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Farragut’s PressNEWSLETTER OF THE MARE ISLAND MUSEUM, 1100 Railroad Ave, Vallejo CA 94592

March 2016Mare Island Historic Park, a 501(c) (3) Charitable Organization

the river had to be constantly dredged because of

silting. MINSY had a limited dry dock capacity

compared to Long Beach in southern California. The

Navy needed one less nuclear capable shipyard and

Puget Sound and Pearl Harbor could handle the

nuclear submarine maintenance and refueling- and

both could also handle carriers. Mare Island was one

of the most expensive shipyards to operate and the

cost of living in the Bay Area, even then, was very high

and had an impact on required salaries.

A somewhat different perspective was offered byTime

magazine in an article published in March 1993. That

article referred to the closing of all the naval facilities

in the Oakland district of the infamous Congressman

Ron Dellums, known by his colleagues as “Berkeley

Berzerkeley” for his radical politics. As chairman of

the House Armed Services Committee Dellums

constantly slashed military budgets such as voting

against the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) and

wanted to trim military presence in Europe because he

thought the money could be better spent on the poor

and disadvantaged which won him 72% of the vote in

his district in the 1992 elections. BRAC voted to close

all five naval installations in the area including

Alameda Naval Air Station, Alameda Naval Aviation

Depot, Oakland Naval Hospital, Oakland Naval

Supply Center and Naval Publics Work Center which

were critical to the economy in Dellums’ district. In

addition to the jobs it also closed down 7000 housing

units. Secretary of Defense Les Aspin said this was

just part of what he called “the mother of all base

closings.” Dellums’ response was “if you thought it

was normal to include all five bases in my district,

you’re a hell of lot more naive than I am.” Dellums’

constituents had thought that re-electing him would

prevent the military from adversely affecting Dellums’

district. How wrong they were!

And how did this affect Mare Island? Without any

naval presence in the area there was not much need

for a ship repair facility. Still some of the employees at

MINSY held out hope that Dellums could save the

shipyard. It did not happen.

One other factor was California EPA and OSHA

regulations. Although the Navy said it was complying

with all federal regulations, CAL EPA and OSHA held

Why Mare Island ?On 1 April 2016 will be the 20th Anniversary of the

Closure/Conversion of Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

Three years earlier on a late June day, employees at the

shipyard sat around listening to radios waiting for the

final decision. By a vote of 6-0, the BRAC (Base

Realignment Commission) said the shipyard was

closing. One of the commissioners, Peter B. Bowman,

had a history of his family working here for more than

50 years and he had served here. He said he had

“searched for every way to escape the inevitable. And I

have concluded that I cannot support keeping it

open.”

Why did Mare Island close? The most important

reason, of course, was that the Cold War had ended

and there was no need for the many military facilities

still in operation. There were local factors- MINSY

was the oldest shipyard on the West Coast and people

had been screaming for years that there was a need for

modernization which would be very expensive. The

Mare Island channel was too shallow for the draft of

the larger modern ships, especially aircraft carriers, and

Farragut’s Press March 2016

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exhibitors or attendees is not specified.) That

afternoon a Reunion for Retired and Past Mare Island

Employees was held at 5:00 p.m. Cost was $20.00.

Saturday was more festive with a welcome at the front

gate with CAPT Cavender and Mayor Gloria Exline of

Vallejo, as well as the U.S. Navy band. Then a parade

started at the main gate and wound through Vallejo. It

was described as “somber” by the local paper. On

Saturday evening there was a public banquet and ”40s

Show” presented by the North Bay Opera Company.

Singers and a band presented songs popular in the

1940s, the heyday of MINSY. Cost was $35.00.

On Sunday there was a golf tournament at the Mare

Island Golf Course which was then a nine-hole course.

There was a birdwatching tour on the west side of the

shipyard for the nature loving; a Civil War battle re-

enactment for those interested in history as well as a

fly-over by the Confederate Air Force. Army National

Guard paratroopers jumped from helicopters and

there were tours of the USS Jeremiah O’Brien and

Hawaiian Chieftain. The official closure ceremony

started at 1:00 p.m. on Morton Field and official

closure occurred at 2:00 p.m. followed by an official

closure reception in Bldg. 599 which also had exhibits

and entertainment throughout the weekend.

