Native name: Mokuʻumeʻume (Island of Attraction)Poka ʻAilana (Ford Island) | |
|---|---|
 Ford Island, located within Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii | |
 Nautical chart ofPearl Harbor showing Ford Island in the northeast section | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Oahu,Hawaii |
| Coordinates | 21°21′50″N157°57′37″W / 21.36389°N 157.96028°W /21.36389; -157.96028 |
| Adjacent to | East Loch,Pearl Harbor |
| Area | 441 acres (178 ha) |
| Length | 1.5 mi (2.4 km) |
| Width | 0.75 mi (1.21 km) |
| Administration | |
United States | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 368 (2000)[1] |
Ford Island (Hawaiian:Poka ʻAilana) is anislet in the center ofPearl Harbor,Oahu, in the U.S. state ofHawaii. It has been known asRabbit Island,Marín's Island, andLittle Goats Island; its native Hawaiian name isMokuʻumeʻume. The island had an area of 334 acres (135 ha) when it was surveyed in 1825, which was increased during the 1930s to 441 acres (178 ha) with filldredged out of Pearl Harbor by theUnited States Navy to deepen the harbor.
The island was the site of an ancient Hawaiian fertility ritual, which was stopped byChristian missionaries during the 1830s. The island was given byKamehameha I to Spanish deserterFrancisco de Paula Marín, and later returned to themonarchy. After the island was bought at auction by James Isaac Dowsett and sold to Caroline Jackson, it became the property of Dr.Seth Porter Ford by marriage and was renamed Ford Island. After Ford's death, his son sold the island to theJohn Papa ʻĪʻī estate and it was converted into asugarcaneplantation.
In 1916, part of Ford Island was sold to theU.S. Army for use by an aviation division in Hawaii, and by 1939 the island was taken over by the U.S. Navy as a station for battleship andsubmarine maintenance. From the 1910s to the 1940s, the island continued to grow as a strategic center of operations for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Ocean. Ford Island was at the center of theattack on Pearl Harbor and on the U.S. Pacific Fleet by the Imperial Japanese fleet on December 7, 1941. It was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1964, and theNational Trust for Historic Preservation listed the island as one of the United States' most-endangered historic sites.[2][3]
By the late 1990s, hundreds of millions of dollars had been invested in real estate development and infrastructure on and around Ford Island, including a new bridge, theAdmiral Clarey Bridge. The island continues to serve an active role in the Pacific, hosting military functions at the Pacific Warfighting Center and civilian functions atNOAA'sPacific Tsunami Warning Center. The island has been featured in films such asTora! Tora! Tora! andPearl Harbor and receives tourists from the U.S. and abroad at theUSSArizona memorial and theUSSMissouri museum.
Ford Island is inside Pearl Harbor, South Oʻahu of the Hawaiian Islands.[4] Pearl Harbor is divided into three large bodies of water: the West Loch, Middle Loch and East Loch, with Ford Island in the center of the East Loch. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and 0.75 miles (1.21 km) wide, and was enlarged from 334 to 441 acres (135 to 178 ha) between 1930 and 1940 with landfill dredged from the surrounding harbor.[5][6] The land is a relatively flat plain rising from 5 to 15 feet (1.5 to 4.6 m) above mean water level, and slopes toward Pearl Harbor.[5] It connects to the larger island of Oʻahu, surrounding Pearl Harbor, via a 4,672 ft (1,424 m) bridge at its northern tip that crosses east to Halawa Landing.[7]
The island's soil is composed primarily ofvolcanic material,lagoonal deposits andcoralline debris, with silty sand from the dredging.[5] Its volcanic material isAeolian ash, weatheredtuff andbasalt.[5] Ford Island proper is a coral outcrop.[5] There are two smaller islets near the island: Mokunui and Mokuiki.[8]
In 1991, the Navy discovered nine metals, two semi-volatileorganic compounds and apolychlorinated biphenyl in Ford Island'ssoil, groundwater andmarine sediment. Suspected sources were nine 225,000-U.S.-gallon (850-cubic-meter) fuel tanks on the east-central side of the island (from 1924 to 1954), a 4.4-acre (1.8 ha)landfill on the southwestern shore (from 1930 to 1960) and ordnance bunkers on the northeastern side.[5] An investigation suggested covering the contaminated areas with clean soil.[5] In 1994, the Navy considered removing the contaminated soil and installed six wells to monitor groundwater, but decided to follow the original recommendation in 1995 and capped the contaminated soil with topsoil and erosion-resistant vegetation (includingBermuda grass).[5] The containment system was completed in 1996.[5]
