Farragut’s Press NEWSLETTER OF THE MARE ISLAND MUSEUM, 1100 Railroad Ave, Vallejo CA 94592
Mare Island Historic Park, a 501(c) (3) Charitable Organization
the river had to be constantly dredged because of silting. MINSY had a limited dry dock capacity compared to Long Beach in southern California. The Navy needed one less nuclear capable shipyard and Puget Sound and Pearl Harbor could handle the nuclear submarine maintenance and refueling- and both could also handle carriers. Mare Island was one of the most expensive shipyards to operate and the cost of living in the Bay Area, even then, was very high and had an impact on required salaries. A somewhat different perspective was offered byTime magazine in an article published in March 1993. That article referred to the closing of all the naval facilities in the Oakland district of the infamous Congressman Ron Dellums, known by his colleagues as “Berkeley Berzerkeley” for his radical politics. As chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Dellums constantly slashed military budgets such as voting against the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) and wanted to trim military presence in Europe because he thought the money could be better spent on the poor and disadvantaged which won him 72% of the vote in his district in the 1992 elections. BRAC1 voted2 to close all five naval installations in the area including Alameda Naval Air Station, Alameda Naval Aviation Depot, Oakland Naval Hospital, Oakland Naval Supply Center and Naval Publics Work Center which were critical to the economy in Dellums’ district. In addition to the jobs it also closed down 7000 housing units. Secretary of Defense Les Aspin said this was just part of what he called “the mother of all base closings.” Dellums’ response was “if you thought it was normal to include all five bases in my district, you’re a hell of lot more naive than I am.” Dellums’ constituents had thought that re-electing him would prevent the military from adversely affecting Dellums’ district. How wrong they were! And how did this affect Mare Island? Without any naval presence in the area there was not much need for a ship repair facility. Still some of the employees at MINSY held out hope that Dellums could save the shipyard. It did not happen. One other factor was California EPA and OSHA regulations. Although the Navy said it was complying with all federal regulations, CAL EPA and OSHA held
Why Mare Island ? On 1 April 2016 will be the 20th Anniversary of the Closure/Conversion of Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Three years earlier on a late June day, employees at the shipyard sat around listening to radios waiting for the final decision. By a vote of 6-0, the BRAC (Base Realignment Commission) said the shipyard was closing. One of the commissioners, Peter B. Bowman, had a history of his family working here for more than 50 years and he had served here. He said he had “searched for every way to escape the inevitable. And I have concluded that I cannot support keeping it open.” Why did Mare Island close? The most important reason, of course, was that the Cold War had ended and there was no need for the many military facilities still in operation. There were local factors- MINSY was the oldest shipyard on the West Coast and people had been screaming for years that there was a need for modernization which would be very expensive. The Mare Island channel was too shallow for the draft of the larger modern ships, especially aircraft carriers, and
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SS Jeremiah O’brien, Planning on visiting her in SF? http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/
the Navy in California to the more stringent California standards. When the military did not comply, they were fined. The accumulating fines were annoying, but the constant hassle from the California agencies was insufferable. And then there was one other opinion. Many in the local area felt that the military installations in this area became very vulnerable on the day that San Francisco and San Francisco Mayor, Dianne Feinstein, refused to dock the USS Missouri in the city as a national monument. The USS Missouri was the ship on which the Japanese government had signed the documents of surrender after WWII. Finally, when the list was completed, it was all or nothing. Congress could not save one shipyard or one base, they had to close all of them or keep them all open. This was deliberately done to keep the typical “pork” so often found in Congressional deliberations out of the base closing procedures. Choose whichever reason you like or add all the reasons together and you get a good idea of why Mare Island Naval Shipyard could not survive. The closing was scheduled for 1 April 1996, April Fools’ Day. The date was rumored to have been chosen because the personnel at the shipyard thought those in Washington, D.C. were a bunch of fools for closing the shipyard.
