u.s. naval base, pearl harbor, gasoline wharf haer hl...

U.S. NAVAL BASE, PEARL HARBOR, GASOLINE WHARF (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Air Station Ford Island) (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Berth F4) (Facility No. S377) Offshore, near the intersection of Hornet Avenue & Curtis Street, Ford Island 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-54 Hl-54

Location:

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD

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

(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Berth F4) (Facility No. S377)

HAER No. Hl-54

Offshore, near the intersection of Hornet Avenue and Curtis Street Ford Island 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) Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates 4.608300.2362510

Date of Construction: 1925

Designer:

Builder:

Owner:

Present Use:

Significance:

Prepared by:

U.S. Navy, Bureau of Yards & Docks, with additional drawings by Naval Station, Pearl Harbor

Hawaiian Dredging Company, subcontractor to Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company

U.S. Navy

Demolished

Facility No. S377 is significant as a fueling structure for the early Naval Air Station at Ford Island and for its association with the national Oil Reserve scandal known as Teapot Dome. The wharf is situated near "Battleship Row" and received damage during the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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

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

Date of Final Report: December 2005

Description:



HAER No. Hl-54 (Page 2)

Although Facility No. S377 was demolished in 2001, it is described below as it appeared prior to demolition. At that date the only facilities in the vicinity of this wharf were the Boat House and adjacent boat slips (Facility Nos. 44, S375 and S376) to the west, and the 1992 wharf (Berth F5) to the northeast. That modern wharf, where the U.S.S. Missouri is berthed, cut through the 1944 wharf (Facility No. S378) and was built abutting its outer edge.

Facility No. S377 is a T-shaped wharf which extends into Pearl Harbor from the northeastern portion of Ford Island. The section of the wharf connected to the shore is about 150' in length, and the "top" section of the T is 232'-0" long, running generally parallel to the shoreline. Both sections of the wharf are approximately 20' wide.

The wharf is constructed of reinforced concrete, with the concrete platform supported by pilings and concrete beams. The pilings, which are driven into the harbor bottom, are generally 1'-4" square but with wider pile caps. The cross beams, extending across the width of each section of the pier, are 2'-6" deep by 1 '-4" thick. There are no drawings showing the dimensions of the lengthwise beams. The lengthwise beams at the end bays of the long top-of-the-T section of the wharf appear similar in dimensions to the cross beams, but the lengthwise beams in the other bays are not as deep. These shallower lengthwise beams are supported by concrete triangles flaring out from the piling caps. The deck of the structure, also made of reinforced concrete, is atop the beams, about 4' above the high water line. The section of wharf which extends from shore is supported by beams resting on pairs of pilings, spaced about every 15'. The longer section of the wharf, paralleling the shore, typically has beams resting on three pilings, also at a 15' spacing. Each corner of this longer section has an additional piling, for extra bracing, which is driven into the harbor bottom at an angle. The deck is generally 8" thick but has thicker sections above the outer piling supports. A perimeter concrete curb, about 8" high and 8" wide with 2" x 5" slots for drainage, is integral with the deck. The longer section of the wharf has large metal cleats installed on the shore-side and harbor-side curbs, eight cleats on each, spaced about 25' apart. The curb widens a few inches under the cleat locations to accommodate their wide bases.

By 1999 most of the wharfs piping had been removed, with only one large-diameter (approximately 1 O") metal pipe remaining on its underside. This runs along the centerline of the section extending from the shore, and along the shoreline side of the central line of pilings on the long section of the wharf. It is supported by metal hangers attached to the beams it crosses under. The high water line shown on a 1942 drawing is less than a foot from the bottom of the 1 O"-diameter pipes.

When the wharf was demolished, a few pairs of pilings at the shore end were left standing to mark its location. It was observed during demolition




that the underside of the wharf, at its eastern end, retained visible signs of the harbor oil fires which resulted from the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941 (Dodge 2002). Several portions of the dock and its cleats have been salvaged; presently some are arranged along the shoreline and some create a curb at the end of the road which led to the wharf. These may serve as future interpretive elements in a historic trail around Ford Island (Dodge 2005).

