Naval officers strongly advocated doing something to take advantage of Hawaii's strategic location, our government took no official action until the Civil War was nearly over. The Confederate raider Shenandoah was roaming the north Pacific, attacking the Union's whaling fleet, so the North Pacific Squadron was formed in 1865. U.S. warships followed a policy of cruising the islands starting in 1866, and we rented a coaling station here for them. During the period of Hawaii's emergence as a valuable area, white settlers developed its sugar industry. Growth of this enterprise was impeded by only one thing...the high tariff imposed on foreign sugar in the U.S. If sugar were to realize its great potential for enriching the islands, something had to be done about the tariff. Best solution seemed to be annexation, so talk of it began to grow once more, in 1870. A pair of U.S. Army officers helped put across a treaty of reciprocity shortly thereafter. Major General J. M. Schofield and Lt. Col. B. A. Alexander visited Hawaii in 1873, under secret orders to study its defensive capacity. The report they filed in Washington recommended that Hawaii be allowed to ship sugar to the United States free of tariff, in exchange for giving America rights to Pearl Harbor and a strip of land all around it. A treaty containing these provisions went into effect in 1875.SUGAR BOOMSThe treaty did not contain exactly that the U.S. wanted, mainly because of its seven-year duration. America was reluctant to use Pearl Harbor without some guarantee it could stay there, so when the treaty came up for renewal the U.S. Senate held out for permanent possession of the basin. Hawaii's sugar trade, meanwhile, had boomed, and local officials feared loss of tremendous sugar income, so they agreed to permanent possession. This became effective on November 9, 1887.Pearl Harbor became the property of the United States.NAVY CONSIDERS PEARLIn 1891 President Harrison urged his Congress to develop and improve Pearl Harbor as a naval station. The U.S. Navy was building steel warships then, and was seeking bases for its expanding fleet. In 1894 a Navy surveying party made test borings in the sandbar, and their findings prompted further urgings to exploit the place. It would be easy and economical to dredge and, by dumping what was dug out into deep water, the possibility of further major dredging would be wiped out. Since the start of reciprocity in 1875, however, the sugar industry here had mushroomed. Foreign laborers were imported by the thousands from the Philippines and Orient. Hawaiian sugar made deep inroads on markets previously the exclusive domain of stateside growers of beet sugar. The domestic men were mad and started agitating to cut down this terrible tide that threatened to wipe them out. So the U.S. Senate began thinking of treaty abrogation.REVOLT HELPSKilling the treaty would mean loss of Pearl Harbor, however, just when our Navy was ready to take advantage of it. Things were at an impasse with both sides standing to lose or gain heavily unless a compromise was reached. Then the Spanish-American war, a revolt in Hawaii, and annexation solved everything.An uprising here resulted in establishment of the Hawaiian Republic. The Spanish-American war saw America, who'd started to fight only in Cuba, winning a naval battle in the Philippines and also shipping large contingents of troops there for land fighting. Hawaii's importance was highlighted, and when the new Republic sought annexation, it was granted. Hawaii and Pearl Harbor were made a permanent part of the U.S. in ceremonies held August 12, 1898. U.S. sailors and marines from ships present took part in the event. The Navy Department swung into action at once. Within a few months it sent Commander Z. L. Tanner here to lay out plans for building coalsheds, wharves and warehouses. In May, 1899, a coaling station with a capacity of 1000 tons was established downtown, and plans involved increasing that capacity 20-fold. Six months later the Naval Station, Honolulu, was established, with Commander John F. Merry, for whom one of the shipyard landings is named, in charge.MERRY'S LANDINGMore than half of Merry's expenditures during his first year were for oxen, horses and wagons. Mules were used in the shipyard later, the last one not being disposed of until 1930. Conditions were primitive with the Naval Station being part of the coaling station. The first permanent contingent of Marines to be stationed here, in fact, were berthed in an abandoned coal shed for their first three years, and lived another seven in tents before a barracks was built for' them. A small radio station started operating in 1906, the same year that Panama ceded the U.S. land for a canal across the isthmian country. The "sparktricians" could send messages 225 miles out to sea, and successfully receive transmissions from vessels 140 miles away. Then Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, which