exhibitors or attendees is not specified.) That afternoon a Reunion for Retired and Past Mare Island Employees was held at 5:00 p.m. Cost was $20.00. Saturday was more festive with a welcome at the front gate with CAPT Cavender and Mayor Gloria Exline of Vallejo, as well as the U.S. Navy band. Then a parade started at the main gate and wound through Vallejo. It was described as “somber” by the local paper. On Saturday evening there was a public banquet and ”40s Show” presented by the North Bay Opera Company. Singers and a band presented songs popular in the 1940s, the heyday of MINSY. Cost was $35.00. On Sunday there was a golf tournament at the Mare Island Golf Course which was then a nine-hole course. There was a birdwatching tour on the west side of the shipyard for the nature loving; a Civil War battle reenactment for those interested in history as well as a fly-over by the Confederate Air Force. Army National Guard paratroopers jumped from helicopters and there were tours of the USS Jeremiah O’Brien and Hawaiian Chieftain. The official closure ceremony started at 1:00 p.m. on Morton Field and official closure occurred at 2:00 p.m. followed by an official closure reception in Bldg. 599 which also had exhibits and entertainment throughout the weekend. In addition to the above there were also “miscellaneous events” as the local papers referred to them. These included tours of Quarters H and St. Peter’s Chapel; jet boat rides by Navy Special Boat Unit 11; a model submarine display and radio controlled model submarine demonstrations; and last, but not least, costumed characters and animals from Marine World-Africa USA. One participant said he felt it was presented as a carnival, but to him it felt like it should have been “a G wake.” Tina Lass, a shipyard employee said “Conversion? That’s politically correct, but it is a closure. Don’t sugar coat it. We don’t have time for that political correctness stuff.”
Closure/Conversion Celebration (?) CAPT John Cavender, commandant of Mare Island in 1996, said that the “news this shipyard was to close came as a crushing blow to the people of Mare Island.” On the weekend of March 30-1 April 1996 the Closure/Conversion Celebration,Eas it was referred to, D was held. On Friday morning there was an Economic Summit and Exposition sponsored by the Solano Economic Development Corporation which cost $100 (for
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base forge and battery storage which would cost $300 million to clean up. Note that there was no mention of nuclear waste. Also envisioned according to Conversion Program Manager, Gil Hollingsworth, was a consortium of education facilities which might include, among others, Golden Gate University, California Maritime Academy, Chapman University, Sacramento and San Francisco State, Napa Valley and Sonoma County community colleges as well as California University at Davis. The site where they would be located was the old hospital area. At the time of closure there were five companies located on Mare Island – XKT, a metal fabricating company; No.1 Golf; Rafael Catering; California Northern Railroad and Pegasus which had five ships berthed at Mare Island ready to be dismantled. So what has happened since then? First the consortium of educational facilities did not occur, but Touro University did purchase the hospital area and now has post-baccalaureate classes which are primarily in medical fields including nursing, public health, physician’s assistants, pharmacy and osteopathic medicine. There is also a master’s program in education. The O’Club did not convert into a restaurant, but
Conversion Expectations The closure of Mare Island in 1996 was billed as “a both a severe blow and a wonderful opportunity for Vallejo.” The re-use planning began in 1993 soon after it was known that the base was going to close. The six main goals were 1. Create jobs; 2. Create a selfsustaining and multi-use community; 3. Preserve and enhance the history of Mare Island; 4. Use various economic tools to encourage development; and 5 &6 were to provide re-training and social services for those affected by the closure. In November 1995 the San Francisco Chronicle said that the dreams for Mare Island included golfers to play on the course and have dinner at a converted O’Club. Manufacturers would turn out rail cars or computer chips, dismantlers would work on the docks and visitors would wander through the historic buildings. A city representative who liaised between the base and the city projected there would 10,000 jobs on the island by 2020. He pointed out that the shipyard had 960 buildings, 4 dry docks, 20 ship berths, three finger piers 1,083 residences plus 2,000 dorm units. He also noted that the base had 14 contaminated sites that included toxic paint residues, solvents, acids, plating solutions and there were PCBs from the boiler shop,
