Naval Operating Base Terminal Island

Naval Operating Base Terminal Island, (NOB Terminal Island) was United States Navy base founded on 25 September 1941 to support the World War II efforts in the Pacific War. Naval Operating Base Terminal Island was founded by combining Naval Facilities in cities of San Pedro, Long Beach and Wilmington, California under one command. Much of the base was on the man-made Terminal Island, and harbor in San Pedro Bay. The harbor was made through the construction of a large breakwater system.[1][2]

Naval Operating Base Terminal Island
Roosevelt Base, Administration and Brig Building
LocationSan Pedro, California
Coordinates33°45′25″N 118°14′53″W
BuiltFounded 1941
ArchitectUS Navy
Naval Operating Base Terminal Island is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Naval Operating Base Terminal Island
Location of Naval Operating Base Terminal Island in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Naval Air Base San Pedro, part of Naval Operating Base Terminal Island on Terminal Island
Roosevelt Base

Naval facilities were combined under one Naval command by The US Navy Department General Order No. 154. At the end of the war, the facilities were renamed to be US Naval Bases. [3][4]

Naval Facilities that made up Naval Operating Base Terminal Island:


  • Small Craft Training Center (SCTC) was on Roosevelt Base, but operated independently.

Roosevelt Base Terminal Island
Main article: Long Beach Naval Shipyard

Roosevelt Base Terminal Island shipyard was founded in September 1942 as a ship repair facility. Construction started in 1939. Roosevelt Base also was the administrative and 40 acre recreational center for the Naval facilities on Terminal Island. Roosevelt Base Terminal Island was renamed Naval Station Long Beach on 15 November 1946. The Roosevelt Base had: shipyards, a Marine barracks, fuel tank foram, net depot, ammunition depot, hospital, prison, degaussing range, radio station, mess halls and recreational center, schools, and Navy barracks. The expansion of the harbor breakwater and dredging to make more land was included in the Roosevelt Base plan. The Navy contractors that oversaw the construction were the Guy F. Atkinson Construction Company of San Francisco and the George Pollock Company of Sacramento, with Allied Engineers of as architects and civil engineers. [5][6] Roosevelt Base Terminal Island was boarded by Ocean Boulevard, Pennsylvania Avenue, Richardson Avenue and Idaho Street, on Naval Station Long Beach. Construction started in 1940 on one large drydock and two small docks. The complete construction of base was completed in 1943. The 11 buildings on the base were built in the Mediterranean Revival architecture.[7] Roosevelt Base Terminal Island shipyard was named the Terminal Island Naval Dry Docks in June 1940.[8] In August 1940 on one. In April 1942 piers were completed.[9] On 9 February 1943 the named of the shipyard change again to US Naval Dry Docks, Roosevelt Base, California. With so much activity in the peak of World War II, in 1944 a pontoon bridge was built to Terminal Island. The pontoon bridge was removed after the completion of the Gerald Desmond Bridge in 1968.[9] With the end of World War II the shipyard was again renamed on 30 November 1945 to Terminal Island Naval Shipyard and in March 1948 renamed to Long Beach Naval Shipyard (NSY) On 15 November 1946, the adjoining Naval Station Long Beach was established.[10]

Small Craft Training Center
USS Snowbell minesweeper used for training
Main article: US Navy Small Craft Training Center

Small Craft Training Center was located on Roosevelt Base, but operated independently. Many small wooden crafts were used in World War II. These crafts were given the nickname Splinter Fleet. There was a shortage of steel and steel shipyards during World War II, so there was a need for a vast wooden fleet of crafts. The Small Craft Training Center Terminal Island housed 7,500 troops. The Small Craft Training Center had classrooms and crafts for training. To get men and craft out into the field quickly, the crafts the men training on were new ships. The new ships were at the center for about 4 weeks as part of the vessel's sea trial. [11][12][13] tugboats, minesweepers, Net laying ships and other crafts built in California were take to the center for testing. Crafts built at Lynch Shipbuilding in San Diego, California, were taken to the center for their sea trial. Lynch Shipbuilding built tugboats and minesweepers. Some of the craft at the school were: USS Density (AM-218), USS Waxsaw (AN-91), USS Climax (AM-161), USS Wateree (ATF-117), USS Quest (AM-281), and USS Snowbell (AN-52). Other local craft builders were: Harbor Boat Building Company, Fellows & Stewart, Hodgson-Greene-Haldeman Shipbuilders, Peyton Company, Wilmington Boat Works, Al Larson Boat Shop, Garbutt-Walsh Inc., South Coast Shipyard, United Concrete Pipe Corporation, and San Pedro Boatworks The US Navy also had Small Craft Training Centers in Miami, Florida, Santa Barbara, California and other sites.[14][15]

Terminal Island Facilities
Bethlehem Shipbuilding San Pedro shipyard in 1944, with Naval Operating Base Terminal Island tank farm in lower left

The Navy operated a number of Facilities on Terminal Island:[16]


