Eyeballing
the
Naval
Weapons
Station
Seal
Beach
Source
27 April 2003. One of the Eyeball
series.
Source of photos and maps: Mapquest.
Compare Naval Weapons Station Earle on the Atlantic Coast:
http://cryptome.org/nwse-eyeball.htm
Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, California and its Detachments - located in Concord, Fallbrook and San Diego, California - exist to provide weapons storage, loading, maintenance and support to ships and submarines of the United States Pacific Fleet. Our facilities also service Coast Guard vessels and Marine Corps units stationed afloat and ashore.
Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach was commissioned in 1944, at the height
of World War Two, as a Naval Ammunition and Net Depot. The base at
that time had two primary missions: Storage and loading of ammunition
onto Pacific Fleet ships bound for the war, and servicing the anti-submarine
nets used to protect fleet bases and anchorages around the world. The
Depot was built next to the seaside community of Seal Beach, located on the
northwest corner of Orange County, California. Seal Beach was considered
an ideal site due to both a large amount of available open space for weapons
storage, and the area’s proximity to the navy fleet concentrations in
Long Beach and San Diego.
Since World War Two the base has evolved into the Navy’s primary West
Coast ordnance storage, loading and maintenance installation. Cruisers,
destroyers, frigates and medium-sized amphibious assault ships are loaded
with missiles, torpedoes, countermeasures devices and conventional ammunition
at the facility’s 1,000 foot-long wharf (for more information on these
vessels and weapons, check out the
Navy
Fact File). In addition, larger ships can be accommodated at a
protected explosives anchorage located in nearby Long Beach Harbor.
Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach personnel also perform maintenance on some
types of torpedoes and missiles. An average of 80 vessels are loaded
or unloaded each year.
The station has an active Installation Restoration, or environmental cleanup, program. One-fifth of the station land area has been designated as a National Wildlife Refuge, and is home to many endangered and threatened species. The station is also home to the West Coast WWII Submarine Memorial.
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