The US Coast Guard Heavy Ice Breaker, USCG Polar Star, in dry dock #3 being serviced by Mare Island Dry Dock, LLC http://www.middllc.com/portfolio-view/uscgc-polar-star-2015/
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Farragut’s Press rather serves as the dining hall for Touro students. The golf course still exists, but has expanded to 18 holes, is open to the public and has many devotees. It recently came under new management and rumor has it that the popular snack bar has changed dramatically. Job opportunities on the shipyard are not quite as robust as expected. The projection was for 20,000 jobs by 2020. As of August 2015 there were 105 businesses on the yard which employed approximately 2,400 people and occupied about 3.6 million square feet. Larger companies include XKT, the only one of the original companies at closure, which is building the saddles for the Bay Bridge to compensate for bad bolts; BluHomes which manufactures very green foldable modular homes occupies Bldg. 680, the former inside machine shop; Alston which occupies a building just past the causeway bridge on Railroad Avenue refurbishes rail cars; and Mare Island Dry Dock has dry docks #2 and #3 and is NAVSEA qualified which means they can work on military ships and have had contracts to repair and overhaul NOAA, Coast Guard, Navy, Army and Military Sealift Command ships as well as civilian vessels. There are over 280 private commercial and residential property owners on the island. But most of the dorms and houses available at closure have been torn down. The nurses’ quarters and several now privately owned original homes may still be found on Azuar drive. While the original plan was to build 1400 new homes on Mare Island, about 240 new residences, including town homes, were built by Lennar Mare Island and John Laing Homes. And then came 2008 and all building stopped. No new homes have been built since then, although the acreage is laid out for future development by some other company. Another objective was to preserve and enhance the history of Mare Island. This has primarily come under the auspices of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation which maintains Quarters A & B and conducts tours and rents them for receptions and special functions. St. Peter’s Chapel’s interior is also maintained by MIHPF and it conducts tours and has published a book on the chapel. And the major accomplishment in this objective was the opening of the Mare Island Museum which now has on display artifacts and exhibits which date from 1814 to the closing of Mare Island including an operating periscope in the control room of the SSBN 658, Mariano G. Vallejo (please see last issue of Farragut’s Press for a story concerning
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the progress of this exciting display). The cemetery is open to the public and is located in the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve on the south end of the island. The museum has recently published a book about the 954 persons who are buried in the cemetery which dates from the 1850s. About 70 historic buildings are presently in use. As for social services there is the Global Center for Success which assists in re-training people for employment. The elementary school is open although it is now called a Health and Fitness academy for students K-8 and enrolls students from all over Vallejo. It is interesting to note that it was claimed at closure that there were 12 contaminated sites. Lennar claims to have closed 101 of 113 USTS (underground storage tanks) (89% completion); 504 of 570 PCB contaminated sites, a man made compound often used in electrical equipment (88% completion); and 105 of 115 FOPLs (fuel oil pipelines) (91% completion); and more than 390 acres have been cleaned and approved for re-use. The aged infrastructure, some of which is more than 100 years old, has undergone improvements and is about 32% complete. $19 million has been invested in these improvements. And now the Coal Sheds are being renovated to bring in a variety of businesses. Mare Island Brewery has already expressed its intent to occupy one of the buildings and some of the artists presently there want to remain. The VA and Forest Service both have buildings on the island, so there is no question it is a multi-use community. Is it better than it was expected to be at closure? That is a question the answer to which may differ depending on one’s point of view.
