U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY HAER Hl … · 2017. 4. 3. · U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Station Ford Island}

U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY (Ramp 4) (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Air Station Ford Island, Facility No. S360) Southern tip of Ford Island, near Lexington Boulevard Pearl Harbor Honolulu County Hawaii

PHOTOGRAPHS

WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD PACIFIC GREAT BASIN SUPPORT OFFICE

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

1111 Jackson Street Oakland, CA 94607

HAER Hl-58 Hl-58

Location:

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD

U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Station Ford Island)

(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Ramp 4) (Facility No. S360)

Southern Tip of Ford Island, near Lexington Boulevard Pearl Harbor Naval Base City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii

U.S.G.S. Pearl Harbor Quadrangle, Hawaii, 1999. 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic) (Scale -1 :24,000)

HAER No. Hl-58

Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates 4.607190.2361850

Date of Construction: 1922

Engineer & Builder: Unknown

Present Owner: U.S. Navy

Present Use: Not in use

Significance: Facility No. 8360 is associated with the establishment of Naval Air Station facilities on Ford Island in the 1920s. It reflects the Navy's use of seaplanes during this era of early aviation. Facility No. 8360, constructed in 1922, is the oldest extant seaplane ramp on Ford Island. Facility No. 8360 received damage during the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941, as the hangars and planes targeted in the attack were situated near it and on it. It is a contributing property to the Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark.

Prepared by: Mason Architects, Inc. 119 Merchant St., Suite 501 Honolulu, HI 96813

Date of Final Report: November 2005

AMEC Earth & Environmental, Inc. 3375 Koapaka Street, Suite F251 Honolulu, HI 96819

Description:



HAER No. Hl-58 (Page 2)

Facility No. S360 is located on the southern tip of Ford Island. This concrete ramp slopes on a northeast-southwest axis into the waters of Pearl Harbor from the concrete apron around the original seaplane hangar (Building No. 6) site. A 1992 training center (Facility No. 464) consisting of three connected buildings is located at the northeast (inland) end of the runway, on the former hangar's apron. Some kiawe trees grow in the unpaved ground on its southeast side. A concrete "beach" extends north from the runway.

Facility No. S360 is a sloping ramp of about 10% grade which extends below the waters of Pearl Harbor. The dimensions of the seaplane runway can be measured in different ways, since pavement abuts it to the north and northeast. The Navy's data base lists the length of this facility as 11 O' and its width as 600', which evidently includes the paved area to the north of the original runway (U.S. Navy 1995: 70). No 1922 drawings of the runway were located, but on a 1924 map its length and width are shown as approximately 130' x 150' (U.S. Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor 1924). On a 1955 drawing (no. 672314) the length of the ramp is shown as 133'-0", with about 53' submerged at mean low water (MLW) and about 80' exposed from edge of the MLW line to the top of the slope.

An irregularly shaped apron, a more level section of concrete pavement built at the same time as this ramp, extended from the top (northeast) edge to the former seaplane hangar. The apron is visible in the 1925 photo reproduced in this report, and its extent is also indicated on the photo site map. The maximum dimension (both length and width) of this apron was originally about 350', but additional paving has been built abutting it, obscuring its original shape.

About 1933 a wide sloping strip of concrete pavement (approximately 400' by 107') was built running along the water's edge between this first Navy seaplane ramp and a second one (built in 1926 but not extant). The width dimension indicates this concrete slope is now considered part of Facility No. S360 in the Navy's database. It was called a "seaplane beach" on historic photos (National Archives II 1934). This generally rectangular "beach" slopes down (at about a 10% gradient) to the west, with its long axis (its width measurement) running north-south. The 1933 pavement also includes triangular sections, due to the change in axis from the seaplane runway to the seaplane beach. The 1933 drawing (no 117134) for this beach shows that about 30' of the 107' slope was below MLW. The drawing also notes the thickness of the inland half of the concrete pavement was 5" thick with one layer of metal mesh reinforcing, while the concrete of the lower half was 6" thick. On the underwater edges, or header part of the paving, the thickness increased in the last few feet to 1'-5" thick. These headers abutted a 5'-0" thick wall of rock fill, about 3' below MLW. Since photo captions and the drawing for this seaplane beach mention cofferdams, almost all the pavement was

U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Station Ford Island}

(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Ramp 4) (Facility No. 5360)


apparently poured in place. Only two small strips of precast concrete slabs (each a maximum of 5'-0" x 6'-0") were installed, at the junctures where the 1933 beach abutted the underwater portions of earlier seaplane ramps.