has just completed a half century of service to the country, was established. Congress passed an Act creating it on May 1, 1908, and authorized nearly $3,000,000 for the purpose. Of this sum, $2,000,000 was to be for a drydock that would enable repair of warships without their having to return to the West Coast, and thereby, as the man said, hangs a tale. It's the kahuna story, repeated scores of times in local and government periodicals. Drydock #1 was the subject of much controversy within the Navy Department, mainly because of a design feature that would allow a ship to be enclosed independently within its inner half, thus allowing free use of the outer section. Then, construction expenses began to mount. Congress was asked for more money, but refused it, so architects did the only thing they could...they redesigned the drydock. They couldn't make it shallower, so they kept making it shorter and shorter so as to stay within the $2,000,000 allowed them. Before this forced process could show itself completely ridiculous, Congress came through with another $1,178,621.21. Work on the dock started on September 21, 1909.DRYDOCK TROUBLEThe Hawaiian gods started giving trouble after that, for on February 17, 1913, the entire drydock structure rumbled, rocked, and caved in. Immediately local workers began chanting the Polynesian-and-pidgin equivalent of "I told you so," for' they had earlier complained how the drydock was being built on the site of a temple once dedicated to Kaahupahau, the Shark Goddess. This fearsome female, they said, had long before proclaimed that sorrow would come to anyone profaning the Pearl River basin, which was her province. Navy engineers examined the wreckage and said the collapse was due to inadequate thicknesses in the original design, but locals were having none of this. Kaahupahau caused it, they claimed, and she'd do it again unless appeased in some way. A worker on the drydock named David Kanakeawe Richards became seriously disturbed by the murmurings of his fellow-laborers. These continued even after work was resumed in 1915. So, when Governor William Frear of the Territory stopped by to see how work was moving along, Richards approached him. Frear was wise to local ways, and had an inkling of what Richards had in mind, but he respected Hawaiian customs. He told Richards to use his own judgment. Richards visited a local kahuna, a priestess who told him what should be done. The man sprinkled wood and ashes over the drydock as she instructed him, chanting Hawaiian phrases all the while. The kahuna herself came by a few days later to add her powers of invocation to those of Mr. Richards. After she had blessed the drydock enterprise and appeased Kaahupahau she told Navy officials they would have no further trouble "so long as you call on the kahuna for your great building." The lady was exactly right, for neither that drydock nor any of the other three since built has collapsed.FIRST WARSHIPDredging was far enough along to permit entrance of the gunboat Petrel into Pearl Harbor in the spring of 1911, but it was shortly before Christmas of that year when the first large warship passed though the narrow entrance. This was USS California, flagship of the Pacific Station, which threaded her way to an anchorage on December 15, 1911. The armored cruiser was crammed with local celebrities and dignitaries as she broke a blue ribbon stretched across her path, and a parade of small craft was strung out behind her. A luau inside the harbor was attended by celebrating participants in this history-making event. They boated from the warship to the feast and went back to Honolulu by train that night.A MOVE IN 1913The Commandant and his staff moved out of the Old Naval Station in 1913, and from that time things began to center around Pearl Harbor. A high-powered radio station was authorized, and $500,000 was provided for work to be done by the Bureaus of Yards and Doc engineering. More than $420,000 worth of buildings had been erected shortly before his moving date of August.THREE YEARS LATERThe first submarine disaster ever sustained by the Navy occurred on March 25, 1915 when the F-4 sank in 305 feet of water off Honolulu, with the loss of 21 men. She was raised by using six pontoons, then towed to the Pearl Harbor yard for refitting. Three other submarines towed by the USS West Virginia from San Francisco that year-were based downtown. Their reliefs, which arrived in 1915, moved to the present location of the Submarine Base just after arrival. These were the K-3, K-4, K-6, and K-7. The yard's eighth year, 1916, was its biggest. Work on the ammunition depot at Kuahua Island was completed, as was the shipyard hospital. Drydock 1's first section was sunk into Place, and the section of 15 more was made ready. The shipyard was electrically lighted and equipped with telephones throughout, and the radio station sent its first official message