Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Skate

On April 11, 1900, the Navy purchased the Holland VI, an internal combustion, gasoline-powered submarine from John P Holland for $160,000, after demonstration trials off Mount Vernon, Virginia. This marks the official birth date of the US Navy’s Submarine Force.

Even before the United States entered World War I, the submarine was recognized for its deadly role in warfare as German U-boats torpedoed and sank British shipping in the Atlantic.

Military submarines made their first significant impact in World War I; U-boats saw action in the First Battle of the Atlantic, and were responsible for the sinking of Lusitania, and this is often cited among the reasons for the entry of the United States into the war.

USS F-4, an F-class US submarine, was originally named Skate, making her the first ship of the United States Navy named for the skate (a type of ray.) She was renamed F-4 on November 17, 1911.

The F-4 and three other F-class submarines, the F-1, F-2 and F-3, along with their support vessel, the tender USS Alert, made up the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, participating in the development operations of that group along the west coast, and from August 1914, in Hawaiian waters.

They were the first US submarines to be stationed to the new naval facility at Pearl Harbor.

While on a training mission, on Thursday, March 25, 1915, the US submarine Skate (F-4,) with a crew of twenty-one men, exploded and sank in fifty fathoms of water three-quarters of a mile off of Honolulu harbor.

There had been other submarine fatalities and accidents in world history, but this was the first submarine disaster in US naval history.

There were round-the-clock attempts to make contact with the submerged vessel. It was lodged three hundred feet below the surface, and divers could not reach it.

After dragging cables across the ocean floor in the area in attempts to snag and locate the submarine, it was caught late in the morning of the 26th.

The 142′ long submarine, with a diameter of about 15′, displaced 330 tons and could not be moved. Using a combination of hard hat divers, cables, chains and heavy scows with winches, the F-4 was incrementally raised and moved closer to shore over the next two months.

Frank William Crilley, a Chief Gunner’s Mate, made dives to over 300 feet during salvage operations on the sunken Submarine. On April 17, 1915, he rescued a fellow diver who had become entangled at a depth of 250 feet.

For his heroism on this occasion, Frank William Crilley was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1929.

Five months passed before the submarine could be hauled to the surface.

After so many months underwater, only four of the 21 dead aboard the submarine could be identified. The 17 remaining bodies were sealed in four caskets and shipped to Arlington National Cemetery, where they were buried in a common grave.

Their headstone, the size of an individual marker, was marked simply “17 Unknown U.S. Sailors Victims of the USS F-4 March 25 1915.”

The headstone was going to be replaced and destroyed, but it was retrieved and is now part of the Bowfin Museum in Pearl Harbor.

After the drydock examinations of F-4, the vessel was towed by the tugboat Navajo, using the six pontoons, to “an out of the way spot at Pearl Harbor” with a depth of fifteen to twenty feet that was “as nearly beached as possible” with “the pontoons keeping her clear of the harbor floor”.

Apparently the F-4 was left in this spot, to “rot in the mud bank” presumably near the head of Magazine Loch.

Periodically since, the Navy has announced plans to either destroy or examine the F-4 – the oldest surviving U.S. Navy submarine — but because of the deep silt in Pearl Harbor, the exact location is unknown.

In 1957, a more successful Skate was commissioned (the third US submarine named Skate.) It was the first production model of a nuclear-powered submarine to make a completely submerged trans-Atlantic crossing (1958) and the first to surface at the North Pole (1959).