Ten "mooring rings" were originally installed on the seaplane beach, spaced at 44'-0" on center. These consist of ten 4"-diameter rings used to tie down the seaplanes. The rings are secured by eyebolts embedded in the concrete, and these are in 5 ~"-diameter recesses in the pavement which originally had metal cover plates 7 Y-i" in diameter. Two "service outlets," or valve boxes, each about 2' square, were also constructed at the inland edge of the seaplane beach; these allowed the aircraft to hookup to water and gasoline pipes.

Facility No. S360 is built of reinforced concrete, but no original drawings were found of its construction details. A photo from 1922 shows that the lower portion of this runway is made of precast concrete slabs, which were set in place using a floating derrick (National Archives II 1922). The photo suggests that the remainder of the seaplane ramp, the portion above the MLW line, was constructed after these lower slabs were set in place, probably of poured-in-place concrete.

Facility No. S360 has two patched areas in its concrete surface, apparently repaired after the December 7, 1941 attack. There are radiating smaller indentations in the pavement around one patch at the top of the ramp, believed to be shrapnel scars. A larger repair area is also evident in the concrete lower on the ramp. The damage marks in the concrete are further discussed in the history section.

Historical Context: Refer to HABS No. Hl-382 for an overview of the history of Ford Island. The joint use of the island by both Army and Navy aviation had been decided in 1917, but by 1927 the need for expansion of both branches was recognized. It was not until the late 1930s that Army aviation activities incrementally relocated to Hickam Air Field.

The Army had built two seaplane runways on the west side of the island before the end of 1918 (U.S. Army Museum 1918). In addition to seaplanes in this early period of aviation, the Army also had land planes and used the grassy area in the center of the island as its landing field. The Army had established their air station on Ford Island in 1918, and named it Luke Field in 1919. In 1921 $1.5 million was appropriated by Congress for a Naval Air Station on Ford Island (Landauer 1999: 241 ). By August 1922 work had begun on this first Navy seaplane runway. Facility No. S360 was built in conjunction with the Navy's first seaplane hangar (Building No. 6, see HAER No. Hl-5).


(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Ramp 4) (Facility No. S360}


Navy seaplane operations in Hawaii began in December 1919 at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, near the area that became the Repair Basin. Navy planes were moved to Ford Island in January 1923. The early seaplanes did not have wheels and were removed from the water on a carriage (Dodge 2002). The ramps and wheeled carriages allowed the seaplanes to be brought up on land for fueling, servicing, loading, or parking between sorties. Beach crews maneuvered a seaplane's floating hull onto the carriage, which was then towed up the runway. Later flying boats were designed with a hole in the hull to allow insertion of an axle, to which tires could be mounted on either end. In addition, a small wheel was attached to a triangular assembly on the tail of the plane (Slackman 1985: 4).

World War I led to many developments in plane design, and "[N]aval Aviation's outstanding technical product of the war was the long-distance flying boat" (Naval Aviation History Office 1997: 23). Because seaplanes were not dependent on runways (which might be non-existent, too short, or perhaps oriented with a cross wind at any given location or weather condition), they had advantages over land planes in the early decades of aviation.

Additional seaplanes were added to the Navy's air station on Ford Island during the 1920s. In 1926 another seaplane hangar (Facility No. 37, later relocated) and a second seaplane runway was built, to the north of the first hangar and runway. A January 1926 photo shows them both under construction (National Archives II 1926). This second seaplane runway was covered by Facility No. 284 (see HABS No. Hl-370) in 1946. The development of additional seaplane facilities on Ford Island in the 1930s is discussed in HAER No. Hl-57. More seaplane ramps were built in the early 1940s (see HAER No. Hl-59).