In addition to the above there were also

“miscellaneous events” as the local papers referred to

them. These included tours of Quarters H and St.

Peter’s Chapel; jet boat rides by Navy Special Boat

Unit 11; a model submarine display and radio

controlled model submarine demonstrations; and last,

but not least, costumed characters and animals from

Marine World-Africa USA.

One participant said he felt it was presented as a

carnival, but to him it felt like it should have been “a

wake.” Tina Lass, a shipyard employee said

“Conversion? That’s politically correct, but it is a

closure. Don’t sugar coat it. We don’t have time for

that political correctness stuff.”

the Navy in California to the more stringent California

standards. When the military did not comply, they

were fined. The accumulating fines were annoying,

but the constant hassle from the California agencies

was insufferable.

And then there was one other opinion. Many in the

local area felt that the military installations in this area

became very vulnerable on the day that San Francisco

and San Francisco Mayor, Dianne Feinstein, refused to

dock the USS Missouri in the city as a national

monument. The USS Missouri was the ship on

which the Japanese government had signed the

documents of surrender after WWII.

Finally, when the list was completed, it was all or

nothing. Congress could not save one shipyard or one

base, they had to close all of them or keep them all

open. This was deliberately done to keep the typical

“pork” so often found in Congressional deliberations

out of the base closing procedures.

Choose whichever reason you like or add all the

reasons together and you get a good idea of why Mare

Island Naval Shipyard could not survive.

The closing was scheduled for 1 April 1996, April

Fools’ Day. The date was rumored to have been

chosen because the personnel at the shipyard thought

those in Washington, D.C. were a bunch of fools for

closing the shipyard.

Closure/Conversion

Celebration (?)CAPT John Cavender, commandant of Mare Island in

1996, said that the “news this shipyard was to close

came as a crushing blow to the people of Mare

Island.” On the weekend of March 30-1 April 1996 the

Closure/Conversion Celebration, as it was referred to,

was held.

On Friday morning there was an Economic Summit

and Exposition sponsored by the Solano Economic

Development Corporation which cost $100 (for

E GD

SS Jeremiah O’brien, Planning on visiting her in SF? http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/

Farragut’s Press March 2016

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Conversion ExpectationsThe closure of Mare Island in 1996 was billed as “a

both a severe blow and a wonderful opportunity for

Vallejo.” The re-use planning began in 1993 soon

after it was known that the base was going to close.

The six main goals were 1. Create jobs; 2. Create a self-

sustaining and multi-use community; 3. Preserve and

enhance the history of Mare Island; 4. Use various

economic tools to encourage development; and 5 &6

were to provide re-training and social services for

those affected by the closure.

In November 1995 the San Francisco Chronicle said that

the dreams for Mare Island included golfers to play on

the course and have dinner at a converted O’Club.

Manufacturers would turn out rail cars or computer

chips, dismantlers would work on the docks and

visitors would wander through the historic buildings. A

city representative who liaised between the base and

the city projected there would 10,000 jobs on the

island by 2020. He pointed out that the shipyard had

960 buildings, 4 dry docks, 20 ship berths, three finger

piers 1,083 residences plus 2,000 dorm units. He also

noted that the base had 14 contaminated sites that

included toxic paint residues, solvents, acids, plating

solutions and there were PCBs from the boiler shop,

base forge and battery storage which would cost $300

million to clean up. Note that there was no mention

of nuclear waste.

Also envisioned according to Conversion Program

Manager, Gil Hollingsworth, was a consortium of

education facilities which might include, among others,

Golden Gate University, California Maritime

Academy, Chapman University, Sacramento and San

Francisco State, Napa Valley and Sonoma County

community colleges as well as California University at

Davis. The site where they would be located was the

old hospital area.

At the time of closure there were five companies

located on Mare Island – XKT, a metal fabricating

company; No.1 Golf; Rafael Catering; California

Northern Railroad and Pegasus which had five ships

berthed at Mare Island ready to be dismantled.

So what has happened since then?