The DAR plaque associated with the Mare Island Cemetery grave of Ann Arnold Key Turner, daughter of Francis Scott Key
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the “great stories” in Mare Island history because the ship broke the restraining chains, went flying across the Napa River, wiped out a ferry dock and got stuck on the mud flats. As we always do, we opened our files to Doyle and asked only that he credit us if he used our material. He spent several days here, thanked us, made a significant donation and left. Never heard another word-until about two weeks ago! A book arrived, USS California, A Visual History of the Golden State Battleship BB-44 with a letter stating that Doyle was “certainly appreciative of your help in bringing this book to reality,” and that he hoped we enjoyed reading the book. More importantly, the first part of the book which is the construction of the Califronia, has a multitude of pictures, many of which are credited to Mare Island Museum which means that anyone who sees the book will become aware that there is a museum on Mare Island!! As for whether the book was enjoyed, one of the volunteers who is a former naval officer and naval history buff said it was a ”great book!” While every page is filled with pictures, it also contains much information on the history of the Califronia and will be of interest to those who like reading about the great ships in history. And you can’t help but love the second page of the book which has a large picture of Prunes, a Yosemite cinnamon bear, who was the mascot of the ship. The book, just published, is available in the Mare Island Museum bookstore for $33.00. If you want it mailed to you there will be an additional charge for postage and handling. If interested please call the museum at (707) 557 4646 to place an order. We do not have a secure website to accept orders.
Chapel Notice Please be aware that the chapel will be closed from 11 April through 13 May 2016 for a new roof to be installed. The interior of the chapel will be protected with plastic and the stained glass windows will be covered to prevent damage. No chapel tours or weddings will be conducted during that time.
Visitors this Quarter Mare Island Museum had visitors form 31 states this quarter including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. We also had visitors from Washington, D.C. and from the U.S. Army dredge, Essayon. Foreign visitors included people from China, Canada, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan and Austria.
Did You Know? • Irwin (Irv) Whitthorne started working at Mare Island at age 16 in 1908 as an apprentice plumber. Over 59 years, 2 months and 27 days of service he rose to be a master plumber and group superintendent. Mare Island built 513 ships and Whitthorne had some input on all but 15 of those ships. He was the longest serving employee in the shipyard’s history. His office was located in the building which now houses the museum. • 22 Mare Island submarines sank 252 enemy ships during WW II. • 31 December 1984 was the last day anyone in the Navy could wear a beard. It was an attempt to improve pride and professionalism. Medically approved beards were still be permitted. • Mare Island and Vallejo sold over $75 million war bonds during WW II, enough to pay for all the submarines built here at that time.
Museum Gets Noted in New Publication A little more than a year ago an author, David Doyle, came to the museum and said he wrote books on the histories of ships. He asked if we had information on the USS California, BB-44, which was built at Mare Island and launched in 1919. That launching is one of
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became Mare Island Museum’s first corporate member. Shortly thereafter, Mare Island Dry Dock also became a member. We appreciate their support and hope that other businesses will follow their lead and thus help the museum to preserve the history of Mare Island Naval Shipyard which is so historically important not only to the northern California area, but also to the United States Navy and American history. Financial support is critical to the museum because we get no government subsidies from city, state or the federal government. Like all residents and businesses on Mare Island, we have to pay CFD (Community Facility District) fees - our present assessment is $3400.00 per month. You can understand that it is virtually impossible to raise that amount from admissions, tours and rentals. If your business is willing to help support the museum, please go to the last page of this newsletter and you will find a form to fill out and return to the museum for membership. The benefits of membership are listed on the form and all donations are tax deductible.