The wildlife on Ford Island is likely very similar to that onNaval Station Pearl Harbor.[9] Wildlife is sparse and dominated byinvasive species such as thehouse mouse,mongoose,brown rat,black rat,house sparrow,Java sparrow andcommon mynah.[5] An endangered owl, the endemicpueo (a subspecies of theshort-eared owl), has been seen hunting on the island.[5] Nearly all the plant life on the island is non-native,[10] includingedible cacti fromCalifornia introduced in the late 1700s by Francisco de Paula Marín.[11] The island's harbor was important to ancient Hawaiians for its ample supply of fish, includingmullet,milkfish and Hawaiiananchovy.[5] TheNational Park Service oversees and administers thePearl Harbor National Memorial sites at Pearl Harbor and Ford Island.[12]
Ancient Hawaiians called the islandMokuʻumeʻume ("isle of attraction" or "island of strife"),[13][14][15][16] after the ceremony (ʻume) held during theMakahiki festival for married couples who were having difficulty conceiving children.[13][17] In theHawaiian language the wordmoku means to cut or sever in two, as well as an island or inlet.[18][19] The wordʻume means to draw, attract or entice[20] and was used to name the ceremony for the common people.[21] Hawaii historianHerb Kawainui Kāne consideredʻume to be a courtship game.[22] Those selected forʻume (never virgins or the unmarried) would sing around a large bonfire while a tribal leader with amaile (wand) chanted, touching individual men and women.[13][14][15] Those who were touched would find a secluded part of the island to have sex.[13][14][15] Husbands and wives were not paired, and jealousy was discouraged.[13][15] Children born of these unions were considered children of the husband, not the biological father.[13][14] By 1830, this activity was forbidden by Christian missionaries.[23]
The native Hawaiian people of the area were calledKe Awalau o Puʻuloa.[24] They used the island to cultivate watermelon and to harvestpili grass for the construction ofthatched roofs.[13] According to Hawaiian legend, the goddessKaʻahupahau killed a girl on the island; remorseful, she then proclaimed a law forbidding further killing.[24] Kaʻahupa-hau's brother Kahiʻuka (sometimes referred to by historians as her son, Ku-maninini) was said to live in an underwater cavern off Ford Island[25] withKanekuaʻana, a giant water lizard which supplied food to the people ofʻEwa Beach.[24]
Although no historical records provide an exact date, researchers at theHawaiian Historical Society believe that the island was given to Francisco de Paula Marín on February 9, 1818, and later named after him for his assistance in providing weapons used by Kamehameha I to conquer the island ofOʻahu.[26] However, Marín wrote in an 1809 journal entry that he was given the island and its adjacent fishing waters as early as 1791.[6] He used the land to raise sheep, hogs, goats and rabbits as provisions for ships,[15] and grew plants and vegetables which he had imported.[6]
In 1825, AdmiralGeorge Byron, the 7th Baron Byron arrived, commandingHMS Blonde, to return the remains ofKamehameha II and QueenKamāmalu after their deaths in England ofMeasles.[27] While on Oahu, he would map the Pearl River (known today asPearl Harbor).[6] The ship's naturalist, Andrew Bloxam, spent time on Ford Island hunting rabbits and wild ducks; its surveyor,LieutenantCharles Robert Malden, called itRabbits Island.[6] In 1826,Hiram Paulding became the first American naval officer to visit the island.[6] Marín's ownership claim to the island was cloudy; Hawaiians generally refused to recognize land ownership by foreigners. Kamehameha II believed that the island had been loaned to Marín and by the 1850s the island was split betweenKamehameha IV—who purchased 214 acres (87 ha)—and High ChiefessKekauōnohi, granddaughter of Kamehameha I, who was awarded 147 acres (59 ha) in theGreat Māhele.[28] On August 28, 1865, the island was bought at public auction for $1,040 by James I. Dowsett, who sold it to Caroline Jackson for $1 on December 28.[6]
Dr. Seth Porter Ford arrived in 1851 from Boston, and practiced medicine at the U.S. Seamen's Hospital.[26][29] Ford married Caroline Jackson in June 1866, taking control of the island and changing its name from Marín Island to Ford Island.[6] When Ford died in 1866, it was transferred to his son, Seth Porter Ford, Jr.[30][31] The island was managed bySanford B. Dole on behalf of Ford's minor children until Ford, Jr. came of age and sold the island in 1891 to the John Papa ʻĪʻī land trust.[15][32][33]
Sugar had been a major export from Hawaii since CaptainJames Cook's arrival in 1778.[34] During the 1850s, the U.S. import tariff on sugar from Hawaii was much higher than the import tariffs Hawaiians were charging the U.S., andKamehameha III sought reciprocity.[35]
