The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Kaneohe (157.789W
21.404N) is a town and
small port on the northeast
coast of Oahu. Nearby Kaneohe
Peninsula was the location of a naval
air station (157.767W
21.448N) that based Patrol Wing 1
with 36 PBY Catalinas on
7 December 1941. The air station was heavily damaged during the Pearl Harbor attack,
leaving only three Catalinas that were on partrol at the time
serviceable and another six Catalinas repairable. T
Construction of the base was authorized on 5 August 1939 and was carried out by Pacific Naval Air Base Contractors, a consortium of three construction companies. The authorization followed the recommendations of the Hepurn Board, which examined deficiencies in Pacific defenses following the shock of the fall of France in May 1940. he base originally covered 1830 acres (740 hectares) and was intended for five squadrons of seaplanes. Over eleven million cubic yards (8.4 million cubic meters) of mud was dredged from Kaneohe Bay for its construction. A 5700' by 1100' (1740m x 335m) all-weather runway was added in 1940. Underground tanks for 3,750,000 gallons (14 million liters) of gasoline were in place by the time war broke out. These were connected to 20 fueling pits, each capable of delivering 100 gallons (380 liters) per minute.
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References
"Building
the Navy's Bases in World War II" (accessed 2018-11-21)
Naval
Historical Center (accesses 2008-12-19)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2008, 2018 by Kent G. Budge. Index