Museum Assessment Program Visit Concluded Last fall a group of volunteers chaired by John Chamberlin and including Tim Baskerville, Bruce Christensen, Barbara Davis, Joyce Giles, Dennis Kelly, Bill Linne’, JoAnn Schivley and Ken Zadwick did an in-depth self -study of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation as part of a Museum Assessment Program (MAP) under the auspices of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Areas studied included collections management, interpretation, administration, finance, governance, facilities and outreach/marketing. That report was sent to the AAM for review and an on-site peer reviewer was assigned to make an on-site visit to help assess our strengths and weaknesses. On 17-19 February, Jeff Barta, a newly retired naval officer and an employee of the Naval History and Heritage Command came to Mare Island as the AAM reviewer. Barta met with members of the board of directors, museum staff and volunteers, and members of the community to get a clear picture of the operations of MIHPF. He also toured the museum, St. Peter’s, the cemetery and Qtrs. A, as well as visiting the Naval and Historical Museum in Vallejo. He kept repeating to each group that museums such as Mare Island are absolutely essential to the U.S. Navy. There is no longer a naval presence in the Bay Area, but there is a long and very important naval history here that needs to be told. Without museums such as the Mare Island Museum which are in the area, the naval history could be lost to future generations. Barta, on his return to Washington, D.C., will submit a written report to AAM which will, after review, be sent to MIHPF giving suggestions for improvements and recognizing strengths which he found while here.
Need a Program?? The museum has recently done two presentations at the California Veterans Home in Yountville of the History of Mare Island, a Power Point presentation which lasts approximately one hour and covers the history of Mare Island from its establishment to the lengthening of the USS Parche. It also covers some of the special attractions on Mare Island. The presentation has been done for a women’s club, a history club, a Rotary meeting, the McCune Collection and at a museum in Vacaville. It has been well received each time. If you need a program for your club or group and would be interested in having the History of Mare Island, please contact Barbara at (707) 557-4646 (10-2 M-F) or via email at mihp46@att.net There is no charge!
Mare Island Builds Ship from Cast-Offs!
Museum Starts New Program Several weeks back a representative from Lennar Mare Island (LMI) called and asked if the museum had a corporate membership, they wanted to become corporate member. At the time we had no such program, but immediately responded that we could devise one. The question was how much should such a membership cost? Originally we thought about having just a donation, but after discussing it, we decided $250.00 would be a fair amount. It is a significant donation, but not so large as to discourage smaller companies from becoming members. And so, LMI
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One of the major problems for Mare Island was to find an escort ship when a submarine after overhaul or re-fueling needed to go out on sea trials. The escorts were to monitor diving safety via underwater telephone and to provide electronic sonar test support. In the past costly time delays occurred because private ships or Navy ships were not available, or because of a last minute delay in preparing a ship an escort would have to return to San Diego after having sailed north to perform escort duties, again at substantial cost. So Mare Island proposed building its own escort ship from discarded materials. Darryl Manzer, project
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Farragut’s Press manager, was quoted as saying, “They said we couldn’t do it. They said we couldn’t find a ship for free, couldn’t repair it and convert it on or shoestring budget, couldn’t recruit and train a crew from Mare Island, and couldn’t be ready for the USS Flasher sea trials. But we did it, we did it all!” The Pacific Escort started as a retired Army ship sitting in Stockton waiting to be towed to sea to be used in naval gunner practice. Her spare parts and equipment came from military surplus supplies, foraged through by Mare Island employees and Naval Reserve sailors. The labor was done primarily done by the reservists and apprentices from the shipyard. The apprentices were being trained while working on the old ship originally built in 1944 and being rebuilt in 1985. Some of the parts were so old that they were frozen solid and bolts had to be cut off and parts had to be sawed in half and rigged out of the interior. They were always finding surprises – AC and DC power in the same box. Systems had been modified so many times that there were no schematics and they would have to trace the system from one end to the other. When the ship neared completion, it was time to find a crew. 400 people applied for the 20 available slots. Most had experience on Navy, Coast Guard or private ships. First Mate Don Borgen spent six of his 20 years in the Navy on harbor tugs in the San Francisco Bay area. Cook Cari Quinnell worked on her father’s fishing boat. Her special skill- she had used a diesel stove to cook which was like the stove on the Pacific Escort. The ship’s captain, Mike Irvine, had served as a lieutenant commander on nuclear subs. When the crew was asked what they liked most about serving on this ship, all replied that it was the camaraderie. Having the Pacific Escort at Mare Island was like having a car waiting in the driveway whenever needed. Now when a sub needed an escort ship, Pacific Escort was ready to go and at a great cost savings to the U.S. Navy. She also assisted Point Mugu Naval Station in doing research, served as MINSY’s own ambassador to the fleet and was just one more example of Mare Island’s Can Do spirit.