Historical Context: Refer to HAER No. Hl-53 for information on waterfront facilities at Pearl Harbor and to HABS No. Hl-389 for information on pre-1938 fuel facilities at this Naval Complex.

Construction of the Ford Island gasoline wharf started in 1924, and was completed in early 1925. The original drawings for the wharf were not located, but a reference to Bureau of Yards & Docks (BY&D) drawings as well as Naval Station drawings suggests there was a standard Navy BY&D wharf design, which was modified for Pearl Harbor conditions (Atkinson and Dillingham 1924 ).

The wharf was constructed during the early build up of Ford Island as a Naval Air Station. This wharf, along with nine nearby gasoline tanks, was built under Y&D Contract #4800, according to the labels on the construction photos (National Archives II 1924-25). These were some of the fuel facilities built in exchange for government leases of naval underground oil reserve land in California. In 1922 the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company (PAPTC) had been awarded the leases and they agreed, in exchange, to build fuel facilities for the Navy (U.S. Supreme Court 1927: 3-4). The leases were a way for the Navy to obtain needed construction in the post-World War I (WWI) era when Congress was cutting back appropriations for military projects. The Navy desired more fuel storage facilities because oil prices rose after WWI, due to the great increase in the number of automobiles purchased and the subsequent rise in demand for gasoline. "Navy fuel allowances were so low that ships' movements were often restricted" (Love 1992: 540).

The fuel facilities constructed under the agreements with PAPTC, generally between 1922 and 1924, included the fuel oil tank farms on the main base at Pearl Harbor, with fueling wharfs and buildings at Merry Point, and the Ford Island wharf, pumphouse, and tanks for gasoline, which was used for aviation fuel in that period. Construction on most of these facilities was finished or nearing completion when it was revealed that the Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall, had received money from oil companies in return for issuing the leases to the oil reserves. The scandal became known as Teapot Dome, after the oil reserve in Wyoming that was also involved, but that reserve had no relation to the Pearl Harbor facilities. Fall was later convicted and sentenced to two




years in jail. One oil company executive was also sentenced to prison, but Edward Doheny, owner of PAPTC, was found innocent.

Although PAPTC held the Y&D Contract #4800 with the Navy, they subcontracted the work on the Ford Island wharf to Hawaiian Dredging Company (HOC), through their agent, the J.G. White Engineering Corporation (Atkinson and Dillingham 1924 ). HOC was not caught up in the oil reserve scandal, but they had problems getting full payment for their work, because the date of completion was 105 days after the contract completion date (Brownell 1925).

Since most of the dredging and fill work at Pearl Harbor was done by Hawaiian Dredging Company, they probably were also involved in the alterations of the water and land near this wharf. The portion of Ford Island that the wharf projects from is filled land. The island's original shoreline was about 500' further north from the base of the wharf. Offshore there was an irregularly shaped piece of land rising above the water's surface; incorporating this small vegetated islet helped to minimize the amount of fill required. Similarly, dredging was minimized by extending the length of the wharf (the base of the T) out to deeper harbor waters. A June 1924 map, a portion of which is included in this report, shows the islet shape and the areas of fill near the base of gasoline wharf, which was then under construction (U.S. Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor 1924 ).

