Subic Bay, SBFZ, ex Naval Base

[Karl Welteke]

A SAILOR’S 55TH BIRTHDAY IN SUBIC BAY

I present this album to show the world that Subic Bay is not dead, it lives on and some Sailor Traditions are being carried on.

Rick Storment celebrated his 55th Birthday on the 6th of March 2015 on the ex Subic Bay Naval Station which is now part of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. He celebrated in a place that is called now SCUBA Shack. It is amazing the large acquaintance circle Rick has established here in the Subic Bay Expat Community. This album shows a few views how it looks now on the Waterfront Road in front of the ex Marine Corps Staff NCO Club. And this album shows you that we expats carry on the great tradition to sit at the calm waters edge of Subic Bay, watch the sunset and suck on some San Miguel beers. More important we enjoy the company of old shipmates, spin some good yarn and don’t mind to be spoiled by some good looking ladies.

This is the album with 61 images. It is not for everyone, lots of boring faces and they DO NOT have descriptions.
tinyurl.com/kevfcus

3 images are included here:



X154. Left is Rick, Hy is in the middle and was Rick’s first Chief and got him squared away. Bill is right and he sent Rick to diving school and then he served with me and we two made a good instructor team at the Pearl Harbor Diving School. Now we reside all in Subic.



X155. Rick’s happy and handsome family.



X156. I include this map to show to any old Subic Sailor what is going on today in the vicinity of the former Marine Corps Staff NCO club. Maybe it will bring thought of past good time sitting in Subic and enjoying the good old times.

[Karl Welteke]

SUBIC BAY NAVAL STATION 1953 FROM THE LIFE MAGAZINE

I have collected many pictures about my favorite Naval Base in Subic Bay which is now also my permanent home.
These three pictures are from the Life Magazine but I would not be able to find the URLs again where I found them many years ago.



X173. The Boton area, mouth of the Boton River and the new Cubi Point air field on the Subic Bay Naval Base, this picture is from the Life Magazine and seemed to be dated 1st Sep. 1953.



X174. This picture is from the Life Magazine and seemed to be dated 1st Sep. 1953. The Cubi Point Naval Air Station is still being built. In the foreground the Leyte Carrier Wharf just got started.



X175. Almost full view of the Subic Bay Naval Station but the work realigning the Drainage River and building the canal and Canal Road has not started yet. Also it seems none of the modern concrete barracks have been built yet. This picture is from the Life Magazine and seemed to be dated 1st Sep. 1953.

[Karl Welteke]

SUBIC BAY 1945 IMAGES FROM NCB 102

More Subic Bay images which I have collected in the past. They are from this URL:
www.history.navy.mil/museums/seabee/UnitListPages/NCB/102%20NCB.pdf

This unit was decommissioned here in Subic Bay, the URL above also tells the history and accomplishments of this battalion in Subic Bay. As a Navy man I thought it was interesting reading.

Here are the pictures from the above URL. One campsite, I believe, I can place fairly accurate on a map. They are uploaded at their original size from the above URL:



X178. Navy Construction Battalion 102 building a barracks in Subic Bay. It could be anywhere in Subic. In 1945 the Navy was spread out all around the bay getting ready for the invasion of Japan.



X179. This bridge could have been built at many places in Subic Bay.



X180. I think this was a structure that collapsed, according the write-up in the URL above.



X181. I believe I indentified the landmarks properly and so I can place the camp site location in Calapacuan.



X182. This Google Earth image of Subic Bay, I used, to place the campsite of this NCB detachment in Calapacuan.



X183. The unmarked copy of the campsite of this NCB 102 detachment in Calapacuan, Subic Bay 1945.



X184. I place this construction and port site in the Boton area, that is between the former Naval Fueling Station (prior the Coaling Station) and the future Cubi Point Naval Air Station to build in the 1950s at right.



X185. The Plaque of the 102nd Naval Construction Battalion.

[Karl Welteke]

BASES IN THE PHILIPPINES, SUBIC BAY BUILT DURING WWII

This contribution is from this URL called



X186.

Chapter XXIX, Bases in the Philippines
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Building_Bases/bases-29.html

Only 2 images are shown:




X187. Subic Filtration plant, bases-p392



X188. Subic Storage, bases-p393. The ridgeline in back could easily be the Kalaklan Ridge, near the Kalaklan Gate. Look at picture X175, the Life Magazine picture, at the bottom right, it could be those storage buildings.

