Blunts Point Naval Gun | |
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Nearest city | Pago Pago, American Samoa |
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Coordinates | 14°17′08″S170°40′37″W / 14.285417°S 170.676947°W |
Built | 1942 |
NRHP reference No. | 73002128 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 26, 1973 [1] |
Designated NHL | May 28, 1987 [2] |
The Blunts Point Battery, also known as Blunts Point Naval Gun or Matautu Ridge Gun Site, is a gun battery on Matautu Ridge near Pago Pago, American Samoa. It was part of the fortification of the Samoan Islands which took place after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and is a rare example of a World War II Pacific coastal gun which remains in relatively pristine condition. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. [2] [3]
On August 28, 1941, the two guns shot sixteen rounds at a target floating in Pago Pago Harbor. The guns’ discharge could be heard for miles away. Approximately one week after the guns were tested, ten rounds were shot from each of the two recently placed guns at Breakers Point. [4]
Blunts Point is a projection on the west side of the mouth of Pago Pago Harbor, on the south side of the island of Tutuila, southeast of the village of Utulei. [lower-alpha 1] Two 6-inch (150 mm) naval guns are mounted at a point about 200 feet (61 m) above sea level, at this point, which has a commanding view of the harbor entrance. The guns are mounted in circular concrete structures with a parapet about 4 feet (1.2 m) high around the outside. A short way below the emplacement is a magazine which is built into the hillside. [3] The battery has recently[ when? ] been restored and is in good condition.[ citation needed ] It is accessible to the public via a moderately difficult hiking trail.
The tensions of World War II prompted the United States government to begin fortifying American Samoa in 1940. United States Marines installed the two guns at Blunts Point, and another two on the east side of the harbor at Breakers Point. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the capture of Guam shortly thereafter, American Samoa became of critical importance as the only major American base in the western Pacific, and it was further fortified in anticipation of attack. Although no attack ever came, American Samoa was a critical supply and training point for American military actions in the Pacific. [3]
Pago Pago is the capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island.
Tutuila is the largest and most populous island of American Samoa and is part of the archipelago of the Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific. It is located roughly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 mi) northeast of Brisbane, Australia and lies over 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) to the northeast of Fiji. It contains a large, natural harbor, Pago Pago Harbor, where Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, is situated. Pago Pago International Airport is also located on Tutuila. The island's land expanse is about 68% of the total land area of American Samoa. With 56,000 inhabitants, it is also home to 95% of the population of American Samoa. The island has six terrestrial and three marine ecosystems.
USS O'Brien (DD-415) was a World War II-era Sims-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy, named in honor of Captain Jeremiah O'Brien and his five brothers, Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph, who captured HMS Margaretta on 12 June 1775 during the American Revolution.
Fagatogo is the downtown area of Pago Pago. Located in the low grounds at the foot of Matafao Peak, it was the location of the first American settlement on Tutuila Island. It includes the sub-village of Malaloa. Today, Fagatogo is the government, commercial, financial, and shipping center of Tutuila. It is also the administrative capital of American Samoa. It is the location of the American Samoa Fono (legislature), and is listed in the Constitution of American Samoa as the territory's official seat of government. Its population is 1,737.
Utulei or ʻUtulei is a village in Maoputasi County, in the Eastern District of Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa. Utulei is traditionally considered to be a section of Fagatogo village, the legislative capital of American Samoa, and is located on the southwest edge of Pago Pago Harbor. Utulei is the site of many local landmarks: The A. P. Lutali Executive Office Building, which is next to the Feleti Barstow Library; paved roads that wind up to a former cablecar terminal on Solo Hill; the governor's mansion, which sits on Mauga o Alii, overlooking the entrance to Goat's Island, and the lieutenant governor's residence directly downhill from it; the Lee Auditorium, built in 1962; American Samoa's television studios, known as the Michael J. Kirwan Educational Television Center; and the Rainmaker Hotel. Utulei Terminal offers views of Rainmaker Mountain.
USS Epperson (DD/DDE-719) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy. It was named for United States Marine Corps Private Harold G. Epperson (1923–1944) who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Battle of Saipan.