Historic photos show that wharf construction was well underway in October 1924 and completed by February 1925 (National Archives 11 1924-25). The official date of completion was January 28, 1925 (Brownell 1925). By November 1924 most of the concrete portions of the wharf (pilings, beams, deck, and curb) were built and wooden pilings, or fenders, were being driven around its perimeter to protect the concrete. The December 1924 and January 1925 photos show the fender system also included chocks and guard timbers. The latter were large timbers fixed to the pilings, encircling the wharf at the deck level, just outside the concrete curb. A line of 11 timber dolphins provided additional protection to the harbor-side edge of the wharf. On a 1954 drawing (no. 6222874) these are labeled as 17-pile or 19-pile dolphins. However, on a 1923 drawing (no. 98277), they are shown as 16-pile dolphins. They were spaced about 60' apart in a line parallel to the wharf, with three dolphins along the harbor-side edge of the wharf, one each just off the ends of the wharf, and three additional ones extending far beyond each end of the wharf. That 1923 drawing also shows two nine-pile dolphins were located at the shore-side corners of the wharf. There were wood walkways with pipe railings built from the three central dolphins to the wharf. Historic photos and maps indicate that the dolphins were removed incrementally over the years. The first two were apparently removed because they interfered with the moorings built nearby in the mid 1930s. A 1934 photo shows four barges and a dredge tied up next to this wharf, and a pile




casting plant on shore nearby, indicating the important role of this facility in the building of the moorings (National Archives II 1934 ). During or subsequent to the construction of the Ford Island moorings in 1934-35, two dolphins closest to the F5 moorings were removed (National Archives II 1936). It was after construction of the mooring dolphin pairs around Ford Island that this wharf obtained its Berth F4 designation; before that, it had just been called the Gasoline Wharf. Maps indicate that the furthest of the remaining dolphins on the east side was removed during WWII (Fourteenth Naval District 1943 and 1946). As mentioned in a paragraph below about the December 7, 1941 attack, this was one of the dolphins damaged by the oil fires on the harbor. The 1954 drawing shows that two dolphins on the west end of the row had been removed by that year. A 1967 photo shows that all the dolphins, as well as the fenders, had been removed by then (Ford Island Dad's Club [1983]). Photos from 1990 show a low wood deck landing for small boats was built on the shore-side eastern half of the wharf (Kaya 1990).

This gasoline wharf was essential to the development of the Naval Air Station, because gasoline was used for aviation fuel until the jet age. To easily unload large amounts of this volatile fuel from supply ships, a concrete wharf with pipelines was necessary. Originally Facility No. S377 had two large (approximately 10") diameter metal pipes on its deck, one of which was used for transferring gasoline from delivery ships to the storage tanks on Ford Island, and the other for providing gasoline to ships from the tanks, presumably for planes carried on or serviced by the ships. (Prior to World War II the fuel for ships was off-loaded and dispensed at the Merry Point wharfs.) The pipes ran along the perimeter of the T shaped wharf, just inside the concrete curb. They emerged from underground at the wharf's base near the shoreline, one on each side of the deck. Each pipe followed the curb on its side of the wharf and both of them ran along the harbor-side of the wharf (at the top of the T}. This double row of pipes along the top of the T is visible in the 1925 and 1934 photos of the wharf. Two decorative street lights, one installed at each end of the main wharf section, are also seen in those early photos.

A November 1943 drawing (no. V-N15-196) shows the above-deck pipes removed and a new system of pipes added beneath the deck of Facility No. S377. This consisted of: two 10" pipes, one for receiving and one for issuing gasoline, a 6" pipe for motor fuel, a 4" pipe for diesel oil, and a 4" pipe for fresh water. These pipes extended out from shore and then had pipe tees under the main deck to run to both ends of the wharf. Shorter runs of pipes then were installed, with more right angles, to create three ship connections from each pipe, that came up next to the outer curb, near both ends and about the middle of the wharf.

At the beginning of the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Neosho was moored at Facility No. S377, which was then known as wharf F-4. An oiler carrying aviation fuel from the west


(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Berth F4) (Facility No. 5377)


coast, the Neosho had arrived at Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941 and first unloaded some fuel at Hickam Field, then moored at Facility No. S377 around midnight, and began transferring a half-million gallons of aviation fuel to the storage tanks on Ford Island (Leu 2003). The ship had just finished transferring the aviation gasoline when the attack began (Phillips 1941 ). The Neosho was berthed between the USS California and the USS Oklahoma, near the south end of "Battleship Row," a major target of the attackers. At about 8:05 am the Neosho opened fire on the attacking Japanese planes with its battery of three 3" anti-aircraft guns and one 5" gun. At about 8:42 am the Neosho got underway, chopping her mooring lines because there was no one to assist in casting off, and backing out past the capsized Oklahoma. The Neosho crossed Pearl Harbor, firing her guns at attacking aircraft and downing one plane at about 9:12 am. At 9:30 she docked at Merry Point and continued firing until about 11 :36 am (Phillips 1941 ). The Neosho received no damage but "three of her men were wounded by a straffing [sic] attacker'' (Naval Warfare Division, Ships History Branch 2004 ).