[chadhill]

Nice job, Karl! I really enjoyed these old photos of Subic and Cubi.

[okla]

Hey Karl...As Chad says, nice job. I had a very good buddy in College (we were both attending courtesy the GI Bill) who was with the Navy CBs during the early/mid 1950s, when so much of the construction/expanding was going on. I wish he was still living to see all the pics, etc that you have so kindly furnished members of this Forum. 'ole Bill, deceased 20 years now, would probably be astonished at how things have changed. I distinctly remember him remarking how he had served 36 months in the USN and had never been aboard ship. I had another High School friend, also deceased for several years, who was a CB Vet, serving on Guam for 30 months, during the Korean War Period who, also, had never ventured aboard a seagoing vessel. I used to kid these two guys about how my 14 days via USAF/US Army Troop Ship (each way) from Yokohoma to and from the West Coast was more "sea dog" or "blue water" time than both of them combined. Thanks much for this latest material.

[Karl Welteke]

FORMER NAS CUBI POINT UPDATE AS OF 22 MARCH 2015-03-25

My friend Carlito, a former Brownshoe or Airdale visited his former home, or rather, drove around the air field and posted 67 images into the below URL. He also said this, below here.

Guys & Gals,
This album is mainly intended for my friends that were once stationed in Cubi area. I drove around the Cubi yesterday, Sunday March 22, 2015. As you can see by the pictures there wasn’t a lot of activity going on anywhere in Cubi, but this is how it is almost any day of the week. Ever since FedEx pulled out of Cubi. The airport has basically become a ghost town. There is a small flying school that still operates out of the Midway hanger area. I’m not sure if there is even any field services available.
Simply click on the link below. Then click on the first picture. You’ll be able to advance the pictures as a slideshow.
Enjoy! Look forward to your comments.

s938.photobucket.com/user/queenie2_2009/library/Cubi%20Point%20now?sort=3&page=1

Carlito

Here are 4 sample pictures:



X204. Carlito’s picture, shot on 22 March 2015. The former Dungaree Beach on the former Naval Air Station Cubi Point (NAS), right now a large resort and hotel is being built here.



X205. Carlito’s picture, shot on 22 March 2015. The empty, ghostlike flight line on the former Naval Air Station Cubi Point (NAS). FEDEX kept it busy for a while but they moved to Red China.



X206. Carlito’s picture, shot on 22 March 2015. That is the former Leyte Wharf Carrier Area, it has become a busy grain port and container port.



X207. Carlito’s picture, shot on 22 March 2015. This is the former “New” VC-5 Hanger, then it became the Subic Bay International Airport but is very seldom used right now.

PS: Carlito did not shoot any images of the “All Hands Beach” but I know that the beach is doing fine it is open for business and the facilities are improved.

[Karl Welteke]

1300 ARMED SPANISH PRISONERS ON GRANDE ISLAND 1898, GERMANS HAD A FINGER IN THE PIE

This information came from the book of which the front and back are copied and presented here at the end.

Now I summarize a paragraph that deals with this subject from that book. I could not zerox it clearly because the book is too thick. This paragraph is on page 43 and 44:

Whenever Admiral Dewey captured prisoners from the Spaniards he promptly turned them over to the Filipinos---1300 at one clip in the month of June at Olongapo.

These 1300 were men a German man-of-war prevented the Filipinos from taking until Aguinaldo reported the matter to Admiral Dewey, whereupon, he promptly sent Captain Coghlan with the USS Raleigh and another of his ships to the scene of the trouble.

Captain Coghlan said to the German “Hoch the Kaiser” etc or words to that effect and made him go about his business and let our alley alone.

Then Captain Coghlan took the 1300 prisoners himself and turned them over to Aguinaldo by direction of Admiral Dewey.

The motive for, as well as the test of, an alliance, is that the other fellow can bring into the partnership something you lack. The Navy had no way to keep prisoners of war.

Footnote of this paragraph:
See Admiral Dewey’s testimony before the Senate Committee of 1902, S.D. 331, pp 2942, 2957



X208. Front cover of book: American Occupation of the Philippines 1898/99 by James H. Blount 1913.



X209. Back cover of book: American Occupation of the Philippines 1898/99 by James H. Blount 1913.

