Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Fleet and Industrial Supply Center,
Oakland
(Naval Supply Depot, Oakland;
Naval Supply Center, Oakland)
The Naval Supply Depot began in 1940 when
the city of Oakland sold 500 acres of marshlands to the Navy for
$1.00. The Navy reclaimed the land and built several large warehouses
to store war materials destined for overseas shipment. By December
15, 1941, 8 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Depot was
opened for business. It expanded during and after the war and
acquired several sub-posts. In the late 1940s it was renamed Naval
Supply Center, Oakland and operated throughout the Cold War as
one of the Navy's most important and most modern supply facilities.
Wikipedia History
(2015)
The Fleet and Industrial Supply Center,
Oakland was a supply facility operated by the U.S. Navy in Oakland,
California. During World War II, it was a major source of supplies
and war materials for ships operating in the Pacific.
The Depot had its origin in 1940 when the
Navy bought 500 acres (2.0 km2) of wetlands from the city of Oakland
for $1.00. The Navy reclaimed the land and populated it with large
warehouses. It opened on December 15, 1941, and quickly began
a decades-long expansion. In the late 1940s it was renamed Naval
Supply Center, Oakland; later it was renamed Fleet and Industrial
Supply Center, Oakland. During the Cold War, it was one of the
Navy's most important supply facilities.[1]
The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission
recommended that the Center be closed.[2] It was closed in 1998,
and in 1999, the Navy transferred the entire 531-acre (2.15 km2)
property to the Port of Oakland. The new owner plans to develop
it for intermodal freight transport involving a marine terminal,
railroad, and truck cargo activities. The site is environmentally
contaminated due to past activities.
A portion of the supply depot was developed
into Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in 2003. Buildings were removed
and environmental restoration created new wetlands for wildlife.[3]
Naval Supply
Center Oakland (2005)
by Justin Ruhge
The Naval Supply Depot Oakland was established
in January 1940 when the City of Oakland sold the 500-acre marshland
site to the Navy for one dollar. The Navy immediately began reclaiming
the partially submerged tideland, and on December 15, 1941 was
able to open the supply facility and play a vital role in the
Pacific Theater of World War II. It occupied four Bay area sites,
all within a twenty-mile radius. Oakland, the largest, covered
541 acres. The Fuel Department at Point Molate had 410 acres;
across the estuary the Alameda Facility covered 107 acres, and
the Alameda Annex added another 100 acres. In total, NSCO's aggregate
area was 1,150 acres.
This acreage hosted 10 million square
feet of covered storage space, with 3 million more in open storage
capacity, and 350 structures of various sizes.
Basically, the business of this complex
was distribution. It managed a $2 billion inventory of supplies,
employed 2,100 civilians in 1983.
There have been major changes during the
past five decades. Late in the 1940s the transition was made
from a depot to a Naval Supply Center. In the mid-1970s Naval
Supply Center, Oakland became a personnel office when it assumed
the civilian personnel functions for the newly formed Public
Works Center and for the Commissary Store Region with its ten
stores in California and Nevada.
In 1979 the Center became the wholesale
aviation supply source to replace the Naval Air Station in Alameda.
While changing many of its operations
and priorities, its basic mission is still to support Fleet readiness.
Over and above its materials supply support, it performs numerous
administrative services for more than fifty-five activities,
including two-dozen commands within the region.