The commanding officer of the Neosho reported "chopping lines to bollard on piles off each end of dock as no assistance was available for casting them off' (Phillips 1941 ). However, the commanding officer of the Naval Air Station praised several individuals for "disregard of personal safety and with complete devotion to duty, ignoring the enemy bombs and machine gun bullets"; these were the fueling detail, Ensign D.A. Singleton, A-V(S), U.S.N.R., A.L. Hansen, C.M.M. (PA), U.S.N., and A.C. Thatcher, A.M.2c, U.S.N., who "removed the hoses from the NEOSHO, cast off her lines ... and opened the sprinkler valves to the tanks" (Naval Air Station 1942: 2). This somewhat contradictory reporting is not surprising, given the confusion of the situation. Although sailors averted an explosion of the Neosho and the tanks on Ford Island, there were still fires to fight at this wharf. During the attack, an oil fire on the waters caused by the leaking and burning battleships damaged the eastern end of Facility No. S377. The two wooden dolphins at this end were also set ablaze by burning oil. After the foamite from a fire department truck failed to extinguish the fire, a bucket brigade put it out (Shoemaker 1941: 2).

The wharf was heavily used during World War II and continued in use after. It did not receive a facility number until after WWII. Facility No. S377 became obsolete as an aviation fuel wharf when the Naval Air Station on Ford Island closed in 1962. It was still useful as a berthing wharf, although by 1967 its dolphins and fenders were removed, and so it was not suitable for large ships. It was used as a setting in the film "Pearl Harbor" and was demolished shortly after filming was completed in 2001.

Sources:




Only two drawings (nos. V-N15-196 and 622874), dated November 1943 and April 1954, respectively, were listed in the database of the Plan Files of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific. One 1923 drawing of the wharf by the Navy Bureau of Yards & Docks (BY&D) was also found there (no. 98277), although not listed under this facility's number in the database. Comparison of that BY&D design to the 1943 drawing and to photos shows that the earlier one was not followed exactly. Another BY&D drawing and several others by the Naval Station were cited in a 1924 construction agreement (see first bibliographic entry below), but these drawings were not found.

Atkinson, R.W. and W.F. Dillingham 1924 Agreement between Pan-American Petroleum and Transport

Company and Hawaiian Dredging Company, Ltd. for Wharf at Ford Island, dated April 5, 1924. In B.P. Bishop Museum Archives, Dillingham Collection, Hawaiian Dredging Box 5, Folder F-10.

Brownell, E.H. 1925 Letter to J.G. White Engineering Corporation dated February

12, 1925, from District Public Works Officer. In B.P. Bishop Museum Archives, Dillingham Collection, Hawaiian Dredging Box 5, Folder F-10.

Dodge, Jeffrey N. 2002 Notes on the draft of this report by the Historical Architect at

the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

2005 Phone conversation with Ann Yoklavich of Mason Architects, Inc. on December 7, 2005.

Ford Island Dad's Club [1983] Ford Island - Past and Present: A picture story of the United

States Navy on Ford Island from 1923 up the present day. Produced by author: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Fourteenth Naval District 1943 Pearl Harbor, T.H. Naval Air Station, Showing Conditions on

June 30, 1943. Map no. V-N1-129. Copied from Fourteenth Naval District map book at Archives of Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Port Hueneme, California.

1946 Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor (Ford Island), Conditions as of January 1st, 1946. Map no. 2000. Filed under RG 71 1405-3-44 at Cartographic Section, National Archives II, College Park, Maryland.

