by smithtalk » Tue Jul 18, 2006 4:01 am
In June of 1943, the Secretary of the Navy authorized the establishment of the Amphibious Training Base in the San Diego area to meet wartimes demands for trained landing craft crews. These crews were deployed to the South Pacific area of operations, where their successful and historical efforts were contributory to the conclusion of World War II. The streets of the base bear the names of those famous battles which led to the defeat of the Japanese Empire: Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Tulagi, and Bougainville, to name a few.<br><br>In 1946, the base was renamed Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado and its primary mission was changed to that of providing major administrative and logistical support to the amphibious units which are located on the base. The base also conducts research and tests of newly developed amphibious equipment.<br><br>The property itself was formed by land-fill, dredged from the bottom of the San Diego Bay. Even today the water table is but a few feet below the surface. The base has remained in an active, operational status since its initial establishment. In 1952, a military construction program was begun to replace some of the World War II "temporary" buildings and, in 1989, a comprehensive master plan outlined the future development of the base. <p></p><i></i>