    • Combat Aircrew Refresher Training Unit. (A46474)
    • Navy Ferry Control Liaison Officer.
  • Roosevelt Base
    • Naval Drydocks (12236), Moreell Drydock, Drydock No. 1 (April 1942-1997) (Called US Naval Dry Docks Roosevelt Base 9 February 1943)
    • Naval Operating Base
    • Harbor Craft Base (2977)
    • Navy Accounting Office
    • Small Craft Training Center (SCTC) (7636) with housing for 7,500 troops.
    • Assistant Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Bethlehem Shipbuilding San Pedro
    • Officer in Charge of Construction of "Civil Works" Contracts, Office of Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Bethlehem Steel Co.
  • Naval Disciplinary Barracks (2815)
  • Naval Radio Station (40773A)
  • Naval Receiving Station
  • Naval Dispensary
  • Naval Fire Fighters School
  • Receiving Station School for Transient Personnel, Receiving Station, Terminal Island.
  • Navy Cost Inspector, Bethlehem Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Plant, San Pedro, California on March 23, 1942.
  • Navy Cost Inspector, Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
  • Navy Operating Plant, Los Angeles Shipbuilding & DryDock Co.
  • Naval Inspector of Ordnance, Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (29861)
  • Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.
  • Navy Cost Inspector, Western Pipe and Steel Company
  • Naval Training School (Harbor Defense)
  • Officer in Charge of Construction of "Civil Works" Contracts
    • Mine Force Pacific Fleet (MINEPAC)
  • Officer in Charge of Construction of Contract No. 6096
  • Shore Patrol, Military Police
ARDC-8 a Concrete Floating Drydocks being towed at Naval Operating Base Terminal Island

San Pedro Facilities
Map of the City of San Pedro, part on the southern part of Palos Verdes Peninsula and part on Terminal Island. The City of Wilmington is to the north of San Pedro with three docks that were part of Naval Operating Base Terminal Island
Los Angeles Harbor Light built in 1913, on the 2.11-mile San Pedro breakwater was completed in 1911, part of Naval Operating Base Terminal Island in World War II

Naval Base San Pedro at Pier No. 1:[16]

  • A/S Attack Teacher Training Unit, Frontier Base. (46476)
  • Area Public Relations Office
  • Assistant District Material Officer
  • Assistant District Ordnance & Engineering Office. (34163A)
  • Assistant Industrial Manager (1470)
  • Branch Hydrographic Office
  • Branch Intelligence Office
  • Branch Public Relations Office (35805A)
  • Degaussing Office
  • Target Repair Base
  • Degaussing Range (36727)
  • ECM Repair Facility NOB, electronic countermeasure
  • Fire Fighters' School (48471)
  • Fleet Post Office (35216a)
  • Harbor Entrance Control Post
  • Maintenance Branch Office, Training Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet (located at San Pedro). (31444A-1)
  • Maintenance Office, San Pedro Area (31444A-1)
  • Maintenance Office, Training Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet (31444A)
  • Naval Frontier Base (3332)
  • Naval Fuel Depot
  • Naval Hydrographic Distributing Office
  • Naval Medical Storehouse
  • Naval Operating Base
  • Naval Dispensary
  • Naval Supply Depot
  • Central Navy Disbursing Office (11829)
  • Naval Fuel Annex
  • Port Director, Naval Transportation Service
  • Port Director. (35098)
  • San Pedro Section, Inshore Patrol
  • San Pedro Section (36949)
  • Ship's Control Office
  • Sub-Issuing Officer
  • Navy Routing Office (36885E)
  • Assistant Industrial Manager. (14783A)
  • Maritime Service Graduate Station
  • Office of the Industrial Manager, 11th Naval District. (14783)
  • Naval Operating Base
  • Marine Barracks
  • Naval Disciplinary Barracks (2805)
  • Navy Accounting Office
  • Registered Publication Sub-Issuing Office. (35665A)
  • Wartime Merchant Ship Communications School. (48469)
  • Receiving Station

Long Beach Facilities

Long Beach Facilities:

Entrance to Camp Ross in San Pedro, supporting troop deparing at Naval Operating Base Terminal Island

Camp Ross
Main article: Camp Ross

Camp Ross was a United States Army World War II base and served as a staging area (embarkation camp) under the command of the Army's Los Angeles Port of Embarkation. The camp was located in San Pedro and Wilmington. Troops were housed, processed, and prepared before departing on a ship at Naval Operating Base Terminal Island.[17] [9]

See also

References
  1. The Navy at San Pedro, Terminal Island, CaliforniaUS Navy
  2. Naval Operating Base Terminal IslandUS Navy
  3. Navy Department General Order No. 154US Navy
  4. Founding of Naval Operating Base Terminal IslandUS Navy
  5. The origins of the Naval Operating Base, Terminal Island US Navy
  6. San Pedro BaseUS Navy
  7. Roosevelt Base Terminal Islandloc.gov
  8. Board of Harbor Commissioners, "Every Day is Navy Day in Long Beach." Harbor Highlights, Summer 1955
  9. Bingham, Kenneth E. (1947). "VIII: Navy Yards and Graving Docks". Building the Navy's Bases in World War II: History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps 1940–1946. Vol. 1. US Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks. pp. 201–203. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  10. The Administrative History of the Naval Operating Base, Terminal Island San Pedro, California, by Lieutenant Commander H.T. Rouse, 1953
  11. "Wooden Ships and Barges". shipbuildinghistory.com.
  12. "Ghost Fleet of MallowsBay" (PDF).
  13. Wood Boats
  14. USS ATR-36navsource.org
  15. Lynch Shipbuilding shipbuildinghistory.com
  16. "Historic California Posts: Major Navy and Marine Corps Installations During World War II". www.militarymuseum.org.
  17. Roosevelt Base Terminal Islandloc.gov
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