Kaya, Jill C.

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

(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Berth F4} (Facility No. S377}


1990 Draft Historic American Engineering Record report on Berthing Wharf S377 (Wharf F-4 ). Prepared by Structural Engineer in Navy Public Work Center, Pearl Harbor, with photographs by David Duncan. In files of Navy Region Hawaii.

Leu, Del 2003 "The USS Neosho (A0-23)" and "The USS Neosho at Pearl

Harbor," from website www.delsjourney.com accessed on September 21, 2005 and December 7, 2005.

Love, Robert W. 1992 History of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1941. Stackpole Books:

Harrisburg, PA.

National Archives 11 1924-25 Photos dated Oct. 7, 1924 (No. PH 527), Nov. 18, 1924 (No.

PH 552), Dec. 3, 1924 (No. 5269), Jan. 7, 1925 (Nos. 5282 & 5283), Jan. 21, 1925 (No. PH 13515), Feb. 5, 1925 (no. 5312), Feb. 17, 1925 (No. PH 13560), and March 25, 1925 (no. 5361 ), in RG 71 CA, Still Photo Section, College Park, Maryland.

1934 Photo dated May 11, 1934 (No. PH 17847), in RG 71 CA 154F, Still Photo Section, College Park, Maryland.

1936 Photo dated July 1936 (No. 80-G-466096), in Still Photo Section, College Park, Maryland.

Naval Air Station 1942 "War Diary of U.S Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, T.H.,

7 December 1941 - 9 December 1941" dated January 25, 1942. Appendix 2 in binders of text and photos on loan from Jeffrey Dodge, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific Division 1978 U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, National Historic Landmark,

Historic Preservation Plan. Prepared for Commander, U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor.

Naval Warfare Division, Ships History Branch 2004 Neosho entry in Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, on

line version at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n3/neoshoii.htm, accessed on December 7, 2005.




Phillips, John S. 1941 Memorandum dated December 11, 1941 to Commander-in

Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Subject: "Raid on Pearl Harbor, T.H., December 7, 1941 - Report on." On webpage www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/pearl/ph58.htm, accessed on September 20, 2005.

Shoemaker, J.M. [Captain] 1941 Memorandum for file from Commander of Naval Air Station,

dated December 22, 1941, Subject: "Japanese Air Raid on 7 December, Statement on," From binder of individual reports of December 7, 1941 attack provided by Jeffrey Dodge, Historical Architect, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii.

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.

U.S. Supreme Court 1927 Opinion delivered on February 28, 1927 by Justice Butler in

case of Pan American Petroleum & Transport Co. v. United States, 273 U.S. 456. On Findlaw website at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us& vol =273&invol=456, accessed December 5, 2005.

Project Information: This facility was demolished in 2001. Consultation on the demolition was carried out in accordance with the 1979 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). [The 1979 MOA was terminated in 1999.] This report was prepared under a Historic Preservation Services contract (N627 42-97-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. The report was rewritten in 2005 by Mason Architects.




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Portion of Drawing No. V-N15-196, dated November 5, 1943 (Left side of drawing, see the following page for the right side of the wharf)


(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Berth F4) (Facility No. 5377)


Portion of Drawing No. V-N15-196, dated November 5, 1943 (Right side of drawing, see the preceding page for the left side of the wharf)

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Portion of Drawing No. V-61 - Map of Naval Air Station Ford Island, dated June 30, 1924 (Note the areas of fill from which the wharf extends and the irregularly shaped islet)

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

(U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Berth F4} (Facility No. 5377)


Historic photo dated January 21, 1925 showing the gasoline wharf nearing completion Note the recently filled land at the base of the wharf, with vegetated area in the midst of the fill corresponding to the islet shape on the 1924 map. Also note the 11 wooden dolphins. (National Archives II, in RG 71 CA 154F, photo no. PH 13515)




Historic photo dated February 17, 1925 showing the completed gasoline wharf (National Archives II, in RG 71 CA 154F, photo no. PH 13560)

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