As early as 1873, a United States military commission recommended attempting to obtain Ford Island in exchange for the tax-free importation of sugar to the U.S.[16] At that timeMajor GeneralJohn Schofield, U.S. commander of the military division of the Pacific, andBrevetBrigadier General Burton S. Alexander arrived in Hawaii to ascertain its defensive capabilities. U.S. control of Hawaii was considered vital for the defense of the west coast of the United States, and they were especially interested inPu'uloa, Pearl Harbor.[36] The sale of one of Hawaii's harbors was proposed byCharles Reed Bishop, a foreigner who had married into theKamehameha family, had risen in the government to beHawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and owned a country home near Pu'uloa. He showed the two U.S. officers around the lochs, although his wife,Bernice Pauahi Bishop, privately disapproved of selling Hawaiian lands. As monarch,William Charles Lunalilo, was content to let Bishop run almost all business affairs but the ceding of lands would become unpopular with the native Hawaiians. Many islanders thought that all the islands, rather than just Pearl Harbor, might be lost and opposed any cession of land. By November 1873, Lunalilo canceled negotiations and returned to drinking, against his doctor's advice; his health declined swiftly, and he died on February 3, 1874.[36]
Lunalilo left no heirs. The legislature was empowered by the constitution to elect the monarch in these instances[37] and choseDavid Kalākaua as the next monarch.[38] The new ruler was pressured by the U.S. government to surrender Pearl Harbor to the Navy.[38] Kalākaua was concerned that this would lead to annexation by the U.S. and to the contravening of the traditions of the Hawaiian people, who believed that the land ('Āina) was fertile, sacred, and not for sale to anyone.[38] In 1875, the United States Congress agreed toseven years of reciprocity in exchange for Ford Island.[35][39] At the end of the seven-year reciprocity agreement, the United States showed little interest in renewal.[35]
On January 20, 1887, the United States began leasing Pearl Harbor.[40] Shortly afterwards, a group of mostly non-Hawaiians calling themselves theHawaiian Patriotic League began theRebellion of 1887.[41] They drafted their own constitution on July 6, 1887.[42] The new constitution was written byLorrin Thurston, the Hawaiian Minister of the Interior who used the Hawaiian militia as threat against Kalākaua.[40] Kalākaua was forced to dismiss his cabinet ministers and signa new constitution which greatly lessened his power.[38] It would become known as the "Bayonet Constitution" due to the force used.[40]
With support from California (because the state had profited from the import of sugar), Kalākaua again approached Congress.[35][39] When the United States still seemed uninterested in reciprocity, he threatened to forge more favorable export agreements with Australia or New Zealand.[35] Congress feared that a treaty between Hawaii and Australia or New Zealand would result in annexation by one of those countries instead of the United States.[35][39] Although Kalākaua was loath to give any foreign country land in Hawaii, he signed the treaty in September 1887.[35][39]
The Oahu Sugar Company (also known as the Oahu Sugar Cane Plantation) leased about 300 acres (120 ha) from the John Papa ʻĪʻī estate (after their purchase of the island in 1891) to harvest sugar in 1899.[15][16] The business was successful, and the company sublet land fromBenjamin Dillingham on the Waipi'o peninsula (southeast of presentWaipio) to build a 12-roller mill and railroad.[43] Sugarcane was grown and harvested on Ford Island with a network ofaqueducts from freshwater reservoirs, transported to Waipio by barge and then by rail to the mills.[43]
In 1902, the nearby estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop lost a crucial lawsuit brought by the United States to purchase land around Pearl Harbor for below its market value.[44] Although the Bishop estate valued the land at $600 per acre, the United States was only willing to pay $30 per acre.[44] A jury determined that the land would be sold to the United States at $75 per acre.[44] Facing a similar lawsuit and interest in its land on Ford Island, the John Papa ʻĪʻī estate settled with the United States to deed twenty-five acres at no cost.[44] In exchange, the U.S. dropped its suit for the entire island.[44]
The military leased sections of the north and south sides of the island—25.83 acres (10.45 ha) for $3,000—from the John Papa ʻĪʻī estate to build 6-inch (15 cm) gun batteries: Battery Boyd and Battery Henry Adair.[30][45] In 1917, the John Papa ʻĪʻī estate agreed to sell part of the Island to the United States for construction of an airfield,[16] despite the Oahu Sugar Company complaining in court that the sale would hurt their business.
