Naval Reserve Center Santa Barbara

Last updated April 27, 2019

The Naval Reserve Center building in Santa Barbara, California is the location of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum along with other uses.

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County in the U.S. state of California. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara's climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the "American Riviera". As of 2014, the city had an estimated population of 91,196, up from 88,410 in 2010, making it the second most populous city in the county after Santa Maria. The contiguous urban area, which includes the cities of Goleta and Carpinteria, along with the unincorporated regions of Isla Vista, Montecito, Mission Canyon, Hope Ranch, Summerland, and others, has an approximate population of 220,000. The population of the entire county in 2010 was 423,895.

History

In 1897, a small group of Santa Barbara, California citizens organized the Sixth Division of the California Naval militia to provide coastal defense for the central coast area. In those days, the Division conducted drills, knotting and splicing exercises, and honed their gunnery skills aboard visiting US Navy ships. During this period the division continued to expand, and, when called to active duty in World War I, it consisted of 123 enlisted and four officers.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

In November, 1941, the Sixth Division was called to active duty during World War II. Reporting aboard the USS Mount Vernon, a troop transport, they completed more than a dozen trips around the world, from the US to New Zealand, Singapore, and other ports until the War's end.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Located in the Santa Barbara waterfront area at 113 Harbor Way, the Naval Reserve Center Santa Barbara, originally known as the Naval Reserve Armory, was built for the Navy by the Federal Government's Works Project Administration (WPA). In 1939 the City of Santa Barbara had deeded the land to the Navy with the customary $1.00 payment to make the contract legal. The City transferred the land to the Navy because city leaders and many others in the community felt strongly that a Naval Reserve Armory would be beneficial to Santa Barbara. Local Reservists had already used their Navy training to help their community in many ways - from aiding in recovery efforts following a disastrous earthquake, to participating in neighborhood improvement efforts and a variety of other community activities.

The 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake hit the area of Santa Barbara, California on June 29, with a moment magnitude between 6.5 and 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of IX (Violent). It resulted in 13 casualties and destroyed the historic center of the city, with damage estimated at $8 million.

The City Fathers also believed that the building itself, with its large assembly hall and classrooms, could be of benefit to the community. This proved to be true; in 1958 the Center's commanding officer reported "In a disaster the Naval Reserve Center is equipped to aid in civil defense. It has a stand-by generator capable of supplying sufficient power to operate its shop, radio station, and the Reserve Center itself, if the shore power should be cut off. A dispensary and a large area where cots can be place for disaster victims is available." Over the years facilities at the Naval Reserve Center were used by Santa Barbara City College, UC Santa Barbara, youth groups, a high-level scientific conference, and for numerous other activities of benefit to the community. It was also the home of Santa Barbara's first maritime museum, the Santa Barbara Naval and Maritime Museum, founded in 1982 by Lieutenant Commander Douglas Stouffer, commanding officer of the Naval Reserve Center.

The Armory was about 90% complete at the entry of the US into World War II. All construction was abandoned and the building - without windows or plumbing - was boarded up. In 1942, the City of Santa Barbara leased 0.9 acres of the harbor to the Federal Government for the construction of a Navy wharf used in conjunction with a degaussing range offshore. The following year several Naval Reservists were ordered to active duty to put the Armory building in shape, and the facility was designated Small Craft Training Center, Santa Barbara and used for a minesweeping school.^[1] Photos from the period show a number of destroyers and sub-chasers tied up to Navy Pier. (Note: In 1959 the Federal Government transferred Navy Pier to the City of Santa Barbara.) Members of the Sixth Division moved from the basement of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse to the Naval Armory. They were again called for duty during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not possible to reduce a magnetic field completely to zero, so degaussing typically induces a very small "known" field referred to as bias. Degaussing was originally applied to reduce ships' magnetic signatures during World War II. Degaussing is also used to reduce magnetic fields in cathode ray tube monitors and to destroy data held on magnetic storage.

The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border.

Vietnam War 1955–1975 conflict in Vietnam

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies; South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war from some US perspectives. It lasted some 19 years with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, and included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, resulting in all three countries becoming communist states in 1975.

In 1945 the Small Craft Training Center was decommissioned, and the building was designated as United States Naval Reserve Armory, Santa Barbara. By 1948 the major work in the building had shifted from armory activities to the training of the reserves, so the facility was upgraded to Naval Reserve Training Center. For many years, local Naval Reservists - men and (after 1957) women, served there. Their training and service in the Naval Reserve benefited their communities as well as their country.

In the mid-1990s - after lengthy negotiations - the Navy sold the Reserve Center to the City of Santa Barbara for $2.4 million. A celebration was held on December 2, 1994, in which the city commemorated the closing of the center by staging a party with a World War II theme. Actress (and local resident) Jane Russell was among the 500 guests. In January 1995 the Navy ended its tenure at the Naval Reserve Center with a decommissioning ceremony. The command moved to a new facility on the Seabee base at Port Hueneme (which - along with the Navy base at Point Mugu - is now known as Naval Base Ventura County). The former Naval Reserve Center building now houses the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, a restaurant, and offices.

Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was an American film actress and one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s.

Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base located near Oxnard, California. The base was formed in 2000 through the merger of Naval Air Station Point Mugu and Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme. NBVC is a diverse installation comprising three main facilities—Point Mugu, Port Hueneme and San Nicolas Island—and serving as an all-in-one mobilization site, deep water port, railhead, and airfield. NBVC supports more than 100 tenant commands with a base population of more than 19,000 personnel, making it the largest employer in Ventura County.

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum focuses on the discovery and exploration of the Santa Barbara Channel and the area's maritime heritage. Exhibits include area lighthouses and artifacts, including the Point Conception Lighthouse Fresnel lens, area fishing and diving industries, surfing, the Honda Point disaster in WW II, marine safety agencies, ranching on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands, and shipwrecks.

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References

↑ "U.S. Naval Activities World War II by State". Patrick Clancey. Retrieved 2012-03-19.

External links

Coordinates: 34°24′14″N119°41′39″W / 34.40396°N 119.69420°W / 34.40396; -119.69420

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[1] "U.S. Naval Activities World War II by State". Patrick Clancey. Retrieved 2012-03-19.