The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles (40 km) northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the city of Vallejo. MINSY made a name for itself as the premier U.S. West Coast submarine port as well as serving as the controlling force in San Francisco Bay Area shipbuilding efforts during World War II.
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at Naval Air Station North Island, California.
USS Boise (CL-47) was a light cruiser of the Brooklyn class in the United States Navy. The cruiser was named for Boise, the capital city of the state of Idaho. Commissioned in 1938, she saw extensive service during World War II, taking part in fighting in the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters. Following the war the ship was decommissioned in 1946 and lay idle until sold to Argentina in 1951. Renamed Nueve de Julio, the ship remained in service with the Argentinian Navy until 1978, after which she was taken to Brownsville, Texas and scrapped in 1983.
USS Ward was laid down as a 1,247-long-ton (1,267 t) Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, later converted to a high speed transport in World War II. She was responsible for the first American-caused casualties in the Pacific in World War II when she engaged and sank a Japanese midget submarine before Japanese aircraft arrived in the attack on Pearl Harbor, killing both crewmen on board.
USS Chandler (DD-206/DMS-9/AG-108) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was the only ship named for William Eaton Chandler, who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1882 to 1886.
USS Lamberton (DD-119)/(DMS-2) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy in commission from 1918 to 1922 and from 1930 to 1946. She saw service during World War II. She was the only ship named for Benjamin P. Lamberton, a rear admiral who served with Admiral Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 during the Spanish–American War.
USS Elliot (DD-146) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II, first reclassified as DMS-4, and later reclassified as AG-104.
USS Arthur Middleton (AP-55/APA-25) was the lead ship of the Arthur Middleton-class attack transports and was in service with the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946. She was named for Founding Father Arthur Middleton and was scrapped in 1973.
USS Bobolink (AM-20/AT-131/ATO-131) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
USS Finch (DE-328) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and from 1956 to 1969. From 1951 to 1954, she was loaned to the United States Coast Guard where she served as USCGC Finch (WDE-428). She was scrapped in 1974.
USCGC Onondaga (WPG-79), a United States Coast Guard cutter, was built by Defoe Boat Works in Bay City, Michigan, commissioned on 11 September 1934. From its commissioning until 1941, Onondaga was stationed at Astoria, Oregon, where she performed important law enforcement duties and rendered much assistance to ships in distress. Each year she patrolled the annual pelagic seal migration to the Pribilof Islands, and she attempted to prevent out of season halibut fishing.
USS Robin (AM-3) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
USS Turkey (AM-13) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper the U.S. Navy, thus named after the bird, not after the country which in 1917 was an enemy in the ongoing World War I. The minesweeper was acquired by for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
USS Widgeon (AM-22/ASR-1) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. Later converted to a submarine rescue ship. Widgeon was named by the Navy after the widgeon, a freshwater duck.
USS Obstructor (ACM-7) was a Chimo-class minelayer in the United States Navy during World War II.
USS Argonne (AP-4/AS-10/AG-31) was a Design 1024 cargo ship built under United States Shipping Board contract by the International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, Pennsylvania, for the United States Department of War. Named Argonne for the U.S. Army's Meuse-Argonne campaign in World War I, she was completed in 1920, delivered to the War Department in December 1920, laid up in February 1921, and loaned to the Navy on 3 November 1921. Accepted preliminarily by the Navy on that date, she was commissioned as Argonne on 8 November 1921 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The ship was permanently transferred to the Navy 6 August 1924 by Executive Order.
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, named after Antares, the brightest star in constellation Scorpius. She earned two battle stars in service during World War II.
USS Majaba (AG-43/IX-102) was the Design 1049 cargo ship Meriden built in 1919 by the Albina Engine & Machine Works, Portland, Oregon. All the ships were requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for World War I service. The ship was bought by the E. K. Wood Lumber Co., of San Francisco, California in 1923 and renamed El Capitan. The ship was chartered by the U.S. Navy through the War Shipping Administration (WSA) in April 1942 and commissioned as Majaba.
USS Hewell (AG-145/AKL-14) was a Camano-class cargo ship constructed for the U.S. Army as FS-391 shortly before the end of World War II. FS-391 operated with a U.S. Coast Guard crew in the Southwest Pacific area. The ship was acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1948. She was configured as a transport and cargo ship and served with the U.S. Pacific Fleet – including highly decorated service during the Korean War – until decommissioned in 1955.
USS Yokes (APD-69), ex-DE-668, was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1944 to 1946.
United States