In 1917, the6th Aero Squadron was created inHonolulu, withCaptainJohn F. Currey as its commander. Although 50 were assigned,[16][30][46] only 49 arrived; one deserted en route.[46] Currey chose Ford Island as the location for the new squadron and bought it from the John Papa ʻĪʻī land trust for $236,000, citing its access to water and winds as assets.[1][16][30][47] When Currey was transferred toWashington, command of the squadron was given to Captain John B. Brooks and then MajorHugh J. Knerr, who built hangars and a runway.[6][48] Early soldiers had to level the island, removing hills and boulders.[49]
All housing and major hangars were completed in 1918, including a large steel-and-wood hangar, two concrete hangars for seaplanes and flying boats, a supply warehouse, a machine shop, a photography laboratory and a powerhouse.[6] In 1919, the field was named Luke Field afterFrank Luke, a World War Iace andMedal of Honor recipient.[48][49] The U.S. Army's introduction of aviation to Ford Island triggered expansion throughout Hawaii with the development of civilian airports, the creation of the Hawaii chapter of theNational Aeronautic Association, and a national flying code.[49]
| Army Air Force aircraft at Luke Field[50] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Unit | Aircraft |
| 1919–42 | 2nd Group (Observation), later 5th Group (Observation) | — |
| 1918–27 | 6th Aero Squadron, later 6th Pursuit Squadron | N-9, R-6,HS2L,DH-4,JN-6,MB-3,Fokker D.VII |
| 1924–27 | 19th Pursuit Squadron | JN-6,MB-3,S.E.5,DH-4 |
| 1920–22, 1927–39 | 4th Aero Squadron, later 4th Observation Squadron | DH-4,O-19,OA-1,B-12,P-12 |
| 1922–39 | 23rd Squadron, later 23rd Bombardment Squadron | NBS-1,JN-6,DH-4 |
| 1923–39 | 72nd Bombardment Squadron | DH-4,NBS-1,LB-5 |
| 1930–39 | 50th Observation Squadron, later 50th Reconnaissance Squadron | O-19 |
The Navy decided that a Hawaiian base was a necessity, considering the Army field at Ford Island an ideal candidate.[51] Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor, consisting of nine officers and fifty-five men, was commissioned on December 19, 1919.[6] Although the Navy attempted to displace the Army from the island and designate it solely for naval use,U.S. Secretary of WarNewton D. Baker divided the island equally between the military branches.[52][53] The Army received the west side of the island, and the Navy the southeastern side.[54] Lieutenant Commander Robert D. Kirk-Patrick was sent to establish a naval station on the island with four airplanes and fifty-five men.[54][55] Kirk-Patrick's men had twoCurtiss HS2L flying boats and two N-9 planes salvaged from World War I, which they stored in two large canvas hangars across the harbor from the island.[6] After the naval hangars were commissioned on January 17, 1923, byLieutenant CommanderJohn Rodgers, the detachment moved onto Ford Island and receivedNaval Aircraft Factory TS,Felixstowe F5L,Curtiss H-16,Keystone PK-1 andDouglas DT type aircraft.[6][56] To accommodate ship berthing the Navy built a concrete-and-stone quay around the entire island,[6] and in 1926, they receivedVought FU,Vought VE-7 andVought VE-9biplanes.[6]
During the 1930s, the Navy contracted a $1.5 million dredging of Pearl Harbor to allow larger battleships and the fleet's carriers to enter it.[57] Work began in May 1940 resulting in 13,000,000 cubic yards (9,900,000 m3) of material dredged from the opening of Pearl Harbor to build a channel to Ford Island as well as to create aturning channel around the island.[58] Material was also dredged to deepen the West Loch, East Loch, and Middle Loch for the mooring of battleships.[58] With dredged material used as land fill, the island's size was increased from 334 acres (135 ha) to 441 acres (178 ha).[6][57]
The Navy replaced its PK, F5L, and H16 aircraft with newer models (see table below).[6] In 1933VP-8F arrived on station, and in 1935 the army bombers had become too large to be maintained and stored at Luke Field.[6][59][60] Construction began on a new Army airfield,Hickam Army Airfield, named after pioneerU.S. Army Air Corps pilotLieutenant ColonelHorace Meek Hickam.[53][59] From 1936 to 1940Pan American flew itsClipper service into Ford Island, using it as a refueling stop between the United States andAsia.[23][61] The Navy built a $25,000 boathouse, spent $579,565 on a new crew barracks and built a firehouse, water-supply and lighting systems.[6] In June 1936 the Navy lengthened the island's landing field by 400 feet (120 m), to 3,000 feet (910 m).[6] In March 1937Amelia Earhart, on her second visit to Luke Field, crashed herLockheed Electra on takeoff.[62]
| Naval aircraft at Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor in 1931[6] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Aircraft | |
| Patrol Squadron 1 | 6xT2D | |
| Patrol Squadron 4 | 12PD-1 | |
| Patrol Squadron 6 | 6xT4M-1 6xT3M-2 | |
| Reconnaissance Squadron 6 | 2xOL-8 1xO2U | |
In 1939, after three years of construction, Hickam Field opened. The Army transferred its operations there, leaving Luke Field under Navy control.[63] The latter was renamed Naval Air Station Ford Island, and became the headquarters ofPatrol Wing 2; its former namesake was re-honored with a new base,Luke Air Force Base inArizona.[63][64] A September 8, 1939, presidential emergency proclamation spurred the rapid construction of new facilities to prepare the island for additional operations. This included additional barracks, a new assembly and repair hangar, an administration building, a dispensary, a control tower, a laundry and a theater.[6] At the height of World War II, over 40,000 people lived or worked on the island.[1]