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F-4 (SS-23)-(navsource-org)-1913-15
F class (SS-20 - 23) submarines and their tender are in DD#2 at Mare Island-(navsource-org)-21 January 1913
F-4 (SS-23) at right at anchor in Honolulu, HI. with F-1 (SS-20), center, and F-2 (SS-21) outboard, moored together-(navsource-org)-
Commemorative photo in memory of the F-4 (SS-23)-(navsource-org)
Commemorative group photo of the crew of the F-4 (SS-23)-(navsource-org)
Diver 'Jack' Adrez going down to search for the F-4 (SS-23), when he had made the record dive of 215 feet-(navsource-org)
Edited photo shows how it was moved from deep water into dry dock from record setting depth of 320 ft (salvage record that lasted 54 ys)-(navsource-org)
F-4 (SS-23), at Honolulu along with (from front to back)-F-2(SS-21), F-3(SS-22) and F-1 (SS-20)-(navsource-org)-1914
F-4 (SS-23), in drydock at Honolulu, note the large implosion hole in her port side-(navsource-org)-1 September 1915
Frank William Crilley receiving Medal of Honor
General plans prepared by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts-(navsource-org)-18 June 1910
Harbor scene as the pontoons used to raise the F-4 (SS-23) pass by-(navsource-org)
Naval Constructor Furer developed this method for recovery of the F-4 (SS-23) from the ocean floor off Honolulu with six large pontoons-(navsource-org)
Naval personnel examine the large implosion hole in F-4's (SS-23) port side, in drydock at Honolulu-(navsource-org)-1915
New Arlington Grave Marker
Salvage of F-4 (SS-23), April-August 1915. Bow salvage pontoons emerging from the depths, off Honolulu, Hawaii-(navsource-org)-circa 29 August 1915
Salvage of F-4 (SS-23). Valve manifold and hose leads to submerged pontoons, on board a salvage vessel off Honolulu-(navsource-org)-circa 29 August 1915
Tender Alert (AS-4) at Long Beach CA., F-4 (SS-23) is outboard-(navsource-org)-1914
The salvaged F-4 (SS-23) sits in a floating dry dock in Pearl Harbor in August 1915.

by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Tripler Army Medical Center

Some suggest the Tripler building got its pink color because the color and other design elements were borrowed from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel down in Waikīkī.

However, an engineering booklet related to its design notes, “the layout of the buildings was planned to create an easy, informal environment, avoid an institutional atmosphere and create the impression of a residential community.” (army-mil)

“Therefore, the hospital building, nurses’ quarters, fire house, chapel, bachelor officers’ quarters and mess, theater and enlisted men’s barracks will be of pink stucco finish.” (army-mil)

Let’s step back a bit.

In 1898, the Spanish American war was going on, including in the Pacific (primarily in the Philippines) – Hawaiʻi became involved. The US Army set up Camp McKinley in Kapiʻolani Park and soon realized an urgent need for a hospital in Hawaiʻi.

The Army’s first medical facility in Hawaiian Islands opened in 1898; it was a 30-bed hospital for soldiers and sailors in transit to and from Manila located in the Independence Park Pavilion (an old dance pavilion at the intersection of King Street and Sheridan.) Field medical tents at Fort McKinley added support to the hospital.

Casualties were streaming into Hawaiʻi from the war in the Philippines. The hospital on King Street rapidly grew into a 100-bed operation and was visited by more than 21,000 troops during the Philippine Insurrection following the war with Spain.

Later, in 1907, Department Hospital, a wooden post hospital facility consisting of a single hospital building and mess hall, was constructed at Fort Shafter.

Department Hospital was re-designated “Tripler Army Hospital” on June 26, 1920, named after Brigadier General Charles Stuart Tripler (1806-1866) – in honor of his contributions to Army medicine during the Civil War (he authored of one of the most widely-read manuals in Army medical history, the “Manual of the Medical Officer of the Army of the United States.”)

Then, the US Army Health Clinic, Schofield Barracks, a 500-bed hospital, was completed in 1929. It was activated as the Station Hospital, Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaiʻi.

The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the construction of Tripler Army Medical Center. At the outbreak of World War II, the hospital at Fort Shafter had a 450-bed capacity which, over the years, expanded to 1,000 beds through the addition of one-story barracks-type buildings.

Plans for a new Tripler hospital atop Moanalua ridge were drawn in 1942, construction was authorized in June 1944; the ground was broken August 23, 1944; actual construction began in 1945: and construction was completed in 1948.

When it was completed, Tripler was the tallest building in the Pacific region. (Three additional wings to the hospital were completed in 1985 with other additions/renovations over the years.)

Tripler was dedicated on September 10, 1948 and has been a visible and valuable landmark in Hawaiʻi. It is the largest military medical treatment facility in the entire Pacific Basin.

In 1961, Tripler US Army Hospital became known as US Army Tripler General Hospital, and finally in 1964, the name changed to Tripler Army Medical Center.

In a cooperative agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1992, the Spark M Matsunaga Medical Center was added at Tripler.