to Washington directly, without relay. Biggest source of pride, however, was the Secretary of the Navy's annual report, which showed $10,209,755 had been invested in the yard since its beginning. It ranked 10th in national standings. First was New York, into which only $30,807,907 had been invested, although it was 108 years older than Pearl Harbor. On February 4, 1917, boarding parties seized the German ships Geier and Locksun. These were a gunboat and her tender. Not long thereafter, local people learned sailors had made the first capture of an enemy warship in World War I. Yard workers overhauled the captured pair, and they were commissioned as the Schurz and Gulfport that same June. This helped fatten a few paychecks for the yard worked on only 12 ships in the subsequent year.MRS. DANIELSThe next big year was 1919 when the drydock was at last completed. Mrs. Josephus Daniels, wearing a hat that could pass for a small shade tree, pressed a button that started flooding the dock on August 21, while simultaneously causing an American flag to be run up a mast on the drydock's caisson. First ship to be serviced in the completed drydock entered it on October 1, just after battleships made a visit to the island base. Naval aviation came to Pearl Harbor on December 1, 1919, though the first force consisted only of four seaplanes. A space in the yard was assigned to them, and ramps were built. A year later this was officially named a naval air station.WORLD WAR I ENDSAs World War I ended, everything Navy gravitated toward Pearl Harbor. The old Naval Station was closed for insufficient funds, and submarines were moved to their present location. A marine railway was started, and shipyard hospital facilities expanded. Cuts in appropriations, however, slowed completion of Projects recommended by a Special Board which stated Pearl Harbor ought to be expanded to the point where it could handle the entire Fleet, if required, as a strategic necessity. The accent was on Naval aviation in the twenties, and Luke Field on Ford Island was shared by the Army and the Navy. This continued until Hickam Field was acquired for Army use, after which the island in Pearl's east loch became a naval air station. During that decade fuel storage capacities were expanded until they could hold more than 4,000,000 barrels for use by the Fleet. First major Fleet maneuvers in Hawaii were held in the spring of 1925 when the Army and Navy joined in a problem centered about an enemy attack on the Hawaiian Islands. That same year local residents were thrilled by an air-sea navigation feat that occurred when the PN-9 #1, commanded by Commander John Rodgers, was forced down at sea while attempting a non-stop flight to Oahu from San Francisco. Rodgers and his crew then "sailed" their seaplane to the Islands in nine days, using wing fabric to catch the wind.DEPRESSION AFFECTS PEARLThe Depression kept operations at Pearl Harbor to a minimum, but enough money was appropriated to expand moderately. Most expenditures were for acquiring equipment, and the national government's "make work" program resulted in the Repair Basin being started. Work picked up in 1936 with dredging operations expanded, a barracks started, and the shipyard's water supply system improved. About 2,000,000 cubic yards of the bottom were dredged out during 1937, and work began on the concrete moorings alongside Ford Island that later came to be known as "Battleship Row." That same year the massive radio towers at the shipyard were dismantled and moved to a new location so the yard would have room for expansion. In 1940 things really began to pick up here. The Navy Department was advertising throughout the Mainland for workers at this shipyard, and thousands seized the chance for travel and a home in Hawaii. More than 4,000 arrived before July, 1941. Among the items approved by Congress were two more drydocks, a new power plant, and over $1,000,000 worth of dredging and mooring facilities. Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard had started on its way to becoming the Pacific's largest industrial enterprise. Work began on underground storage facilities, housing for the new workers, and increasing the hospital's capacity.PEARL HARBOR ATTACKEDThen came the attack by the enemy on Pearl Harbor navy yard. Norfolk and Washington had been threatened during the War of 1812, and Norfolk during the Civil War, but both had been demolished by retreating defenders before they were ever attacked. During the Spanish-American War there was great fear of attack by Spanish forces at Cuba upon our East Coast ports, which resulted in our Naval District of Harbor Defense, but no enemy had ever hit one of our yards while it was manned. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy sent aircraft over Oahu in two massive waves, Of 96 warships present, 18 of the major ones were sunk or damaged, while shipyard workers pitched in to help sailors and marines. Many were later cited for their actions during and after the attack, including George Walters, Harry Danner, and Julio DeCastro, to name just three of the men who turned to, during battle. George ran his traveling crane back and forth on.its tracks, trying to shield the USS Pennsylvania, Cassin and Downes from low-flying attackers. Harry was all over the place, first working on the Pennsylvania's engines, then helping round up an ammunition-passing party, then manning a gun, then working on USS Honolulu's engines so she could get underway and clear of the harbor. Julio helped cut men out of the hulls of sunken ships. When the attack was over, the shipyard force began picking up the pieces, with the attack's horrible results before their eyes. USS Oklahoma was overturned, and 1102 bodies were encased forever in the sunken Arizona. Perhaps these two reminders inspired workers, for the machinery at Pearl Harbor never got out of high gear until victory was won.KOREAN WARDuring World War II and Korea, workers at this shipyard applied their skills to overhaul and repair 10,000 ships of the Navy. They've also worked on foreign ships, and civilian vessels in need of immediate repair. Perhaps no other yard has worked on as many types of ships owned by the Navy, as has this one, since they've handled everything from landing boats to battleships and carriers.FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARYOn August 1 and 2 the yard celebrates its 50th anniversary, an event which focuses attention on the phenomenal growth of the Hawaiian Islands. Fifty years ago Oahu's chief activities were agricultural. Now the island has developed so rapidly that its annual calendar of events is jammed with activities. The August date was selected instead of May 13 so that the shipyard celebration would hold center stage alone, rather than compete for public attention. The Open House to be held at the shipyard will be an interesting and unusual thing, but the naval shipyard at Pearl Harbor deserves another longer look for what it has done. The yard was the beginning of a military complex centered about Oahu that now controls U.S. forces in nearly half of the world's area. From $1,800 allowed its first commandant so that he could purchase wagons, horses and, of all things, oxen, the original shipyard is now part of Navy holdings here worth $1,500,000,000-almost as much money as the entire U.S. government spent during its first 100 years of existence. The millions and millions of dollars it has poured into the Territory have been translated into better homes, better education and better lives for thousands of people here. Further, as a spot in which people of nearly 100 different nationalities have worked in harmony together, it has helped considerably in wider understanding of what makes people tick. It is quite unlikely that there is any other place in the world where so many backgrounds, languages and cultures have melted in one pot.PEARL LOOKS AHEADIts future looks good, too. The Pacific is still a major strategic area, and Oahu hasn't moved any. It will always hold the key to this oceanic area. A guided missile-firing submarine is based at Pearl Harbor, and will soon be joined by a nuclear-powered one. The giant carrier Ranger will be here shortly, and specially-fitted destroyer escorts steam from here regularly to their posts on our Distant Early Warning line. Vigorous and forward-looking, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard will continue to figure importantly in the plans of many, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to people in Kalihi, Kahala and Kaimuki.About the AuthorIf you have enjoyed the history of Pearl Harbor, the story of the museum and the stories on Mrs. Andrews and Mr. Hee, you may thank Chief Journalist Joseph D. Harrington. He was sent to the LOG's rescue and did the research and writing on this large assignment. A Bostonian who entered the Navy in 1942, Joe is known throughout the Navy as a writer, having appeared frequently in Our Navy and having won the U.S. Naval Institute's annual essay contest for enlisted men in 1952, '53 and '55. His writings have also appeared in a number of magazines including the Reader's Digest, which carried his story of the USS Squalus rescue in October, 1956. We says that a few magazines not so sharp have rejected his manuscripts. Chief Harrington has been staff correspondent at Fleet Headquarters since November 1956 and during that time traveled more than 50,000 miles covering Navy news and writing feature stories. He left in July for duty on the staff of Pacific Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper published in Tokyo for distribution to the U.S. armed forces throughout the Far East. Good luck and best wishes from the LOG staff and a big mahalo for his help with the 50th Anniversary edition follow Joe to his new assignment.
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