Beginning in the 1930s,Imperial Japan attempted to expand its territory into China. Opposed to these aggressive actions, the United States,Britain, and theNetherlands froze Japanese assets and imposed economic restrictions which prohibited the exportation of aircraft fuel as well as steel and iron to Japan, affecting 90% of Japan's war production needs.[65][66] Japan was forced to either give up its expansion plans or find alternative raw materials to continue producing equipment for the war.[65] Japan chose to continue with its plans, but decided it needed to neutralize any threat from the United States first.[65]
Ford Island was the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, an important target for the first-wave airborne raiders in the December 7, 1941, Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor.[67][68] Before dawn, the U.S. strategic center in thePacific consisted of the seven battleships moored alongBattleship Row and the six pairs of interrupted quays along the east side of Ford Island.[69] Quay F-2 (the southernmost), which usuallyberthed an aircraft carrier, was empty.[69] ThePacific Fleet flagshipCalifornia was moored northeastward, at F-3. Side by side withMaryland wasOklahoma (outboard), followed byTennessee withWest Virginia outboard. BehindTennessee wasArizona alongside the repair shipVestal.[69] Closing the row wasNevada, alone at F-8.[69] These battleships, from eighteen to twenty-five years old, represented all but two of those available to the Pacific Fleet.[69]Pennsylvania was also in Pearl Harbor, beingdry-docked at the Navy Yard. The ninth battleship of the fleet,Colorado, was beingoverhauled on theWest Coast.[69] These nine battleships taken together were one short of equaling Japan's active battle fleet.[69]
 | 1:California A: Oil storage tanks |
 |
The initial bombs struck the island at 07:57 local time, prompting the historic dispatch: "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor—this is no drill."[67][68][70] The battleships ringing Ford Island were the Japanese attackers' primary targets.[69] Twenty-four of the forty Japanese torpedo planes were assigned to attack Battleship Row, and five more came over to that side of Ford Island after failing to find battleships in other parts of the harbor.[69] The planes carried 29Type 91 aerial torpedoes, each with a high-explosive payload of 450 pounds (200 kg), of which 12 are thought to have found their targets: two inCalifornia, one inNevada and a possible total of nine inOklahoma andWest Virginia; the latter two ships sank within minutes of being hit.[69]
Horizontal bomber aircraft delivering armor-piercing bombs attacked as the last torpedo planes finished, and other horizontal anddive bombers came in later.[69] The aircraft registered many direct hits and damaging near-misses, including two each onCalifornia,Maryland andTennessee and several more onWest Virginia.[69]
A bomb meant forCalifornia hit Hangar 6 on the island, igniting it.[6] Additional bombs hit Hangar 38 (a dud), the dispensary courtyard (leaving a large crater) and the road outside the repair-and-assembly hangar.[6] Only one man, Theodore Wheeler Croft, was killed on the island while standing guard duty.[6]
The bombers' most notable success wasArizona.[69] A bomb exploded near the forward magazines, triggering a catastrophic explosion which immediately sank the ship.[69] The island's freshwater supply was cut off whenArizona severed the main water line and the auxiliary line was destroyed at the Pearl Harbor end.[6]USS Nevada, which was the battleship division's duty ship that morning, eventually got underway during the attack. She was hit repeatedly by dive bombers who spotted a ship escaping from Ford Island. In order to not chance blocking the channel to the mouth of Pearl Harbor(blocking the entire harbor), the decision was made to runNevadaaground at "Hospital Point".[69]
Several planes from the aircraft carrierEnterprise, near Hawaii after a mission toWake Island, arrived in the midst of the attack; four were shot down by American air-defense friendly fire.[71] H. L. Young, commander ofEnterprise air group, attempted to man the control tower to provide communications between the island,Enterprise, and the planes. However, he reported that although he attempted to communicate withEnterprise by radio from Ford Island, the communications systems there were inadequate,[72][73] and he attributed the friendly fire to ineffective radio communications.[72][73] After attempting to notify as many ships and anti-aircraft batteries as possible, several planes fromEnterprise and others from Ford Island's complement were again airborne within hours to search for the attackers.[71][73] Some of these search planes were again shot down on their return by friendly fire from the Ford Island defense, which was on high alert.[71]
In addition to Battleship Row and the island's naval field, the fixed moorings on the western side of Ford Island (capable of securing battleships or aircraft carriers) were high-priority targets.[74] Just west of the island, theseaplane tenderCurtiss was hit by a crashing dive bomber, a bomb and fragments of another bomb. She was then unsuccessfully attacked by a Japanesemidget submarine, which fired a torpedo before being sunk by the destroyerMonaghan.[74] Hangar 6 and several patrol seaplanes and other aircraft on Ford Island (33 out of 70 of the island's planes) were destroyed.[75]
TheUSS Utah (BB-31), a Florida class battleship- an older ship launched December 1909 and by 1941 in service as a training ship, was also moored on the western side of the island and was sunk by torpedoes. A total of 58 officers and enlisted were killed and 461 survived. Attempts to use the same methods as "Oklahoma" to right the Utah were unsuccessful. There is now a memorial near the remains of the ship.