Located on a 375-acre site, Tripler Army Medical Center’s geographic area of responsibility spans more than 52-percent of the earth’s surface, from the western coasts of the Americas to the eastern shores of Africa (encompassing three million square miles of ocean and more than 750,000-square miles of land mass.)

Nearly 800,000-beneficiaries in the Pacific Basin are eligible to receive care at Tripler; this includes active-duty service members of all branches of service, their eligible families, military-eligible retirees and their families, veterans, and many residents of Pacific Islands.

In a typical day, more than 2,000-patients are seen in outpatient clinic visits, more than 1,500-prescriptions are filled, more than 30-surgical procedures are performed, and more than 30 patients are admitted. There are more than 200-births each month. (In August 1955, 427-babies are born at Tripler, setting a record for one-month deliveries.)

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lualualei

Hiʻiaka (Pele’s sister) passed along the kula (plain) of Māʻili, and then turned to look at the uplands. She saw the dazzling light of the sun on the uplands of Lualualei and chanted:

Wela ka la e! Wela ka la e!
Ua wela i ka la ke kula o Lualualei.
Ua nau ia e ka la a ‘oka‘oka.

The sun is hot! The sun is hot!
The heat of the sun is on the plain of Lualualei.
The sun chews it up entirely.” (Maly)

Two meanings are suggested for the place name Lualualei; one meaning “the valley of the flexible wreaths,” a kaona, and the other meaning “beloved one spared.” (Sinoto)

A reference to Lualualei ahupuaʻa is found in Kamakau where he recounts Kākuhihewa’s birth and upbringing. Taken to ʻEwa and raised on “the sweetness of the poi of Kamaile; the soft mullet of Lualualei…,” it is evident that the Waiʻanae coast was beloved, especially for its coastal resources and quality of kalo. (Sinoto)

Further evidence that Lualualei must have been a favored locality for settlement is indicated by the remnant agricultural terraces in the inland areas and the fact that Kamehameha III kept the ahupuaʻa for himself. For that reason, the number of Land Commission Awards is limited to only six mauka lands. (Sinoto)

In 1921, Congress designated 2,000-acres at Lualualei for Hawaiian Homelands. Then, in the early-1930s, Territorial Governor Judd, through Executive Orders, granted all but 475-acres to the US Navy. (This removed a chunk of land from Hawaiian Homelands.)

The transfers under the EOs were later disputed and in 1998 an agreement was reached between the State and Feds where DHHL gained control of lands at Barber’s Point Naval Air Station (at Kalaeloa) and the Navy had continued use of the Lualualei property.

The agreement was signed in a ceremony at Washington Place with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Governor Ben Cayetano signing the memorandum of agreement, with Deputy Assistant Navy Secretary William Cassidy in attendance.

The Navy has used Lualualei as an ammunition depot (initially Naval Ammunition Depot Oʻahu, now Naval Magazine Pearl Harbor) and a communications facility (Lualualei Naval Radio Transmitting Facility) since 1934.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Lualualei Annex’s primary tenant is Naval Magazines whose mission is to receive, renovate, maintain, store and issue ammunition, weapons and technical materials for the Navy, Air Force, Army and other activities and units as designated by the Chief of Naval Operations.

Kolekole Pass forms a low crossing point through the Waiʻanae Mountains. A prehistoric trail crossed Kolekole pass linking Waiʻanae Uka with Waiʻanae Kai.

Kolekole Pass Road is located on the federal lands connecting these military facilities on Waiʻanae coast of Oʻahu to Schofield Barracks Army Installation in Central Oahu. The Army’s 3rd Engineers corps constructed vehicular passage in 1937.

The Magazine facility, a terminus for the Kolekole Pass road, contains 255 aboveground storage structures capable of housing 78,000 tons of ammunition and explosives. (hawaii.gov) The shipping and receiving center is located at West Loch, Pearl Harbor.

The Lualualei Naval Radio Transmitting Facility is used to transmit state-of-the-art radio signals for the navigation of Navy vessels throughout the Pacific. It is the primary Department of Defense long-range transmitter installation in Hawai‘i. The Navy and Coast Guard jointly use the facility. (hawaii-gov)

The very low frequency (VLF) transmitters communicate with submerged submarines in the Pacific and Arctic regions. VLF signal can travel to extreme depths enabling submarines to receive messages without surfacing and are used 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.

The most notable features related to this are two 1,500-foot cable-stayed steel truss mast antennas of the Navy’s communication systems at Lualualei (built in 1972) which are the state’s highest structure.

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From Pohakea Pass. Puu Paheehee at right.
From Pohakea Pass. Puu Paheehee at right.
From Pohakea Pass. Cone at left is Puu o Hulu. Cone at right is Puu Mailiili.
From Pohakea Pass. Cone at left is Puu o Hulu. Cone at right is Puu Mailiili.
Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048252pv-LOC
Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048253pv-LOC
Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048255pv-LOC
Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048258pv-LOC
Lualualei-(Kessler)-1958
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
Lualualei_Land_Use-map
Lualualei-Admin_Building-(Kessler)-1958
Lualualei-Barracks-(Kessler)-1958
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
Lualualei-Low_Frequency_Power_Input_Station-(Kessler)-1958
Lualualei-Low_Frequency_Transmitter-(Kessler)-1958
On duty inside lo Freq F. O'Neill 1946.
On duty inside lo Freq F. O’Neill 1946.
Gate to Radio Station
Gate to Radio Station
Lualualei-Naval_Magazine-sign
Lualualei-Officer In Charge's Home 1968
Lualualei-Railroad Tracks-(Walker-Moody)
Lualualei-Sick_Bay-Barracks-(Kessler)-1958
Low Freq 1946
Low Freq 1946
Lualualei-Very_Low_Frequency_Transmitter-console
VIEW OF ANTENNA TOWER S-109 FACING NORTH. - U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048253pv-LOC
VIEW OF ANTENNA TOWER S-111 FACING NORTHWEST. COMMUNICATIONS CONTROL LINK BUILDING (BLDG NO. 205)-048257pv-LOC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pineapple Pentagon

At the time of annexation, there was no assigned garrison in the Islands until August 15, 1898, when the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 2nd US Volunteer Engineers landed in Honolulu for garrison duty – the Spanish American War was waging in the Pacific (Honolulu served as a stopover point for the forces heading to the Philippines.)

The two commands were initially camped alongside each other as though they were one regiment in the large infield of the one-mile race track at Kapiʻolani Park. The initial camp at the race track was unnamed; it was later called Camp McKinley. It was a temporary encampment.

The US government looked for land for permanent facilities.

Of the two major tracts of land assigned to the War Department (Kahauiki and Waiʻanae-uka,) a board of Army officers in 1903 recommended establishment of the principal infantry post at Kahauiki.

Construction started in 1905 at what was first called Kahauiki Military Reservation. It was later named Fort Shafter and was Hawaiʻi’s first permanent US military installation. (Camp McKinley remained in existence until Fort Shafter was opened.)

It was named in honor of Major General William R. Shafter (1835-1906,) a Civil War and Spanish-American War veteran and commanding general of the headquarters for Hawaiʻi, then in California, until 1901. (Until 1913, the Army establishments in Hawaiʻi were under the Department of California.)

First, they started construction of officers’ quarters and battalion barracks around Palm Circle, as well as support facilities on and near Funston Road.

Palm Circle (earlier called the 100 Area and later named for the 200-royal palms along its edge) has a large, grassed oval parade ground. Fifteen two-story, officers’ quarters line the north and east sides of Palm Circle Drive which encircles the parade area.

Along the southern side of the drive are former enlisted men’s barracks, now converted to administrative offices, and other administrative buildings, including a swimming pool. The initial structures were completed June 22, 1907, with more by 1909.

A post hospital was built across King Street, in the area now occupied by the Fort Shafter interchange of the Moanalua freeway.

Streetcars ran from downtown along King Street; the route originally ended at Fort Shafter, and was eventually extended to Pearl Harbor. The streetcars ran until 1933, when the current post bus route was established. A railroad line ran from the Middle Street gate, across Shafter Flats and down Puʻuloa Road.

During World War I, all regular Army Field artillery and infantry regiments were transferred to the continent, leaving between December 1917 and August 1918. To replace the troops, one battalion of the 1st Hawaiian Regiment of the Hawaiʻi National Guard was stationed at Fort Shafter in June 1918.