[Karl Welteke]

THE SUBIC BAY HISTORIAN SETS ME STRAIGHT

The above segment, of this thread: “1300 ARMED SPANISH PRISONERS ON GRANDE ISLAND 1898, GERMANS HAD A FINGER IN THE PIE” uploaded to this forum on the 26th March 2015 I also sent out to friends by email.

In the email I challenged Gerald Anderson whether he knew that story?

Today he answered and wrote this per email:
From Chapter Two of my book:

"On July 5, 1898, the Compania de Filipinas, an 800-ton tobacco carrier, sailed from Aparri in northern Luzon. Once out of port the Filipino crew, led by Vincente Catalan, a Cuban-Spaniard mutinied and killed her Spanish officers. They hoisted the flag of the Philippine Republic and sailed to Manila to join the Filipino’s mosquito fleet. The Filipinas was loaded with armed men, fitted with pieces of boiler pipe to look like artillery and sailed to Subic Bay to aid in the capture of the Spanish garrison.

The navy yard at Olongapo had been abandoned by the Spanish in June and about 300 Spaniards - soldiers, friars and civilians - left the navy yard at Olongapo and the surrounding area and sought refuge on Grande Island. The Filipinas stood into Subic Bay and Catalan, who had assumed the title “Admiral of the Filipino Navy,” ordered the garrison to surrender. The Spaniards refused and as the ship was preparing to land her armed force the German cruiser SMS Irene appeared in the bay. The Germans ordered the Filipinas to haul down the Filipino flag and run up a white flag. The tiny ship, hopelessly outgunned, withdrew.

A report of the incident reached Dewey. He ordered the USS Raleigh and the USS Concord to sail that night for Subic Bay “to demand the immediate surrender of Grande Island and to fight whomever necessary to do it.” The ships, arriving at Subic Bay the next morning, spotted the Irene at Grande Island. The Americans immediately geared for action and started in her direction but the Irene fled around the other end of the island, cutting loose her anchor chain and dropping it in the bay in her haste.

The American ships came around to Grande Island and fired a few shots from their light guns. The Spanish garrison offered no resistance and immediately surrendered to Captain Joseph Coghlan of the Raleigh. Following Dewey’s orders the prisoners and their arms were turned over to Catalan. As the American ships returned to Manila, the Filipinas steamed across the bay to Olongapo and delivered the Spanish prisoners to the Filipino commander here. Fifty-two of them, including the friars, remained in the village and the rest were marched inland."



From Karl: Dear Randy, I’m sorry I doubted you knew this story. Furthermore I apologize for being an inattentive reader of your book.



X231. This is Gerald Anderson’s book: “Subic Bay From Magellan to Pinatubo”. You can Google it and find the book available at many places



X232. Randy also sent this picture. James_Scott_Maxwell_SMS_Irene, this picture is from Wikipedia Commons.
"SMS Irene was a protected cruiser or Kreuzerkorvette of the German Imperial Navy and the lead ship of the Irene class. She had one sister, Prinzess Wilhelm; the two ships were the first protected cruisers built by the German Navy."

Gerald Anderson is a retired Naval Officer and resides here in Subic and Manila. He is also the 2nd important player in establishing the Hell Ships Memorial in Subic Bay.

PS: Karl says: We can assume that the author mentioned in my entry of the above segment, of this thread: “1300 ARMED SPANISH PRISONERS ON GRANDE ISLAND 1898, GERMANS HAD A FINGER IN THE PIE” either got the number wrong or it is a misprint, 300 Spaniard is a more believable figure.

[Karl Welteke]

THE USS GREEN BAY DOCKS IN SUBIC 2015 APRIL 14



X252. The ‘USS Green Bay,’ one of the most modern US naval ships to date, docks at the Alava Pier of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone yesterday. The USS Green Bay is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock that can deliver a fully equipped battalion of 800 Marines. (Jonas Reyes, Manila Bulletin)

USS Green Bay (LPD 20), an amphibious transport dock ship is moored at the Alava pier in Subic Bay Freeport Tuesday (April 14) to unload military equipment to be used in the annual military exercise dubbed “Balikatan 2015” slated to commence next week in several locations in the Philippines. (Jun Dumaguing)

The above picture and paragraphs came from the Subic Bay Newslink. Below is the URL to that source. It seems the Subic Bay Newslink got this information from the Manila Bulletin Board News Paper.

subicnewslink.blogspot.com/2015/04/uss-green-bay-docks-in-subic.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SubicBayNewslink+%28SUBIC+BAY+NEWSLINK%29