The Japanese disabled all seven battleships on Battleship Row.Maryland,Tennessee andPennsylvania were repaired in only a few weeks[69] and three others within a year,[76] butOklahoma andArizona were total losses. The weakened state of the US Pacific Fleet would allow the Japanese Navy to hold the initiative until theGuadalcanal Campaign eight months later.[77]
Enterprise launched aircraft to patrol Ford Island and search for Japanese carriers.[78] Five American pilots returning from missions to hunt down the Japanese fleet were mistakenly shot down by Ford Island anti-aircraft gunners while attempting to land.[79] The island's commanding officer said about the friendly-fire losses, "Somebody let fly and I never saw so many bullets in the air in my life and never expect to ... all tracer bullets at night."[78]
After the attack,ROTC cadets from theUniversity of Hawaii were assigned to active duty guarding strategic buildings.[79] Because of the island's lack of fresh water and electric power to the dispensary, a temporary hospital had to be set up at the #2 barracks.[6] The island's gasoline tank was emptied and refilled with water; trenches were dug, and buildings camouflaged.[6] Its runway was cleared of over three tons of scrap metal in two hours.[80] The Marines who had picked up rifles for guard duty were tasked with feeding and clothing the soldiers and sailors.[80] Twenty prisoners from the island's brig were marched to the Marine barracks and put to work without incident;[80] some received commuted sentences for their efforts.[80] That evening, Hawaiians were instructed to observe an indoorblackout,[78] stay off the telephone, keep extra buckets of water available for fighting fires and keep cars off the streets (parking them on lawns, if necessary).[78]
Sixty concreterevetments were constructed to protect aircraft from another attack,[6] and the Navy laid down a 16-inch (410 mm) water main from across the harbor.[6] A new control tower was commissioned on May 1, 1942,[6] and the Navy built bomb shelters and gas-decontamination chambers.[6] Due to the need for better control of the US Pacific Fleet, its headquarters moved to Ford Island.[6]
During the next few weeks, the Navy set up twenty-one large winches on the island to turnOklahoma upright so it could be re-floated and patched before being scrapped.[81] Coral was piled between the ship and the island so the ship would roll upright, instead of sliding toward the shore.[81] Despite recovery efforts and patching,Oklahoma sank during a mid-Pacific storm while it was being towed to the scrapyard.[81]Nevada,California,West Virginia and theminelayerUSS Oglala were re-floated and salvaged by the Navy.[76] The entire salvage operation took 20,000 man-hours underwater and 5,000 dives to recover human remains, weapons, ammunition and artifacts of historic or military importance.[76]
_and_Moko_Holo_Hele_(YFB-87).png)
The US Pacific Fleet established the Fleet Intelligence Center, Pacific (FICPAC) on Ford Island by 1955 as theVietnam War escalated and an additional intelligence branch was needed in addition to the one inGuam.[82][83] With little other use of the island, as naval and air operations were moved to facilities on the side of the Pearl Harbor previously owned by the Bishop estate, the Navy decommissioned Naval Air Station Ford Island in 1966.[54] The island continued to be controlled by the Navy as a sub-component of Naval Station Pearl Harbor.[54][84]
On February 20, 1970, the 4,000-foot (1,200 m) runway at NALF Ford Island was opened to civilian flight training operations, primarily local Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps flying clubs.[16] Itinerant military helicopter training activities also continued at NALF Ford Island during this period. Hawaii (which achieved statehood in 1959) contracted with the US Navy to allowtouch-and-go landings until 1972, when the airfield was opened to students making their first solo flights.[16] The island's use as a training center helped relieve congestion at nearbyHonolulu International Airport.[16][85] After its active-duty commission on February 1, 1973, theThird Fleet moved its headquarters to Ford Island, where it remained until its 1991 move to San Diego.[86] The island remained home to Navy officers and several naval headquarters.[87]
| Ford Island Air Traffic Statistics[88] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | Year | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | ||||||||||||||
| Operations | N/A | 176,811 | 173,908 | 157,621 | 177,767 | 177,767 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1980s | Year | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | ||||||||||||||
| Operations | 142,438 | 123,419 | 108,828 | 84,857 | 71,542 | 85,102 | 75,429 | 62,406 | 77,456 | 29,128 | |||||||||||||||
| 1990s | Year | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | ||||||||||||||
| Operations | 80,193 | 69,468 | 62,184 | 62,184 | 54,277 | 51,942 | 52,731 | 39,671 | 39,992 | 50,441 | |||||||||||||||
For the 12-month period ending March 4, 1998, the airport had 39,992 aircraft operations, an average of 110 per day: 98 percentgeneral aviation and two percentmilitary.[89] On July 1, 1999, all military and civilian general-aviation activity at NALF Ford Island ended when NAS Barbers Point was closed in aBRAC action and became the present civilianKalaeloa Airport andCoast Guard Air Station Barbers Point.[16] The new airport was open to general aviation and rendered NALF Ford Island redundant.[16]
