![]() ![]() The United States needed extra bases to consolidate its defense in the Caribbean. Britain had been severely affected by the general attrition of operations at sea, particularly in loss of destroyers. Meanwhile, the German submarine campaign was being prosecuted with telling effect. Thomas's geographic proximity to Puerto Rico, the contract then under way at San Juan was expanded on July 8 to include the work on the neighboring island. The Canal Zone, and a third on July 1, for Guantanamo. Two contracts were awarded on June 17 and July 11 for work in Thomas.ĭevelopment of the bases recommended by the Hepburn Board began immediately. Facilities for ten patrol squadrons were scheduled for the air station at St. ![]() The strategically located air station already under construction at San Juan was to be expanded to accommodate six patrol squadrons and two carrier groups, with additional facilities for the temporary use of two patrol squadrons with tender support. Guantanamo, under the new program, was to furnish complete facilities for three patrol squadrons, eight carrier squadrons, and four additional patrol squadrons with tender support. The program for the development of shore facilities was immediately revised upward, and the scope of the Caribbean bases redefined. The President signed the bill on June 14, 1940. Recognizing that security hinged on ability to defend ourselves, Congress, pursuant to the recommendations of the Navy Department, authorized an additional 11-percent expansion in combatant-ship tonnage, with a concomitant increase in naval aircraft to 10,000 planes. Meanwhile, as 1939 drew to a close, the initial success of Axis aggression in Europe and the increasing submarine sinkings in the Atlantic, resulted in Congress again reviewing naval requirements. The initial construction effort in the Caribbean area began in October with the award of a fixed-fee contract for the air-station development at San Juan, Puerto Rico. Thomas, a small airfield occupied by the Marine Corps was to be expanded to support a Marine squadron of 18 planes on a permanent basis, and the adjacent waterfront was to be developed to serve a patrol-plane squadron in a tender-based status.įor the Canal Zone, where the Navy maintained a naval air station for patrol planes and a submarine base at Coco Solo, the board recommended an increase in the air facilities sufficient to accommodate seven squadrons of patrol planes, with a supporting industrial establishment capable of complete engine overhaul, and the establishment of a naval station at Balboa, on the Pacific end of the Canal, to support submarines, destroyers, and smaller craft.įor Puerto Rico, the board recommended the development of Isla Grande in San Juan harbor as a secondary air base, to contain facilities for one carrier group, two patrol-plane squadrons, complete engine overhaul, and berthing for one carrier.Ĭongress approved the base program as recommended by the Hepburn Board in May 1939, and partial financing was provided in the 1940 appropriation bill. ![]() Hepburn Board recommendations called for development of Guantanamo into a fleet operating base with airport facilities to accommodate one carrier group and one patrol squadron. With the exception of a radio station at San Juan, Puerto Rico, the naval shore establishment in the Caribbean in 1939 was confined to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba the Panama Canal Zone and a small area on the island of St. World War II development of the naval shore establishment throughout the Caribbean and Central American area divides itself broadly into two phases the defense period and the war period.Īlthough the defense period is considered as beginning in July 1940, the construction program, as it evolved in the Caribbean area, dates from the fall of 1939, when the expansion of existing bases was begun, in line with recommendations of the Hepburn report. ![]()
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