First the consortium of educational facilities did not

occur, but Touro University did purchase the hospital

area and now has post-baccalaureate classes which are

primarily in medical fields including nursing, public

health, physician’s assistants, pharmacy and

osteopathic medicine. There is also a master’s

program in education.

The O’Club did not convert into a restaurant, but

The US Coast Guard Heavy Ice Breaker, USCG Polar Star, in dry dock #3 being serviced by Mare Island Dry Dock, LLC

http://www.middllc.com/portfolio-view/uscgc-polar-star-2015/

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Farragut’s Press March 2016

rather serves as the dining hall for Touro students. The

golf course still exists, but has expanded to 18 holes, is

open to the public and has many devotees. It recently

came under new management and rumor has it that the

popular snack bar has changed dramatically.

Job opportunities on the shipyard are not quite as

robust as expected. The projection was for 20,000 jobs

by 2020. As of August 2015 there were 105 businesses

on the yard which employed approximately 2,400

people and occupied about 3.6 million square feet.

Larger companies include XKT, the only one of the

original companies at closure, which is building the

saddles for the Bay Bridge to compensate for bad bolts;

BluHomes which manufactures very green foldable

modular homes occupies Bldg. 680, the former inside

machine shop; Alston which occupies a building just

past the causeway bridge on Railroad Avenue

refurbishes rail cars; and Mare Island Dry Dock has dry

docks #2 and #3 and is NAVSEA qualified which

means they can work on military ships and have had

contracts to repair and overhaul NOAA, Coast Guard,

Navy, Army and Military Sealift Command ships as

well as civilian vessels.

There are over 280 private commercial and residential

property owners on the island. But most of the dorms

and houses available at closure have been torn down.

The nurses’ quarters and several now privately owned

original homes may still be found on Azuar drive.

While the original plan was to build 1400 new homes

on Mare Island, about 240 new residences, including

town homes, were built by Lennar Mare Island and

John Laing Homes. And then came 2008 and all

building stopped. No new homes have been built since

then, although the acreage is laid out for future

development by some other company.

Another objective was to preserve and enhance the

history of Mare Island. This has primarily come under

the auspices of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation

which maintains Quarters A & B and conducts tours

and rents them for receptions and special functions.

St. Peter’s Chapel’s interior is also maintained by

MIHPF and it conducts tours and has published a

book on the chapel. And the major accomplishment in

this objective was the opening of the Mare Island

Museum which now has on display artifacts and

exhibits which date from 1814 to the closing of Mare

Island including an operating periscope in the control

room of the SSBN 658, Mariano G. Vallejo (please

see last issue of Farragut’s Press for a story concerning

the progress of this exciting display). The cemetery is

open to the public and is located in the

Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve on the south

end of the island. The museum has recently published

a book about the 954 persons who are buried in the

cemetery which dates from the 1850s. About 70

historic buildings are presently in use.

As for social services there is the Global Center for

Success which assists in re-training people for

employment. The elementary school is open although

it is now called a Health and Fitness academy for

students K-8 and enrolls students from all over Vallejo.

It is interesting to note that it was claimed at closure

that there were 12 contaminated sites. Lennar claims

to have closed 101 of 113 USTS (underground storage

tanks) (89% completion); 504 of 570 PCB

contaminated sites, a man made compound often used

in electrical equipment (88% completion); and 105 of

115 FOPLs (fuel oil pipelines) (91% completion); and

more than 390 acres have been cleaned and approved

for re-use.

The aged infrastructure, some of which is more than

100 years old, has undergone improvements and is

about 32% complete. $19 million has been invested in

these improvements.

And now the Coal Sheds are being renovated to bring

in a variety of businesses. Mare Island Brewery has

already expressed its intent to occupy one of the

buildings and some of the artists presently there want

to remain. The VA and Forest Service both have

buildings on the island, so there is no question it is a

multi-use community. Is it better than it was expected

to be at closure? That is a question the answer to

which may differ depending on one’s point of view.

The DAR plaque associated with the Mare Island Cemetery grave of

Ann Arnold Key Turner, daughter of Francis Scott Key

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Farragut’s Press March 2016

Chapel NoticePlease be aware that the chapel will be closed from 11

April through 13 May 2016 for a new roof to be

installed. The interior of the chapel will be protected

with plastic and the stained glass windows will be

covered to prevent damage. No chapel tours or

weddings will be conducted during that time.