HA. 19 is a historic Imperial Japanese Navy Type A Kō-hyōteki-class midget submarine that was part of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The submarine's crew was ordered to enter Pearl Harbor, attack the moored American warships with its two torpedoes and then scuttle her with explosives. However, the crew was unable to enter the harbor due to navigational difficulties, and the submarine ran aground and was captured by American forces.
Fort DeRussy is a United States military reservation in the Waikiki area of Honolulu, Hawaii, under the jurisdiction of the United States Army. Unfenced and largely open to public traffic, the installation consists mainly of landscaped greenspace. The former Battery Randolph now houses the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaiʻi, which is open to the public. The Hale Koa Hotel, an Armed Forces Recreation Center, and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies are also located on Fort DeRussy.
USS Antares (AG-10/AKS-3) was an Antares-class cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy after World War I for use in transporting cargo. The cargo ship was named after Antares, the brightest star in constellation Scorpius. She earned two battle stars in service during World War II.
The Sitka Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Coastal Defenses are the surviving elements of the World War II-era defenses and defense establishments in and around Sitka, Alaska. These facilities, in particular the airfields and naval bases, played a key role in the defense of Alaska, and in military operations against Japanese forces which occupied Attu and Kiska, two remote islands in the Aleutian chain. The Sitka facilities were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
United States Naval Station Tutuila was a naval station in Pago Pago Harbor on the island of Tutuila, part of American Samoa, built in 1899 and in operation until 1951. During the United States Navy rule of American Samoa, from 1900 to 1951, it was customary for the commandant of the station to also serve as Military Governor of the territory. Benjamin Franklin Tilley was the first commandant and the first officer responsible for the naval station's construction.
Government House, also known as Building No.1, Naval Station, Tutuila or Government House, U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, is a historic government building on the grounds of the former United States Naval Station Tutuila in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Built in 1903, it has served as a center of government on the island for much of the time since then. Government House was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
The Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears were the two military installations built next to each other in Dutch Harbor, on Amaknak Island of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, by the United States in response to the growing war threat with Imperial Japan during World War II. In 1938, the Navy Board recommended the construction which began in July 1940. The first United States Army troops arrived in June 1941 and an air base constructed by the United States Navy was finished in September 1941. At the time of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, these were the only military installations in the Aleutian Islands.
Naval Station Pearl Harbor is a United States naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In 2010, as part of the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission, the naval station was consolidated with the United States Air Force's Hickam Air Force Base to form Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam. Since 1940, Pearl Harbor has been the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet.
The Breakers Point Naval Guns are a historic World War II-era defensive fortification on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa. It consists of two 6-inch (150 mm) Mark 8 Model 2 naval guns, mounted on circular concrete platforms about 200-foot (61 m) above sea level at the end of Papatele Ridge, which flanks the east side of Pago Pago Harbor. The guns, manufactured in 1907, were emplaced in 1941 amid fears of a Japanese invasion of the island, and were left in situ after invasion fears subsided. They were brought to the site by an innovative railway system that used locally crafted rails fashioned out of ifil wood when steel rails were not available. The guns are located on private family-owned land, but may be hiked to with permission.
The 6"/50 caliber gun Mark 6 and Mark 8 were used for the secondary batteries of the United States Navy's Maine-class and Virginia-class battleships, as well as the Pennsylvania-class and Tennessee-class armored cruisers. They were also used as the main battery on the St. Louis-class protected cruisers.
Maʻopūtasi County is located in the Eastern District of Tutuila Island in American Samoa. Maʻopūtasi County comprises the capital of Pago Pago and its harbor, as well as surrounding villages. It was home to 11,695 residents as of 2000. Maʻopūtasi County is 6.69 square miles (17.3 km2) The county has a 7.42-mile (11.94 km) shoreline which includes Pago Pago Bay.
Naval Base Upolu was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1942 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on Upolu Island, Samoa in the Western Pacific Ocean, part of the Samoan Islands's Naval Base Samoa. After the surprise attack on Naval Station Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US Navy was in need of setting up more advance bases in the Pacific Ocean. At Naval Base Upolu the Navy built a sea port, an airbase and a seaplane base.
Naval Base Samoa, codename Operation Straw, was a number of United States Navy bases at American Samoa in the central Pacific Ocean. The bases were used during World War II to support the island hopping Pacific war efforts of the allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan.