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Marine Corps Base Hawaii
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii |
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| Mokapu Peninsula, Oahu, Hawaiʻi |
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii insignia |
| An aerial photograph of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, a study in organized geometry imposed on nature. |
| Site information |
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| Site history |
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| Garrison |
Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), a place with a lineage of names including Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay and, originally, Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, is a U.S. Marine Corps facility. It occupies the Mokapu Peninsula on the windward side of O'ahu, within the sprawling jurisdiction of the City & County of Honolulu. This base serves as a home, if you can call it that, for a population of Marines, Sailors, their families, and the civilians who support them. The United States Marine Corps also maintains a functional 7,800-foot (2,400 m) runway here, a strip of concrete pointed resolutely at the horizon. [2]
MCBH is the operational nexus for the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, Marine Aircraft Group 24, Combat Logistics Company 33 (CLC-33), the 3rd Radio Battalion, and the Navy's Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 2. [ not verified in body ]
Geographically, the base is wedged between Kailua and Kāne'ohe, the two largest communities on windward O'ahu. Its main gate sits like a final checkpoint at the eastern terminus of Interstate H-3. Access is granted via H-3 or Mokapu Road, should you have a reason to be there. Situated approximately 12 miles (19 km) northeast of the urban sprawl of Honolulu, the base claims the entirety of the Mokapu Peninsula, a landmass of 2,951 acres (1,194 ha; 11.94 km2). In a gesture toward preservation, two sections of the base are designated as conservation land: the stark, volcanic landscape of the Ulupaʻu Crater on the northeast peninsula and the vital wetlands of the Nu'upia Pond area. [ not verified in body ]
History
The old insignia for MCAS Kaneohe Bay, a relic of a previous identity.
The story of this land's military occupation begins in 1918, when President Woodrow Wilson, with the stroke of a pen, designated 322 acres (130 ha; 1.30 km2) on the Mokapu Peninsula as the U.S. Army's Kuwaaohe Military Reservation. By December 1940, in the grand military tradition of renaming things, Fort Kuwaahoe became Fort Hase. The new name honored Major General William Frederick Hase, who had been the Chief of Staff for the Army's Hawaiian Department for a brief stint from April 1934 to January 1935. [3]
In 1927, the Army began the laborious process of installing coastal artillery batteries, grim concrete structures meant to stare down any naval threat. A decade later, the strategic landscape shifted. In September 1939, as the world edged closer to war, the Navy arrived and began constructing a seaplane base. This monumental effort involved dredging and filling in a portion of Kaneohe Bay, adding another 280 acres to the station's footprint. Runways, hangars, and administrative buildings rose from the reclaimed land. Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay was officially commissioned on February 15, 1941. A flag was raised, ceremonies were held, and its role was promptly expanded to include the administration of the Kaneohe Bay Naval Defense Sea Area. [3] [ citation needed ]
Attack on Pearl Harbor
An aerial photograph captures the aftermath at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, two days after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
On December 7, 1941, history arrived violently and ahead of schedule. Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay was attacked by aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy approximately nine minutes before the main assault on Pearl Harbor, making it the first American ground installation to come under fire in the Pacific War. In the ensuing chaos, the station's gunners managed to bring down three enemy airplanes. Two of the downed aircraft plunged into the waters of Kaneohe Bay, while the third crashed into the base of what is now known as Radar Hill. At that crash site, a memorial now stands, a quiet testament to the pilot who perished there. [ citation needed ]
Post World War II
A Royal Canadian Air Force P-3 and a Republic of Korea Navy P-3 sit on the flightline, a reminder of the base's role in international military cooperation.
In the post-war reorganization of military assets, the Marines assumed control of the air station in 1951. The naval aviation elements were relocated to Barbers Point Naval Air Station. On January 15, 1952, the facility was formally recommissioned as Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. Decades later, on April 15, 1994, the Marine Corps decided to streamline its bureaucracy in Hawaii. MCAS Kaneohe Bay was consolidated with Camp H. M. Smith, the Molokai Training Support Facility, the Manana Family Housing Area, Puuloa Range, and the Pearl City Warehouse Annex. This amalgamation formed a new, singular command: Marine Corps Base Hawaii, with its headquarters established at the Kaneohe Bay location. [ This paragraph needs citation(s) ]
All U.S. military units in Hawaii operate under the overarching command of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), headquartered at Camp H. M. Smith on Oahu. The Commanding General of Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) not only oversees forces in Hawaii but also commands 12 Marine Corps bases and stations across Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Japan, as well as operational forces in the Okinawa Prefecture and units deployed throughout Southeast and Southwest Asia. [ This paragraph needs citation(s) ]
In 2010, Hollywood paid a visit. Parts of the film Battleship were filmed on the base, a brief and surreal interlude where pretend warfare was conducted on a site designed for the real thing. [4]
Incidents
On November 20, 2023, a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft of the US Navy was on approach to land on Runway 22. The conditions were poor, with rain and reduced visibility. The aircraft was unable to stop on the runway, overshooting it and coming to a rest in the shallow waters of Kāneʻohe Bay. The nine crew members were rescued by US Coast Guard boats. The aircraft belonged to Patrol Squadron 4 (the "Skinny Dragons"), a unit based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state. [5]
Geography
Marine Corps Base Hawaii as seen from the International Space Station in 2022, a green peninsula fringed by reef and ocean.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the base encompasses a total area of 5.8 square miles (15 km2). Of this, 4.4 square miles (11 km2) is land, and the remaining 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2), or 24.74%, is water. [ This paragraph needs citation(s) ] The landscape is dominated by two prominent volcanic formations: Radar Hill and Ulapau Crater. Radar Hill, a remnant of an ancient eruption, rises to 646 feet and is crowned by Kansas Tower, a former Radar Station that gives the hill its modern, uninspired name. Across the base, the Ulapau Crater stands as a larger, more imposing feature, reaching a height of 659 feet and looming over the installation.
A panoramic view of Marine Corps Base Hawaii and Kaneohe Bay, captured from the top of K-T.
Demographics
For the mundane purposes of census-taking, the residential area of the base is demarcated as the Kāneʻohe Base census-designated place (CDP). At the 2020 Census, it recorded a population of 9,483. [7] The CDP was previously, and more accurately, known as Kāneʻohe Station. [8]
| Kāneʻohe Base CDP |
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Historical population
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 11,827 | — | |
| 2010 | 9,517 | −19.5% | |
| 2020 | 9,483 | −0.4% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census [9] 2010 [8] 2020 [7] listed as Kaneohe Station in 2010 |
2020 census
| Kāneʻohe Base CDP, Hawaii – Demographic Profile (NH = Non-Hispanic) |
|---|
| Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race. |
| Race / Ethnicity |
| White alone (NH) |
| Black or African American alone (NH) |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) |
| Asian alone (NH) |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) |
| Some Other Race alone (NH) |
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2000 Census
As of the 2000 census, the base was home to 11,827 people, living in 2,332 households and 2,283 families. The population density was a crowded 2,696.2 people per square mile (1,041.0 people/km2). The 2,388 housing units were packed in at an average density of 544.4 per square mile (210.2/km2). The racial composition of the base was 66.6% White, 12.1% African American, 1.1% Native American, 5.3% Asian, 1.2% Pacific Islander, 7.6% from other races, and 6.1% identifying with two or more races. 14.6% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. The demographics of a military installation are predictably skewed: for every 100 women, there were 202.6 men. For every 100 women age 18 and over, the ratio jumped to an astronomical 258.8 men. The median household income was a modest $34,757. [10]
Education
The Hawaii Department of Education operates Mokapu Elementary School on the MCBH property. The school serves children from kindergarten through 6th grade. As of 2020, its enrollment stood at approximately 900 students, learning their ABCs to the soundtrack of military aircraft. [11]
Renewable energy and "green" initiatives
Since 2004, MCBH has been involved in a partnership with Ocean Power Technologies to test the generation of electric power from ocean waves. This project utilizes a "PowerBuoy" wave energy converter and represents one of the first forays into wave power in the United States. [12]
More recently, the Azura wave power device is being tested in a 30-meter-deep site at the base, continuing the experiment of harnessing the relentless energy of the Pacific. [13]
Under the command of Colonel Robert Rice, Marine Corps Base Hawaii undertook an initiative to install solar water heaters on all base housing units. On December 8, 2010, the base unveiled a "Net Zero" sustainable energy home, a demonstration project powered by solar energy. The base has also been transitioning its fleet of government vehicles to hybrid and electric models, and most of its "FlexFuel" vehicles now run on E85 ethanol-based fuel. In November 2010, MCB Hawaii installed the first E85 pump in the state of Hawaii, a distinction that also made it the first U.S. military installation in the world to do so. [ This paragraph needs citation(s) ]