Visitors this QuarterMare Island Museum had visitors form 31 states this

quarter including Arizona, California, Colorado,

Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii,

Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland,

Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New

Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North

Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas,

Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

We also had visitors from Washington, D.C. and from

the U.S. Army dredge, Essayon. Foreign visitors

included people from China, Canada, Netherlands, the

United Kingdom, Japan and Austria.

Did You Know?• Irwin (Irv) Whitthorne started working at Mare

Island at age 16 in 1908 as an apprentice plumber.

Over 59 years, 2 months and 27 days of service he

rose to be a master plumber and group

superintendent. Mare Island built 513 ships and

Whitthorne had some input on all but 15 of those

ships. He was the longest serving employee in the

shipyard’s history. His office was located in the

building which now houses the museum.

• 22 Mare Island submarines sank 252 enemy ships

during WW II.

• 31 December 1984 was the last day anyone in the

Navy could wear a beard. It was an attempt to

improve pride and professionalism. Medically

approved beards were still be permitted.

• Mare Island and Vallejo sold over $75 million war

bonds during WW II, enough to pay for all the

submarines built here at that time.

Museum Gets Noted in New

PublicationA little more than a year ago an author, David Doyle,

came to the museum and said he wrote books on the

histories of ships. He asked if we had information on

the USS California, BB-44, which was built at Mare

Island and launched in 1919. That launching is one of

the “great stories” in Mare Island history because the

ship broke the restraining chains, went flying across the

Napa River, wiped out a ferry dock and got stuck on

the mud flats.

As we always do, we opened our files to Doyle and

asked only that he credit us if he used our material. He

spent several days here, thanked us, made a significant

donation and left. Never heard another word-until

about two weeks ago!

A book arrived, USS California, A Visual History of the

Golden State Battleship BB-44 with a letter stating that

Doyle was “certainly appreciative of your help in

bringing this book to reality,” and that he hoped we

enjoyed reading the book.

More importantly, the first part of the book which is

the construction of the Califronia, has a multitude of

pictures, many of which are credited to Mare Island

Museum which means that anyone who sees the book

will become aware that there is a museum on Mare

Island!!

As for whether the book was enjoyed, one of the

volunteers who is a former naval officer and naval

history buff said it was a ”great book!” While every

page is filled with pictures, it also contains much

information on the history of the Califronia and will

be of interest to those who like reading about the great

ships in history. And you can’t help but love the

second page of the book which has a large picture of

Prunes, a Yosemite cinnamon bear, who was the

mascot of the ship.

The book, just published, is available in the Mare

Island Museum bookstore for $33.00. If you want it

mailed to you there will be an additional charge for

postage and handling. If interested please call the

museum at (707) 557 4646 to place an order. We do

not have a secure website to accept orders.

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Farragut’s Press March 2016

Museum Assessment Program

Visit ConcludedLast fall a group of volunteers chaired by John

Chamberlin and including Tim Baskerville, Bruce

Christensen, Barbara Davis, Joyce Giles, Dennis Kelly,

Bill Linne’, JoAnn Schivley and Ken Zadwick did an

in-depth self -study of Mare Island Historic Park

Foundation as part of a Museum Assessment Program

(MAP) under the auspices of the American Alliance of

Museums (AAM). Areas studied included collections

management, interpretation, administration, finance,

governance, facilities and outreach/marketing. That

report was sent to the AAM for review and an on-site

peer reviewer was assigned to make an on-site visit to

help assess our strengths and weaknesses.

On 17-19 February, Jeff Barta, a newly retired naval

officer and an employee of the Naval History and

Heritage Command came to Mare Island as the AAM

reviewer. Barta met with members of the board of

directors, museum staff and volunteers, and members

of the community to get a clear picture of the

operations of MIHPF. He also toured the museum, St.

Peter’s, the cemetery and Qtrs. A, as well as visiting the

Naval and Historical Museum in Vallejo.

He kept repeating to each group that museums such as

Mare Island are absolutely essential to the U.S. Navy.