A regimental officer’s school was established July 1918 at Fort Shafter and Schofield Barracks. Food gardens were planted on the post. The National Guard regiments were demobilized in 1919, leaving the Post vacant except for the 9th Signal Service Company.

In June 1921, the Headquarters of the Hawaiian Department moved to Fort Shafter from the Alexander Young Hotel in Honolulu. Since then, Fort Shafter has been the base of the senior Army headquarters in Hawaiʻi. Gradually converting the original troop facilities into administrative space, the headquarters organizations occupied the Palm Circle area.

From 1921 through World War II Fort Shafter was also the antiaircraft artillery post. The Hawaiian Coast Artillery District was located at Fort Shafter from June 1921 through October 1929.

Only a few casualties occurred at the post in the December 7, 1941 attack, from US Navy antiaircraft shells rather than Japanese planes. Palm Circle was strafed during the attack.

World War II saw significant increase in building activity at Fort Shafter, in every area where there was space. Buildings were also expanded and remodeled during this period.

As duties increased for Lt. General Robert C. Richardson, the commanding general (becoming US Army Forces in Central Pacific Area,) his headquarters became known as the Pineapple Pentagon (after the War it was renamed Richardson Hall in his honor.)

From 1943 to 1945, Richardson’s command carried out logistical planning for the invasion of the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Guam, Palau and Okinawa.

After World War II, Fort Shafter remained the senior Army headquarters post for the region, while the 25th Infantry Division occupied the more spacious Schofield Barracks. In 1947, the headquarters was renamed US Army, Pacific (USARPAC.)

After Tripler Hospital moved to its new hillside farther west in 1948, and after the Moanalua Freeway was cut through a portion of the old site in 1958-60, the remaining hospital area was redeveloped with enlisted housing.

Today, more than 5,000 Soldiers, civilians, contractors and military families live and work on the 589-acre post. In fact, if USARPAC were a business, it would rank as one of the state’s largest employers with more than 25,000 full-time Soldiers and civilians employed throughout the Pacific and 9,000 more in the National Guard and Army Reserve. (army-mil)

Palm Circle and the Pineapple Pentagon continue to serve as command headquarters for the US Army in the Pacific. (Lots of information here is from the National Register (NPS.))

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Richardson Hall (army-mil)-1940s
Richardson Hall-1956
Richardson Hall
Barracks, Ft Shafter-(vic&becky(-1954
Camp_McKinley-(CoastDefenseJournal)
Fort_Shafter-Hickam Airfield in distance-(vic&becky)-1956
Fort_Shater_Shootng_Range-(vic&becky)-1956
FortShafterPalmCircle_AerialView
photo taken: 18JAN2006
photo taken: 18JAN2006
Gazebo_landscape_m
Palm Circle –USAMH 9 September 1920
PalmCircle_USAMH34_l-1913
Quarters6_l-the most famous resident of Quarters 6 to date was General George S. Patton, Jr., who lived there from May 1935 to July 1937
photo taken: 18JAN2006
photo taken: 18JAN2006
photo taken: 18JAN2006
photo taken: 18JAN2006
Richardson Hall-entry
photo taken:18JAN2006
photo taken:18JAN2006
Richardson_Theatre_l-1987, the theatre became home to the Army Community Theatre (ACT) in Hawaii
Richardson_Theatre_named for Lieutenant General Robert Richardson, had its grand opening on May 12, 1948-photo_1958
T126_Guard_House_1_1907_l-Completed on July 1, 1907, it was the original guardhouse and post prison
T126_Guard_House_1_l-Completed on July 1, 1907, it was the original guardhouse and post prison
T126_Guard_House_2_1907_l-Completed on July 1, 1907, it was the original guardhouse and post prison
T126_Guard_House_2_l-Completed on July 1, 1907, it was the original guardhouse and post prison
Takata_field1_l-named_for-Sergeant Shigeo “Joe” Takata, a member of the famed 100th Infantry Battalion
Takata_field2_l-Sergeant Shigeo “Joe” Takata, a member of the famed 100th Infantry Battalion

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Fort Armstrong

Fort Armstrong was located at Honolulu and was built on fill over Kaʻākaukukui reef in 1907 to protect Honolulu Harbor. It had one named Battery, and was spread over an area of 64.34 acres (6 acres being upland and the balance submerged lands.)