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choose. You can change the charity at any time or opt out of the program if you wish. While the percentage is not great, consider how much gets spent on Amazon each day. One of the non-profits listed is Mare Island Historic Park Foundation. We would be most grateful if you would sign up for amazonsmile and choose us as you charity.
Darryl Manzer, the man behind the Pacific Escort. Read Mr. Manzer’s personal accounts of his visit to Mare Island Museum and seeing the cased model of Pacific Escort here: http://tinyurl.com/PacificEscort
Coming Events MIHPF Board Meeting April 25th, 2016 10:00 A.M. Quarters A POC: Ken Zadwick, (707) 557-0662 Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon April 29th, 2016 11:45 A.M. Museum POC: Mare Island Museum (707) 557-4646 or (707) 280-5742 For further information on any of these events contact the museum at mihp46@att.net or call (707) 557-4646
Preserving the history of Mare Island
Amazonsmile.com!
Mare Island Museum Hours
Do you order books or various other things from amazon.com? If so, they have a new program called amazonsmile.com which donates .5 of 1% of all qualifying purchases to any charity or non-profit you 7
10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Weekdays 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. First and Third Weekends Tel: (707) 557-4646 Shipyard tours by appointment, please call: (707) 664-4746 or (707) 280-5742
Mare Island Museum Membership 1100 Railroad Avenue, Vallejo, CA 94592 (707) 557 4646 mihp46@att.net www.mareislandhpf.org
The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation keeps alive the history of Mare Island Naval Shipyard and chronicles its shipbuilding activities in the museum, as well as preserving the most historic buildings – St. Peter’s Chapel, the Shipyard Commander’s Mansion and Building 46, the oldest building on the island dating from 1855. The shipyard founded in 1854 by Commander David G. Farragut, first admiral in the USN, was the first naval installation on the West Coast and was an important contributor to success in World War II in the Pacific. It also played a prominent role in the Cold War by building 17 nuclear submarines. We invite YOU to become a part of this endeavor by becoming a member of the Mare Island Museum and supporting its work.
Benefits of Membership:
Free Admission to the Mare Island Museum (Bldg 46) for the year of partnership 10% discount on purchases in gift shop Advance notice via email of new exhibits or events sponsored by the foundation Can loan materials and books from museum library Free newsletter via email Helping to preserve the history of Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Membership Levels: (All partnerships are for one (1) year and are fully tax deductible)
Individual $25.00 – Admits partner named on card Out of State $20.00 – Admits partner named on card Family $40.00 – Admits two household members and their children or grandchildren 12-18 (under 12 are free) Student $15.00 – Admits student named on card with a student ID card Corporate $250.00 – Admits corporation rep and guests, publicity
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Mare Island Museum Membership Application Name/Corporation __________________________________________________________________ Date _________ Street Address_____________________________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip Code_________________________________________________________________________________ Phone____________________________ Email Address____________________________________________________ Membership Level: ____Individual $25
____ Out of State $20
____Family $40
____ Student (with ID) $15
____Corporate $250
Visa____Mastercard ____American Express____ Card number _______________________________________________ Exp. Date______ Security Code:__________ (4 digit number) Make checks payable to MIHPF.
Remit to: ATTN; Membership Mare Island Museum 1100 Railroad Ave, Vallejo, CA 94592
(For Office Use Only) ____L ____D ____E Received by:_______________ Date:______________________
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