Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach | |
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Seal Beach, California in the United States | |
Coordinates | 33°45′N118°4′W / 33.750°N 118.067°W |
Type | Naval base |
Site information | |
Owner | Department of Defense |
Operator | US Navy |
Controlled by | Navy Region Southwest |
Condition | Operational |
Website | Official website |
Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach is a United States Navy weapons and munitions loading, storage and maintenance facility located in Seal Beach, California, with detachments in Fallbrook and Norco, both also in California. It also encloses the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.
NWS Seal Beach occupies 5,256 acres (8.2 square miles (21 km²)), has 230 buildings and 128 ammunition depots providing 589,299 feet² (54,747 m²) of ammunition storage space. Ammunition was moved from storage to the docks on 56 miles (90 km) of railroad line which closed in 2008 and the tracks were taken out in 2010, after which 80 miles (128 km) of road are used instead. The base owned 130 pieces of railroad rolling stock which were dismantled, their function being taken up by 230 trucks and trailers to move the ammunition, which is loaded onto ships using six mobile cranes that can lift up to 90 tons (81 tonnes).
The station is bounded on the north by the combined Interstate 405 and State Route 22; on the west by Seal Beach Boulevard; on the south west by the Pacific Ocean; on the south east by the Bolsa Chica Channel and Edinger Avenue; and on the east by the Bolsa Chica Channel and Bolsa Chica Road. From Edinger Avenue to Interstate 405, a distance of about three miles, all roads to the east of the station terminate at Bolsa Chica Road, with the exception of Westminster Boulevard, which runs through the center of the facility, separated by a chain-link fence on both sides. Edinger Avenue enters the facility, but public access terminates at an emergency gate. On the west side of the station south of Interstate 405, Westminster Boulevard and the Pacific Coast Highway are the only public roads running through any part of the station.
The Weapons Station is also home to the World War II National Submarine Memorial - West. The Memorial is dedicated to the over 3000 submariners who lost their lives in United States submarines in the 52 submarines lost during World War II. There are also plaques dedicated to those who lost their lives in submarine accidents during the Cold War. The Memorial is located outside the main entrance to the Weapons Station on Seal Beach Boulevard and is accessible to the public.
The Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge is a 920 acre (4 km²) salt marsh located within the boundaries of the Weapons Station.
An Installation Restoration (IR) project is underway at the base to clean up environmental hazards and restore damaged areas. Working with a Restoration Advisory Board made up of representatives from the surrounding community, a total of 73 sites needing attention were identified. Studies of the recommended sites were done and 46 were found to have no contamination and required no intervention. Five facilities were permitted and are still in use and were removed from the IR program. As of September 2005 responsibility for two underground tanks was transferred to other agencies with expertise in such tanks. Seven sites have had the cleanup process completed with 13 other sites in the process of analysis or cleanup. The remaining 13 sites range from the station landfill to a paint locker to an explosives burning ground.
Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It is a National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. It is closed to public entry, and limited access for management needs is only granted by Letter of Authorization from the United States Air Force and a Special Use Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, United States. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, making it the fourth most populous city in Orange County, the most populous beach city in Orange County, and the seventh most populous city in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, it is bordered by Bolsa Chica Basin State Marine Conservation Area on the west, the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, by Seal Beach on the northwest, by Westminster on the north, by Fountain Valley on the northeast, by Costa Mesa on the east, and by Newport Beach on the southeast.
Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,242, up from 24,168 at the 2010 census.
Interstate 405 (I-405) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. The entire route is known as the northern segment of the San Diego Freeway. I-405 is a bypass auxiliary route of I-5, running along the southern and western parts of the Greater Los Angeles urban area from Irvine in the south to near San Fernando in the north.
The Southern California freeways are a vast network of interconnected freeways in the megaregion of Southern California, serving a population of 23 million people. The Master Plan of Metropolitan Los Angeles Freeways was adopted by the Regional Planning Commission in 1947 and construction began in the early 1950s. The plan hit opposition and funding limitations in the 1970s, and by 2004, only some 61% of the original planned network had been completed.
Sunset Beach is a Huntington Beach beachfront community in Orange County, California. It was established on September 8, 1904 and developed as a result of the 1920 discovery of oil in the Huntington Beach Oil Field. The census-designated place of Sunset Beach, and its population of 971 as of the 2010 census, was annexed by Huntington Beach in 2011. The elevation is 5.3 feet (1.6 m) above sea level and the community is stretched out along Pacific Coast Highway bracketed by the ocean and Huntington Harbour.
