History Port of Subic

1 history

1.1 spanish period
1.2 battle of manila bay
1.3 american colonial period
1.4 world war ii
1.5 vietnam war
1.6 withdrawal

history

a 1902 nautical chart of subic bay


spanish period

subic bay s famous strategic location, sheltered anchorages, , deep water first made known when spanish explorer juan de salcedo reported existence spanish authorities upon return manila after salcedo arrived in zambales establish spanish crown number of years before spanish consider establishing base there.

cavite, had been home of spanish fleet in philippines, suffered unhealthy living conditions , vulnerable in time of war , bad weather because of shallow water , lack of shelter. because of these, military expedition sent subic bay in 1868 orders survey bay find out if suitable site naval yard. spanish explored entire bay , concluded had promise , reported findings cavite. report not well-accepted in manila spanish command reluctant move provincial isolation of subic. finally, in 1884, royal decree declared subic bay naval port.

on march 8, 1885, spanish navy authorized construction of arsenal en olongapo , following september, filipino laborers working off taxes working @ olongapo. begin, filipinos dredged harbor , inner basin , built drainage canal spanish planning make olongapo , navy yard island. canal served line of defense , on bridge @ base s main gate passes. when arsenal finished, caviteño, santa ana, , san quentin, of gunboats, assigned defense. complement these gunboats, coastal artilleries planned east , west ends of station, on grande island.

seawalls, causeways , short railway built across swampy tidal flats. finish these projects, filipinos had remove thousands of tons of dirt , rock kalalake in olongapo use fill. magnitude of quarrying huge hill disappeared , became lagoon in area known bicentennial park.

inside arsenal, spanish constructed foundry, other shops, necessary construction , repair of ships. buildings laid out in 2 rows on rivera point, sandy patch of land jutting bay, , named after incumbent captain-general of philippines, fernando primo de rivera. arsenal s showpiece station commandant s headquarters, one-storey building of molave , narra, , stood near today s alava pier , had colored glass windows.

the spanish navy yard constructed in area last occupied u.s. naval ship repair facility.

the battle of manila bay

on 25 april 1898, commodore george dewey, commander of u.s. asiatic fleet, received word war spain had been declared , ordered leave hong kong , attack spanish fleet in manila bay.

in philippines, rear admiral patricio montojo, realizing subic bay provide more defensible position cavite, ordered smaller ships , batteries in manila bay resist dewey s fleet , deny them entrance manila bay. other units use subic bay sally port, attack american fleet s rear , cut off supplies. on april 26, montojo arrived @ subic bay aboard reina christina, 7 other ships.

on morning of april 27, castilla towed northeast of grande island control western entrance subic bay. eastern entrance, between grande , chiquita islands, had been blocked scuttling of san quentin , 2 other vessels. on grande island, 4 six-inch (15.2 cm) guns had been shipped sangley point not yet installed. meanwhile, cable-laying ship, commandeered lay mines ended putting 4 of 15 available mines in place.

in hong kong, dewey purposely delayed sailing until received news u.s. consul @ manila, oscar f. williams, information strength , positions of spanish fleet. williams told dewey montojo , fleet had sailed subic bay.

on april 30, dewey sighted islands of luzon , ordered boston , concord sail @ full speed subic bay hunt enemy ships. after seeing no enemy vessels @ subic, boston , concord signaled olympia of findings , rejoined squadron underway manila.

dawn of may 1, 1898, american fleet entered manila bay , once ships closed within 5,000 yards (4,600 m) of spanish fleet, dewey ordered captain of olympia fire when ready. montojo s fleet totally destroyed, losing 167 men , wounding 214. americans suffered handful of injuries , no casualties.

american colonial period

the u.s. naval base subic bay major ship-repair, supply, , rest , recreation facility of united states navy located in zambales, philippines. largest u.s. navy installation in pacific , largest overseas military installation of united states armed forces after clark air base in angeles city closed in 1991.