Kaʻākaukukui (the right (or north) light – and also called ‘Ākaukukui) was an original name for Kakaʻako.

Marshland, reef, salt pans and traditional fish ponds existed in this area. The entire shoreline was a coral wasteland bordered by mudflats. According to an 1885 survey map, the ‘ili of Kaʻākaukukui was awarded by land court to Victoria Kamāmalu; Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop inherited the land and it later became part of the Kamehameha Schools.

In 1898, the property was transferred to the United States by the Republic of Hawaiʻi under the joint resolution of annexation and, to protect the mouth of Honolulu Harbor, the US Army filled a submerged coral reef on the ‘Ewa side of Ka’ākaukukui for a gun emplacement.

In January 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) “to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions (including Hawai‘i.)”

In 1906 the Taft Board recommended a system of Coast Artillery batteries to protect Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. Between 1909-1921, the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command had its headquarters at Fort Ruger and defenses included artillery regiments stationed at …

… Fort Armstrong, Fort Barrette, Fort DeRussy, Diamond Head, Fort Kamehameha, Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation (Fort Hase – later known as Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi) and Fort Weaver.

The District was renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses of Oʻahu sometime between 1911 and 1913. Following World War I and until the end of World War II, additional coastal batteries were constructed throughout the Island.

Fort Armstrong, built in 1907, was named for Brigadier General Samuel C Armstrong. His father, Reverend Richard Armstrong (1805-1860,) had arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1832 and later replaced Hiram Bingham as pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church (1840-1843.) In 1848, Armstrong (the father) left the mission and became Hawaiʻi’s minister of public education.

Armstrong (the son – namesake of the Fort) was born January 30, 1839 in Maui, Hawaii, the sixth of ten children. He attended Punahou School and later volunteered to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

At the end of the war, Armstrong established the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute – now known as Hampton University – in Hampton, Virginia in 1868. Perhaps the best student of Armstrong’s Hampton-style education was Booker T Washington. Samuel Chapman Armstrong died at the Hampton Institute on May 11, 1893, and is buried in the Hampton University Cemetery.

The original garrison at Fort Armstrong was the 1st Coast Artillery Company, followed by the 104th Mine Co. operating the harbor mines. Also stationed there was the 185th Coast Artillery Company.

They lived in tents for quite a long time; then temporary barracks were built – wooden structures that were continually occupied since January, 1914. Buildings are constructed of 1 x 12 rough boards, with tar-paper roofs.

The facility later had a barracks, 4 officers’ quarters, 3 noncommissioned officers’ quarters, administration building and post exchange, guardhouse, fire apparatus house, quartermaster storehouse, gymnasium and related infrastructure; the standard strength was 109 men.

Battery Tiernon at Fort Armstrong was armed with two pedestal mounted 3-inch Guns from 1911 to 1943.

The first service practice ever held at Battery Tiernon, using the 3-inch guns, was August 30, 1913. “Two 10-by-24 foot material targets were towed from right to left, facing the field of fire from a position at the B.C. station. … only one target was fired upon, viz: Four shots by the first manning detail and then four shots by the second manning detail. This was due to the fact that when the left target had almost reached the inner allowable limit of range at which practice may be held (1,500-yards) the right target was just beginning to be obscured by a dredge working in the outer channel.”

The Army mission in Hawaiʻi was defined in 1920 as “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets.”

Fort Armstrong continued under the Coast Artillery program until September 15, 1922.

It was reserved for military purposes by a series of Executive Orders in 1930 and was described as the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation.

The present seawall was constructed 500-feet out from the original shoreline in 1948, and the area was backfilled. The Army Corps of Engineers took over the post in 1949. Kakaʻako Park was created over the landfill area.

On December 13, 1951, because the site was no longer needed by the military and was needed by the Territory of Hawaiʻi for harbor improvements, President Truman transferred the land to the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

Today, the site includes Piers 1 and 2 and has container and general cargo berths, warehouses, sheds, open paved storage areas for container back up and marshaling and Foreign Trade Zone No. 9. The area also contains the US Immigration Station, the Department of Health Building, and the Ala Moana Pumping Station (all historic buildings.)

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