Navy Tunnel on Corregidor Video
My friend Kevin Strahm produced another video about Corregidor, this time the Navy Tunnel in Malinta Hill.
Why my interest? This was the Navy Head Quarter in the Philippines during the Battle of Bataan and the battle of Corregidor. Admiral Rockwell was the Commander.
He executed the transfer, retreat of the naval assets in Olongapo and Cavite to Mariveles and Corregidor.
Under his leadership and cooperation the 4th Marines absorbed all the Olongapo and Cavite Marines and helped establish the Naval Station and Naval Reservation in Mariveles. Then the 4th Marines were assigned the land defense of Corregidor and absorbed all the other extra Naval personnel and personnel from the Philippine and US Armed Forces when Bataan surrendered.
The evacuation of all the Navy radio intercept personnel was successful completed by submarines, some other important personnel was also evacuated that way.
The Philippine National Gold Reserves were evacuated by submarine from Corregidor.
At the Mariveles Naval Station a Submarine Tender provided services to the submarine force. Other personnel helped defend Mariveles from the Japanese landing at Point Longoskawayan.
The Navy mine field needed attention and the navy assisted in vessels and crafts crossing thru the US Army mine barrier.
An outstanding feat was carried out by the Navy PT squadron operating out of Mariveles. The PT Squadron was chosen by General MacArthur to break thru the Japanese Naval Blockade and carry him and his party to Mindanao in March 1942.
Here are 10 screen captures and 2 images from the Corregidor forum.
Z018. Karl to the front looking for the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor
Z019. We found it, the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor.
Z020. Second man coming down into the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor.
Z021. The Navy Tunnel on Corregidor opens up big.
Z022. This is the entrance way to the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor.
Z023. Some fittings at the overhead above the former generator place in the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor.
Z024. Perhaps this was bunk chain in the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor.
Z025. Here is a wall for a separate room in the in the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor.
Z026. Graffiti on the wall in the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor, this fish is together with Japanese writing, so, maybe it is from the 1942 to Feb. 1945 temporary Japanese residents.
Z027. Shipmate Gerald Randy Anderson Sr. is crawling out of the Navy Tunnel on Corregidor. He said he was comfortable in small closed in spaces but he did well this time!
Z028. The other 3 Navy Tunnels entrances on the Westside and the south end of Malinta Hill, this picture came from the Corregidor forum. They are closed now because of battle to recapture Corregidor in 1945.
Z029. For your orientation another image with descriptions is added. I also came from the Corregidor forum and was produced by one of an outstanding knowledgeable member of the forum.
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Here is a paragraph and the URL of an article in the Naval History magazine called Disaster in Cavite.
Disaster at Cavite
The opening salvo of World War II in the Pacific took aim at the battleships at Pearl Harbor. Also decimated days later was a U.S. naval base that lay at Japan’s front door.
By John J. Domalgalski
www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2018/december/disaster-caviteShore-based personnel began to move through the main gate of the navy yard the next day to begin cleanup and salvage work. Remaining supplies and materials were transferred across Manila Bay to a small base at Mariveles on the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula and to Corregidor. The latter fortified island also would serve as Rockwell’s new headquarters. “With no electric light or power, little fresh water, and scant provisions, the men worked from daylight until dark on two meals a day, and stood security watches all night,” Rockwell later wrote of the salvage effort. A trench near the Commandantia was prepared by a bulldozer to serve as a mass grave for civilians. Close to 250 bodies—some arriving in dump trucks—were covered over.15
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Here are other URLs from our Corregidor forum:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/852/malinta-navy-tunnelscorregidor.proboards.com/thread/953/navy-radio-intercept-tunnelcorregidor.proboards.com/thread/446/malinta-navy-tunnels-1corregidor.proboards.com/thread/498/malinta-navy-tunnels-2corregidor.proboards.com/thread/500/naming-navy-tunnels