1933: vought o3u-1 corsair observation planes aboard augusta during exercises in subic bay.

in 1917, united states drawn world war i, navy s shipyards including subic bay began working @ feverish pace prepare ships sea. american , filipino workers take pride in workmanship such destroyers overhauled in subic bay became vanguard of admiral william sims s convoy.

world war ii

by mid-1940, nazis had overrun europe , japan beginning flex military muscle. united states congress therefore authorized release of funds update coast defenses of manila , subic bays. president franklin d. roosevelt complement ordering integration of filipino military forces newly created u.s. army forces in far east. general douglas macarthur, had been serving military advisor government of commonwealth of philippines , field marshal of philippines, ordered active duty rank of lieutenant general title of commander of united states forces in philippines , philippine army.

to prepare eventual war, dewey drydock, had been @ subic bay 35 years towed mariveles harbor, on tip of bataan peninsula, , scuttled there on april 8, 1941 prevent japanese deriving benefit it.

the freshly arrived marines assigned provide land defense subic bay. seaward defenses included batteries @ fort wint on grande island , minefield, had been laid off entrance subic harbor. marines built beach defenses, consolidated pby-4 catalinas vp-101 & vp-102 of patrol wing 10, stationed @ subic bay, conducting daily patrols off luzon response rumors japanese approaching philippines. on december 11, 7 catalinas had returned patrol when japanese zeroes appeared , strafed aircraft. 1 ensign killed , catalinas sank bottom of subic bay s inner basin.

by december 24, situation @ subic had become hopeless , order destroy station , withdraw given. buildings on station torched while filipinos burned entire town of olongapo. remained on subic former new york, , towed deep part of bay , scuttled. marines withdrew bataan , corregidor made last stand.

fort wint, under command of colonel napoleon boudreau of u.s. army, evacuated on december 25. equipment , supplies destroyed. on january 10, 1942, soldiers of japanese imperial army s 14th infantry division marched olongapo , on 12th, japanese commandeered native fishing boats seize grande island. subic bay naval station established 4 companies of soldiers , company of kempeitai.

by january 1945, japanese had abandoned subic bay. u.s. fifth air force had dropped 175 tons of bombs on grande island evoking light fire skeleton japanese force manning anti-aircraft guns. commander of japanese forces in philippines, general tomoyuki yamashita, had withdrawn forces defensive mountain positions , ordered colonel sanenbou nagayoshi block highway 7 near subic bay.

the vietnam war

the base became service station , supermarket u.s. seventh fleet after gulf of tonkin incident in 1964. average of 98 ship visits month in 1964, average shot 215 1967, 30 ships in port on given day. new record set in october 1968 47 ships in port.

the naval supply depot (nsd) handled largest volume of fuel oil of navy facility in world, more 4 million barrels (640,000 m) of fuel oil processed each month. offshore fueling terminal began operation in september 1967, allowing commercial tankers unload fuel oil , aviation gas without docking @ busy fuel pier. depot supplied clark air base aviation fuel through 41-mile (66 km) pipeline. in addition fuel operations, nsd stocked on 200,000 various items use fleet. in june 1968 fire of unknown origin destroyed warehouse loss of 18,000 line items worth more $10 million.

nas cubi point served primary maintenance, repair , supply center 400 carrier based aircraft of seventh fleet s carrier force. jet engine shop turned out 2 jet engines day keep pace demands of air war in vietnam.

us withdrawal

the american flag lowered , philippine flag raised during turnover of naval station subic bay.

in december 1991, 2 governments again in talks extend withdrawal of american forces 3 years broke down united states refused spell out in detail withdrawal plans or if nuclear weapons kept on base; nuclear weapons forbidden on philippine soil. finally, on december 27, president corazon aquino, fought delay pullout cushion country s battered economy, issued formal notice u.s. leave has been u.s. s largest overseas defense facility after clark air base closed, end of 1992.

during 1992, tons of material including drydocks , equipment, shipped various naval stations. ship-repair , maintenance yards supply depots relocated other asian countries including japan , singapore. finally, on november 24, 1992, american flag lowered in subic last time , last 1,416 sailors , marines @ subic bay naval base left plane nas cubi point , uss belleau wood. withdrawal marked first time since 16th century no foreign military forces present in philippines.