The Imperial Highway is a west-east thoroughfare in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial in California. The main portion of the existing route begins at Vista Del Mar in Los Angeles near the Los Angeles International Airport and ends at the Anaheim–Orange city line at Via Escola where it becomes Cannon Street. Historically, the Imperial Highway extended from Vista Del Mar to Calexico, where a portion of the highway still exists. The original route was replaced with other highways, leading the older portions of the Imperial Highway to fall out of use.
Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of 23.3 miles (37.5 km), is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length between its southern end in San Pedro and south of Downtown Los Angeles, it runs parallel to the west of the Harbor Freeway (I-110).
State Road 804 (SR 804) is a 9.843-mile-long (15.841 km) east–west highway serving as a major commercial and commuter road through Boynton Beach in southern Palm Beach County, Florida. It is known locally and signed as Boynton Beach Boulevard for nearly all of its route, with the exception of when the road becomes concurrent with U.S. Route 1 (US 1 southward for two blocks, then continues along Ocean Avenue in downtown Boynton Beach to its eastern terminus at SR A1A. The western terminus of SR 804 is at the junction of US 441 / SR 7, close to the eastern boundary of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and the historic northern boundary of The Everglades. Boynton Beach Boulevard adheres to Northwest 2nd Avenue in the Boynton Beach street numbering grid.
The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in the Americas, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to overwintering sites.
Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve is a natural reserve and public land in Orange County, governed by the state of California, and immediately adjacent to the city of Huntington Beach, California. The reserve is designated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to protect a coastal wetland and upland, with both migratory and resident threatened and endangered species of wildlife and wildflowers.
The Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge encompassing 965 acres (3.91 km2) located in the California coastal community of Seal Beach. Although it is located in Orange County it is included as part of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex. It was established in 1972.
Naval Auxiliary Air Station Charlestown is located in Charlestown, Rhode Island, United States. It was a satellite airfield to the nearby Quonset Naval Air Station. It is located within the boundaries of the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge.
Long Beach Boulevard is a north–south thoroughfare in Los Angeles County.
Huntington Harbour is a community of about 3,500 people located in the northwestern section of Huntington Beach in Orange County, California. Huntington Harbour is a residential development of 680 acres (280 ha) which includes five man-made islands with waterways varying from 15 to 20 feet in depth used for boating. The five man-made islands in Huntington Harbour include: Admiralty, Davenport, Gilbert, Humboldt, and Trinidad.
The San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a series of wildlife refuges established by the United States National Wildlife Service beginning in 1972. The complex incorporates five refuges in San Diego County and Orange County in California.
Bolsa Chica Basin State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) and Bolsa Bay State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas located in Orange County on the southern coast of California, United States. The SMCAs cover 0.66 and 0.07 square miles, respectively. The SMCAs protect marine life by limiting the removal of marine wildlife from within their borders.
Anaheim Bay is an extensive harbor and wetland complex in Orange County, California in the United States. The bay is located on the Pacific Ocean coast of northwestern Orange County next to Seal Beach and is split into several distinct but interconnected parts. The term "Anaheim Bay" generally refers to the deep-water Navy harbor at the bay entrance. Further southeast are the Huntington Harbor, which serves small private vessels, and the Bolsa Bay, a salt-water estuary. Bordering the bay are hundreds of acres of salt marshes, some of the largest remaining such habitats in Southern California.
Naval Air Station Los Alamitos Naval Outlying Landing Fields were a set airfield near Naval Air Station Los Alamitos to support the training of US Navy pilots during World War 2. The support airfields are called Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF). For the war, many new trained pilots were needed. The Naval Outlying Landing Fields provided a place for pilots to practice landing and take off without other air traffic. The remotes sites offered flight training without distractions. Most of the new pilots departed to the Pacific War after training. The Outlying Landing Fields had little or no support facilities. Naval Air Station Los Alamitos opened in 1942 and was transferred to the US Army in 1977 as Los Alamitos Army Airfield. Most of the Outlying fields closed in 1945, having completed the role of training new pilots. To open the needed Outlying Landing Fields quickly, the Navy took over local crop dusting and barnstorming airfields. Naval Air Station Los Alamitos was also called Los Alamitos Naval Reserve Air Base. During the war Marine Corps Air Station El Toro also used the outlying Landing Field. The Timm N2T Tutor was the most common plane used for training on the outlying landing fields.