Before the completion of theAdmiral Clarey Bridge, access to Ford Island was byferry.[85] Two diesel-powered ferries,Waa Hele Honoa (YFB-83) andMoko Holo Hele (YFB-87), served the island.[85] TheWaa Hele Honoa (meaning'canoe go to land') was purchased in 1959 for $274,000,[85] and pressed into service by the Navy on March 3, 1961.[85] It is the older and larger of the two ferries, at 181 feet (55 m),[85] with a capacity of 750 people and 33 vehicles.[85] The other,Moko Holo Hele (meaning'boat go back and forth') was purchased for $1.1 million on May 25, 1970.[85] At 162 feet (49 m), its capacity was 750 people and 42 vehicles.[85] Both ferries were operated by US Navy personnel,[85] and access to the island was restricted to US military personnel, their dependents and invited guests.[85] In addition to the two car ferries, there were several smaller "foot ferries" allowing pedestrians to travel between Ford Island and alternate landings around Pearl Harbor.[85]
Initially called "the bridge to nowhere", the Admiral Clarey Bridge was instrumental in SenatorDaniel Inouye's "rebirth" of Ford Island and enabled over $500 million in development with special legislation (2814 US Code).[90][91][92][93] It connected 45 families and 3,000 civilian workers toKamehameha Highway,[85] and visitor access enabled construction of the $50 million 16-acre (6.5 ha)Pacific Aviation Museum.[94] Plans included 500 homes for Navy personnel, a child-development center and a Navy lodge.[91][95]
In planning the island's development, the Navy considered its operational needs and the island's historic value.[96] However, the National Trust for Historic Preservation considered the Navy's communication style more directive rather than collaborative, restricting the NTHP's ability to share their concerns, and in 2001 designated Ford Island one of its 11 most-endangered sites.[96] Although the Navy's plans included preserving important hangars, the control tower and seaplane ramps, they failed to protect the existing runway and 1920s housing and did not address preserving bullet holes on the seaplane ramps.[96] As hoped by the Trust, after the designation the Navy agreed to delay development of some of these items until an agreement could be reached.[96]
To accommodate additional facilities and housing, the Navy needed to upgrade the island'sinfrastructure.[97] Its sewage system was upgraded with the 2001 installation of a 6,000-foot (1,800 m), 20-inch (510 mm) sewage main from the island to Pearl Harbor and improvements to the sewage-pumping station.[98] Due to the bridge's unique design, which includes a floating section, it was impossible to use it to transit cable across the loch.[97] In 2005, the Navy contracted drilling for primary and auxiliary conduits 20 feet (6.1 m) apart and parallel to the bridge from Halawa Landing to the Ford Island golf course. The contractor installed 5,045-foot (1,538 m)-long, 24-inch (610 mm)-thick carbon-steel high-magnetic casing conduits,[97] and fiber-optic communications cables and 46 kV power lines were fed through them.[97]
In June 2013 the Navy planned to install 60,000photovoltaic panels over 28 acres (11 ha) on the Ford Island runway,[99] to comply with Congressional and Defense Department mandates to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and offset the cost of Hawaiian energy (the highest in the United States).[99] This plan deviated from a 2009 proposal (using the panels to define the runway) in favor of panels producing twice the power.[100] The Navy offered the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor $250,000 toward renovation of the control tower's elevator in exchange for its support of the plan. The museum declined,[100] organizing an internet campaign opposing the plan based on the runway's historic significance and highlighting Ford Island's role in the attack on Pearl Harbor and Amelia Earhart's visit.[99] In response, the Navy decided to install the panels on existing structures around Pearl Harbor.[99]
Ford Island continues to be used by the US Navy. It hosts the 34,000-square-foot (3,200 m2)Pacific Warfighting Center for exercises, training and battle simulations.[101] The Admiral Clarey Bridge enabled the Navy to develop a $331 million Pacific tsunami warning center named after Senator Daniel Inouye, replacing the aging facility on ʻEwa Beach.[102][103][104] The center's location is controversial because of its location in a tsunami-vulnerable area and the Navy's tsunami-evacuation plan calls for the island's only access point—the Admiral Clarey Bridge—to be opened for ship evacuation (making the bridge inaccessible to land vehicles).[105] The island also continues to host a military brig.[3]
Nominally based in Alaska, theSea-based X-band Radar (SBX-1) arrived on Ford Island in 2006 for maintenance and repairs and has returned several times since.[106] Primarily used as a warhead-detection radar system on a self-propelled floating platform in the Pacific, its presence on the island has been controversial.[107] The platform, with a cost reaching nearly $1,000,000,000, has never actually made it to Alaska and conspiracy theorists argue that the platform is a mobile version of theHigh Frequency Active Auroral Research Program.[106][108]