There is no longer a naval presence in the Bay Area,

but there is a long and very important naval history

here that needs to be told. Without museums such as

the Mare Island Museum which are in the area, the

naval history could be lost to future generations.

Barta, on his return to Washington, D.C., will submit a

written report to AAM which will, after review, be sent

to MIHPF giving suggestions for improvements and

recognizing strengths which he found while here.

Museum Starts New ProgramSeveral weeks back a representative from Lennar Mare

Island (LMI) called and asked if the museum had a

corporate membership, they wanted to become

corporate member. At the time we had no such

program, but immediately responded that we could

devise one. The question was how much should such a

membership cost? Originally we thought about having

just a donation, but after discussing it, we decided

$250.00 would be a fair amount. It is a significant

donation, but not so large as to discourage smaller

companies from becoming members. And so, LMI

became Mare Island Museum’s first corporate member.

Shortly thereafter, Mare Island Dry Dock also became

a member. We appreciate their support and hope that

other businesses will follow their lead and thus help the

museum to preserve the history of Mare Island Naval

Shipyard which is so historically important not only to

the northern California area, but also to the United

States Navy and American history.

Financial support is critical to the museum because we

get no government subsidies from city, state or the

federal government. Like all residents and businesses

on Mare Island, we have to pay CFD (Community

Facility District) fees - our present assessment is

$3400.00 per month. You can understand that it is

virtually impossible to raise that amount from

admissions, tours and rentals.

If your business is willing to help support the museum,

please go to the last page of this newsletter and you will

find a form to fill out and return to the museum for

membership. The benefits of membership are listed

on the form and all donations are tax deductible.

Need a Program??The museum has recently done two presentations at the

California Veterans Home in Yountville of the History of Mare

Island, a Power Point presentation which lasts approximately

one hour and covers the history of Mare Island from its

establishment to the lengthening of the USS Parche. It also

covers some of the special attractions on Mare Island. The

presentation has been done for a women’s club, a history

club, a Rotary meeting, the McCune Collection and at a

museum in Vacaville. It has been well received each time.

If you need a program for your club or group and would be

interested in having the History of Mare Island, please contact

Barbara at (707) 557-4646 (10-2 M-F) or via email at

mihp46@att.net There is no charge!

Mare Island Builds Ship from

Cast-Offs!One of the major problems for Mare Island was to find an

escort ship when a submarine after overhaul or re-fueling

needed to go out on sea trials. The escorts were to monitor

diving safety via underwater telephone and to provide

electronic sonar test support. In the past costly time delays

occurred because private ships or Navy ships were not

available, or because of a last minute delay in preparing a

ship an escort would have to return to San Diego after

having sailed north to perform escort duties, again at

substantial cost.

So Mare Island proposed building its own escort ship from

discarded materials. Darryl Manzer, project

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Farragut’s Press March 2016

manager, was quoted as saying, “They said we couldn’t

do it. They said we couldn’t find a ship for free,

couldn’t repair it and convert it on or shoestring

budget, couldn’t recruit and train a crew from Mare

Island, and couldn’t be ready for the USS Flasher sea

trials. But we did it, we did it all!”

The Pacific Escort started as a retired Army ship

sitting in Stockton waiting to be towed to sea to be

used in naval gunner practice. Her spare parts and

equipment came from military surplus supplies, foraged

through by Mare Island employees and Naval Reserve

sailors. The labor was done primarily done by the

reservists and apprentices from the shipyard. The

apprentices were being trained while working on the

old ship originally built in 1944 and being rebuilt in

1985.

Some of the parts were so old that they were frozen

solid and bolts had to be cut off and parts had to be

sawed in half and rigged out of the interior. They were

always finding surprises – AC and DC power in the

same box. Systems had been modified so many times

that there were no schematics and they would have to

trace the system from one end to the other.

When the ship neared completion, it was time to find a

crew. 400 people applied for the 20 available slots.