Related facilities were constructed near this runway. By 1924 a small boat basin, with four finger piers, had been built out from the north corner of the seaplane runway, and a small armory and ordnance repair shop was located near its east corner. The boat basin piers extended from a coral fill breakwater. By 1932 only the outermost finger pier remained, because there was no longer adequate water depth at the inner ones. By 1936 the breakwater and pier had been removed. This may have been done during the construction of the adjacent seaplane beach circa 1933.

A pilot in patrol squadron VP-22, which was housed in seaplane hangar #1 (Facility 6), described the typical daily patrols, in the months just before the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. They did not have enough planes to cover the whole 360 degrees around the islands, so typically a group of six seaplanes covered a 60-degree wedge of smaller pie-shaped sectors, flying one thousand miles out and back, in about 18 hours (Moorer 1981: 89). The patrols were all based on visual sightings; no radar equipment for planes was yet available.




Just prior to the Japanese attack the military's planes, at all Hawaii air stations, were ordered to be "disarmed and parked close together" for ease of patrolling against sabotage, which was more expected than an aerial attack (Weis 2001: 71 ). The seaplanes and related facilities at the south corner of Ford Island were one of the early targets of the attack to prevent interference by American planes. One officer reported that the bomb which struck the "Patrol Squadron Twenty-Two parking area (ramp #4) . . . is believed to be the first one dropped on Ford Island or the adjacent ships;" he also stated that "one bomb struck the underwater portion of ramp number four" (O'Beirne 1941 ). The same report noted the damage to the hangar (Building No. 6) adjacent to this ramp was due to a bomb igniting the small arms magazine in its northeast corner. Nearby patrol (VP) and scout-observation (VSO) planes were damaged by direct hits as well as by shrapnel, concrete chunks, and building parts falling from the nearby strikes. The Commanding Officer (C.O.) of the Naval Air Station was one of the first to arrive at the burning hangar, which was "surrounded by wrecked and burning VP and VSO planes." The Fire Department soon arrived, but reported there was no water to fight the fires. The C.O. and the men of a patrol squadron "started to pull the undamaged planes (mostly VSO) away from the burning ones" (Shoemaker 1941 : 1 ).

After the attack, an official report of damage at the Naval Air Station was filed, including these remarks about this seaplane ramp:

One bomb landed just below Ramp 4 causing one slab of this ramp to be raised approximately 6 inches. Work to repair this ramp will be started in the very near future. The ramp has not been entirely placed out of service as [only] a slab which is approximately 60 inches in width was affected and it is still possible to launch and beach planes (Ford Island Dad's Club 1975: [53]).

Various types of weapons were used in the Japanese attack; according to an ordnance study, all of the anti-land bombs (twenty-seven 250 kilogram, Type 98 bombs) targeted the area of the 1922 hangar (Building No. 6) and seaplane runway (Adams and De Virgilio 1993: G-4 and G-5). This study states that during the first wave of the attack, nine such bombs were dropped, but two were duds. All the damage in this area during the attack was caused by seven 250-kilogram bombs delivered from dive bombers. All 18 bombs of this type that the high-altitude bombers released in the second wave of the attack were said to have missed this targeted area due to the dense smoke from fires ignited by the first wave.

A map of the bomb strikes in this area, developed by a military historian (Wenger n.d.), is included with this report, along with a survey of visible bomb crater patches and strafing marks at the south end of Ford Island (Helber Hastert & Fee 2001 ). Wenger's bomb strike locations appear to



HAER No. Hl,;58 (Page 6)

generally correspond to the markings mapped in the 2001 survey. There are a few exceptions. The southernmost one in the line of four in Wenger's map was probably the bomb that O'Beirne noted as striking the underwater portion. It is possible that either this whole precast slab, which had been raised six inches according to the damage report, was either replaced by a new slab, or, if it was just repositioned, the damage may be underwater and not mapped in 2001. The northernmost crater in the line of four on Wenger's map corresponds to an area that is no longer paved, so concrete around that crater mark was apparently removed. There is a difference in the alignment of the two bomb craters near the middle of the runway axis on the two maps. Both the Wenger map and the 2001 survey are generally compatible with the findings of Adams and De Virgilio (1993).