In 2013, the Navy unveiled a $4-million training facility, using simulators and virtual reality, at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport on Ford Island.[109] The Fleet Integrated Synthetic Training/Testing Facility (FIST2FAC) was developed to save on training costs with a reusable facility which could emulate electronic, mine and anti-air warfare scenarios instead of real-world training requiring fuel, logistics and deployment costs for ships.[110]
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was decided that USSArizona would remain at the bottom of the harbor as the final resting place for those lost.[111] In 1958, PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower approved the construction of a memorial over the vessel[111] and the USSArizona memorial was dedicated in 1962.[111][112] It includes a complex at Halawa Landing (opposite Ford Island) and a structure overArizona which receives visitors by ferry.[113] Although the ferries are operated by US Navy personnel, the complex is staffed by the National Park Service.[113]
On January 29, 1964, the navy facility in Pearl Harbor centering on the Ford Island was designated "United States Naval Base, Pearl Harbor" and became aNational Historic Landmark.[114] Six chief petty officer bungalows on the island are part ofPearl Harbor National Memorial.
The battleship USSUtah, whichhad been relegated to a target ship, remains submerged off the island.[84] After salvaging the capsized USSOklahoma with winching cables, the Navy unsuccessfully tried to recoverUtah using the same technique.[115] In 1972, the remains ofUtah (on the northwest side of the island) were dedicated as a memorial to the fifty-eight men still inside.[84][116]
Despite concern that it would detract from theArizona memorial, in 1998 USSMissouri was transferred from Washington State to Ford Island.[117] After a year of conversion into a museum, the ship opened for visitors on January 29, 1999.[118] On December 7, 2006, the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the aviation museum opened to visitors in Hangar 37 after more than ten years of planning.[119] On December 7, 2007, a joint ceremony was held by the National Park Service and the USSOklahoma memorial committee to dedicate a memorial to the ship just outside the entrance to the USSMissouri museum on the northeast side of the island.[120] The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor signed a lease with the US Navy on September 2, 2010, for the Ford Island control tower, which sent the first radio alert of the attack, and began its restoration.[121]
A 1965 film,In Harm's Way starringJohn Wayne, was filmed on Ford Island.[3] A fictionalized scene before the attack, with officers and their wives at a pool party, was reenacted by island residents on the anniversary of the attacks as late as 2001.[3] In 1970, the island's control tower was repainted for the filming ofTora! Tora! Tora!.[122] ABoeing B-17 Flying Fortress used in the production experienced a landing-gear malfunction and crash-landed on Ford Island, and the crash landing was included in the film.[123]
_passes_the_USS_Arizona_and_her_memorial_plaque_as_it_arrives_in_Pearl_Harbor%2c_Hawaii.jpg)
In April 2000, filming began on theMichael Bay filmPearl Harbor.[124] Before the filming, the cast and crew gathered on the USSArizona memorial for a wreath-laying by a representative ofTouchstone Pictures,Jerry Bruckheimer and Bay. The producers brought fifteen vintage planes to Ford Island, placing them in one hangar for the filming.[125] In addition, they brought fifteen ships back to Pearl Harbor for live bombardment (without sinking them).[125] The operations room of the control tower was converted into a barracks for the filming.[122] The Pacific Aviation Museum hoped that the film would increase public awareness of the tower and spur support for its restoration.[126] Bay reflected on the historic significance of Ford Island: "I have a vivid memory of showing the crew around Ford Island during pre-production. We came upon a plaque directly across from the sunken Arizona, marking the spot where a torpedo hit nearly six decades ago. My crew stood in silence for three minutes at the sight of this small monument. It was a solemn moment for all of us, and I think it helped the crew appreciate the undertaking were [sic] about to begin."[127] During filming, aVultee BT-13 Valiant used as atorpedo bomber crashed on the island.[123]
In 2010, the television seriesHawaii Five-0 chose Battleship Cove, a housing community just outside the dock of the USSMissouri museum, as the location for an episode.[128] The episode, with police cars racing down Tennessee and Nevada Streets, featured a number of Ford Island homes and some residents appeared as extras.[128] That year,Peter Berg featured USSMissouri in the filmBattleship.[129] The ship, which was towed off Ford Island for maintenance, was brought out to sea between completion of the maintenance and its return to the dock for filming.[129] Michael Carr, president of the Battleship Missouri Memorial, hoped that the film would spike the number of visitors to the Ford Island museum.[129]
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