Most had experience on Navy, Coast Guard or private

ships. First Mate Don Borgen spent six of his 20 years

in the Navy on harbor tugs in the San Francisco Bay

area. Cook Cari Quinnell worked on her father’s

fishing boat. Her special skill- she had used a diesel

stove to cook which was like the stove on the Pacific

Escort. The ship’s captain, Mike Irvine, had served as

a lieutenant commander on nuclear subs. When the

crew was asked what they liked most about serving on

this ship, all replied that it was the camaraderie.

Having the Pacific Escort at Mare Island was like

having a car waiting in the driveway whenever needed.

Now when a sub needed an escort ship, Pacific

Escort was ready to go and at a great cost savings to

the U.S. Navy. She also assisted Point Mugu Naval

Station in doing research, served as MINSY’s own

ambassador to the fleet and was just one more example

of Mare Island’s Can Do spirit.

Amazonsmile.com!Do you order books or various other things from

amazon.com? If so, they have a new program called

amazonsmile.com which donates .5 of 1% of all

qualifying purchases to any charity or non-profit you

Mare Island Museum Hours10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Weekdays

10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. First and Third WeekendsTel: (707) 557-4646

Shipyard tours by appointment, please call:(707) 664-4746 or (707) 280-5742

Preserving the history of Mare Island

Darryl Manzer, the man behind the

Pacific Escort. Read Mr. Manzer’s

personal accounts of his visit to Mare

Island Museum and seeing the cased

model of Pacific Escort here:

http://tinyurl.com/PacificEscort

choose. You can change the charity at any time or opt

out of the program if you wish. While the percentage

is not great, consider how much gets spent on Amazon

each day. One of the non-profits listed is Mare Island

Historic Park Foundation. We would be most grateful

if you would sign up for amazonsmile and choose us as

you charity.

Coming Events

MIHPF Board Meeting

April 25th, 2016

10:00 A.M.

Quarters A

POC: Ken Zadwick, (707) 557-0662

Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon

April 29th, 2016

11:45 A.M.

Museum

POC: Mare Island Museum

(707) 557-4646 or (707) 280-5742

For further information on any of these events contact the

museum at mihp46@att.net or call (707) 557-4646

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Mare Island Museum Membership 1100 Railroad Avenue, Vallejo, CA 94592

(707) 557 4646 mihp46@att.net www.mareislandhpf.org

The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation keeps alive the history of Mare Island Naval Shipyard and chronicles its shipbuilding

activities in the museum, as well as preserving the most historic buildings – St. Peter’s Chapel, the Shipyard Commander’s Mansion

and Building 46, the oldest building on the island dating from 1855. The shipyard founded in 1854 by Commander David G. Farragut,

first admiral in the USN, was the first naval installation on the West Coast and was an important contributor to success in World

War II in the Pacific. It also played a prominent role in the Cold War by building 17 nuclear submarines. We invite YOU to become a

part of this endeavor by becoming a member of the Mare Island Museum and supporting its work.

Benefits of Membership:

Free Admission to the Mare Island Museum (Bldg 46) for the year of partnership

10% discount on purchases in gift shop

Advance notice via email of new exhibits or events sponsored by the foundation

Can loan materials and books from museum library

Free newsletter via email

Helping to preserve the history of Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Membership Levels: (All partnerships are for one (1) year and are fully tax deductible)

Individual $25.00 – Admits partner named on card

Out of State $20.00 – Admits partner named on card

Family $40.00 – Admits two household members and their children or grandchildren 12-18 (under 12 are free)

Student $15.00 – Admits student named on card with a student ID card

Corporate $250.00 – Admits corporation rep and guests, publicity

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Mare Island Museum Membership Application

Name/Corporation __________________________________________________________________ Date _________

Street Address_____________________________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip Code_________________________________________________________________________________

Phone____________________________ Email Address____________________________________________________

Membership Level:

____Individual $25 ____ Out of State $20 ____Family $40 ____ Student (with ID) $15 ____Corporate $250

Visa____Mastercard ____American Express____ Card number _______________________________________________

Exp. Date______ Security Code:__________ (4 digit number)

Make checks payable to MIHPF. Remit to: ATTN; Membership

Mare Island Museum

1100 Railroad Ave, Vallejo, CA 94592

(For Office Use Only) ____L ____D ____E Received by:_______________ Date:______________________