This ramp was listed as structure no. 7, and simply named "Runway" on a 1924 map of the Naval Air Station (U.S. Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor 1924}. On a 1933 drawing (no. 117134) for the seaplane beach this one was labeled as Runway "A" and the 1926 one was called Runway "B." These letter designations were followed when three additional seaplane runways were built about 1933 -- they were given the letters "C," "D," and "E" (see HAER No. Hl-57). When five additional seaplane ramps were built during WWII (see HAER No. Hl-59), the letters were dropped and all of them were numbered consecutively. The numbers were in geographical order around the southern part of the island, with Ramp 1 (Facility No. S357, formerly Seaplane Runway "E") being the one closest to Facility No. 39. Also during WWII, the eastern edge of the concrete apron in front of Building No. 6 (first seaplane hangar) was extended closer to the shoreline, allowing more plane parking space. After WWII the seaplane runways were assigned facility numbers starting with S.

After WWII seaplane use by the military declined. "Today the prewar emphasis upon flying boat patrol planes seems an anomaly. Through WWI I they played a major role" (Pearson 1990: 28). The PBY was a common seaplane used through most of the 1930s and into the WWII years. About 1940 "was the beginning of a new generation of larger Navy flying boats promising increased performance, armament, and payload over those of the PBYs" (Andrews 1990: 21 ). Some of the later seaplanes were amphibians, equipped with floats and wheels so that they could take off or alight on water or land. Metal corrosion in seaplanes was always a problem due to the high salinity of its operating environment. After WWII the increased numbers of airports, in addition to technical developments in helicopters and in both carrier and land-based planes, negated most advantages of seaplanes. The Navy retired its last patrol seaplanes in 1967, and its last amphibian planes in 1976 (Burgess 2005). The Naval Air Station on Ford Island was deactivated in 1962.

Sources:




No 1922 drawings of this seaplane ramp were located in Plan Files of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific. There is a useful drawing of the 1930s seaplane beach (no. 117134) that abuts this ramp and is now considered part of it. There is also a 1955 drawing (no. 672314) that shows the profile of all the extant seaplane ramps. The historic maps and photos of Ford Island, listed below, were also helpful in determining the history and original appearance of this seaplane ramp.

Adams, Jim and John F. De Virgilio 1993 Searching for Submerged Japanese Heavy Ordnance Artifacts

in Pearl Harbor. Appendix G of Pearl Harbor Naval Complex Cultural Resources Management Plan, by Paul Rosendahl, Ph.D., Inc., Mason Architects, Inc., and Maptech, Inc., 2000.

Andrews, Hal 1990 "Ready or Not ... Naval Aviation's Aircraft and Ships on the

Eve of Pearl Harbor," Naval Aviation News. Nov.-Dec. 1990, 18-23.

Burgess, Richard R. 2005 "Revival Plan," Sea Power, (publication of the Navy League of

the United States). July 2005, p. 22

Dodge, Jeffrey 2002 Comments on draft report provided by Jeffrey Dodge, Historic

Preservation Specialist, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

Ford Island Dad's Club 1975 Ford Island, Past and Present, A picture story of the United

States Navy on Ford Island from 1923 up to the present day, section titled "Official Report of Damage to N.A.S. Ford Island Resulting From the 7 December 1941 Attack." Copy of unpaginated, typescript report with photos, provided by Jeffrey Dodge, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

Helber Hastert & Fee Planners 2001 Ford Island - Strafing/Bomb Markings. Map prepared using

GPS equipment, under the supervision of Jeffrey Dodge, Historical Architect, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

Landauer, Donald A., and Lyndall B. Landauer 1999 Pearl: The History of the United States Navy in Pearl Harbor.

Flying Cloud Press: S. Lake Tahoe, California.




Moorer, Thomas 1981 "The Reminiscences of Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, U.S. Navy

(Retired)," Vol. 1. Interviewed in 1975 by John T. Mason, Jr. Oral History Department, U.S. Naval Institute: Annapolis, Maryland.

