| World / USA / California / Tiburon, 2 km from center | Coordinates: 37°53'26"N 122°26'49"W |
www.militarymuseum.org/Tiburon.html --
"In 1904 the U.S. Navy acquired the property to use as a coaling station. Coal for the Navy’s ships was shipped from the East Coast in colliers (like tankers today) and stored here to be loaded into the bunkers of the Pacific Fleet. A very elaborate system of storage bunkers and gantry cranes was constructed on a wharf-trestle. In 1908 Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet, consisting of sixteen battleships plus support vessels, stopped by to refuel before continuing on its famous round the world cruise.
"The first academic use of the cove came in 1931. Oil had replaced coal as a fuel for Navy ships and the coaling station closed. The Navy loaned the property to the State of California to establish its first nautical training school for Merchant Marine officers. The Nautical School (renamed the California Maritime Academy) relocated to Vallejo in 1940 as World War II loomed and the Navy took back the base.
"Also during the 1930s the John A Roebling’s Sons Company used the base to spin the suspender cables for the Golden Gate Bridge. These are the vertical cables which hold up the roadway on the bridge. The steel wire was shipped from the East Coast to Tiburon, wound and reeled, then barged to the bridge to be hoisted up to the roadway.
"Local people still often call it “The Net Depot” much to the discomfort of the current owners. San Francisco Bay was one big Navy base as World War II loomed closer. It would have been wide open to Japanese submarines except for an anti-submarine net constructed at the Tiburon base and stretched across the Golden Gate. This seven mile long net was in place on December 7, 1941. The personnel of the Net Depot not only constructed over 100,000 tons of anti-submarine netting during the war but trained the sailors in the installation and handling of these nets which protected the harbors up and down the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and across the Pacific as well. The huge gantries left over from the coaling station were perfect for handling the giant nets.
"After the war the nets were recovered and returned to Tiburon for storage in case of future need. Eventually, they were salvaged, the nets went to scrap dealers, the massive concrete anchors became bulkheads for shoreline protection at the depot and what is now Paradise Park, and many of the huge floats became beehives around California. The gantries were removed, leaving only the tracks on which they ran and a concrete trestle down the center of the base.
"Since 1961 the property has supported a number of marine oriented state and federal research facilities, often two or more at the same time. Among these were the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), The Marine Minerals Technology Center, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), NMFS Southwest Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries Service Environmental Assessment Branch (EAB), and since 1978, San Francisco State University’s Center for Environmental Studies (TCES). It was established by the late Paul F. Romberg, then President of SFSU, and later named in his memory."
Category: wwii navy submarine net tiburon
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10 months ago razzujuno.com | +3 |
 
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I just viewed Huell Howser's PBS show, 9/26/07 aired, regarding this remarkable place and the nets....he had 3 fellas there with him that worked on the nets in the early 1940's and one fella in 1951 I think he said...what was interesting was in one of the buildings were cartoon drawings still there and the 2 older fellas knew him, Bud Whitney....someone needs to do some followup on this man as his drawings are a part of that history! | ||||
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