National Archives 11

var. Historic photos of seaplane ramp area dated 8/3/1922 (in RG 71-CA-153E, no. 4204), 1/18/1926 (in RG 71-CA-152A, PH no. 14219), 2/17/1930 (in RG 71-CA-153B, no. AN 41837), 1/5/1934 and 5/11/1934 (in RG 71-CA-153E, respectively PH no. 37673 and PH no. 178148) in Still Photo section, College Park, Maryland.

Naval Aviation History Office 1997 United State Naval Aviation 1910-1995. Naval Historical

Center: Washington D.C.

Naval Historical Center 1925 Photograph dated July 18, 1925, no. PH 13917, from Shore

Establishment files, NAS Ford Island, Aviation History Branch, in Navy Yard, Washington D.C.

O'Beirne, Frank 1941 Patrol Squadron Twenty-Two Report for Pearl Harbor Attack.

Memorandum to the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, dated December 13, 1941. In Enclosure E, Narrative Reports of Commanding Officers, of "Report by Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Serial 0479 of 15 February 1942," at www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/pearl/ph15.htm, accessed on 11/3/2005.

Pearson, Lee M. 1990 "Wings of Victory, Prewar Technical Development," Naval

Aviation News. Nov.-Dec. 1990, 24-29.

Shoemaker, James M. (Captain) 1941 Memorandum for File, dated December 22, 1941, Subject:

Japanese Air Raid on 7 December, Statement on. In binder of reports on attack provided by Jeffrey Dodge, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

Slackman, Michael 1985 Hangar 6, Pearl Harbor Naval Base. HAER No. Hl-5. Edited

and transmitted by Jean P. Yearby, 1987.

U.S. Army Museum Hawaii 1918 Photo 2740 of Luke Field, Ford Island in Aviation Binder II.

U.S. Navy




1995 P-164, Detailed Inventory of Naval Shore Facilities, Station, Pearl Harbor. In library of Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific.

U.S. Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor 1924 Map of Naval Air Station, Ford Island, Showing Improvements

to June 30, 1924. Drawing No. V-61. From National Archives, courtesy of Earth Tech, Inc.

Weis, Susan 2001 December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, America's Darkest Day.

Tehabi Books: San Diego, California.

Wenger, Mike n.d. Map of bomb craters from December 7, 1941 attack, based on

Naval Historical Center files and provided via Jeffrey Dodge, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

Project Information: Commander Navy Region (COMNAVREG) Hawaii has embarked on a program of documentation of historic properties within its area of responsibility, with the goal of recording historic information about each property and establishing its context of significance. This information will assist COMNAVREG Hawaii in the appropriate management of these properties, be it routine repair and maintenance for continuing use, rehabilitation for continuing use / adaptive reuse, or demolition. At this time, specific action that may affect this facility has not been determined. This report was prepared under a Historic Preservation Services contract (N62742-97-D-3502) awarded to AMEC Earth and Environmental, the prime contractor, by the U.S. Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command. The contract was funded through the Cultural Resources Program of COMNAVREG Hawaii. The photographic documentation was undertaken by David Franzen, of Franzen Photography. Location maps were made by Nestor Beltran of NAB Graphics. Between 1999 and 2001, the field work was done and the draft of this report was written by Dot Dye, AMEC Earth & Environmental, Inc. The report was rewritten in 2005 by Mason Architects, Inc.

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Site Map




Portion of 1924 map, Drawing No. V-61, showing the south end of Ford Island (Source: National Archives, courtesy of Earth Tech, Inc.)

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(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Ramp 4) (Facility No. S360}


Construction of runway, with the floating crane used to set the precast slabs in place (Source: National Archives II, in RG 71-CA-153E, no. 4204).




First seaplane runway and hangar in 1925, with boat basin in foreground (Source: Naval Historical Center, no. PH 13917).




Two earliest seaplane runways and hangars in 1930 (Source: National Archives II, in RG 71-CA-1538, no. AN 41837)




Location of bomb craters and damage from the December 7, 1941 attack (Wenger n.d.)




Survey of remaining strafing marks and bomb crater patches, south end of Ford Island (Helber Hastert & Fee Planners 2001)

Documents

U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY HAER Hl … · 2017. 4. 3. · U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, SEAPLANE RUNWAY (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Station Ford Island}