I have placed a lot of caches now on Treasure Island with a few different themes. I recently realized that it was time to place a cache on the island that focused on the cool history of the island. I lived out here for a couple years and learned a lot about the history of the island during those couple years. The island was orignally built in 1936-7 for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, the World's Fair. During WWII and the start of the cold war it was a Naval base. In the 1980's, it began being used in the film industry. There are numerous plans for the future of the island so it will be interesting to see what becomes of the island. I was planning on having a cache focused on the whole history of the island but there is too much stuff for one cache. This is the second cache focusing on the history of Treasure Island. This is focused on the navy years.
During World War II, Treasure Island became part of the Treasure Island Naval Base, and served as an electronics and radio communications training school, and as the major Navy departure and receiving point for sailors in the Pacific aboard surface ships and submarines. The Naval Station also served as an Auxiliary Air Facility airfield for airships, blimps, dirigibles, planes, and seaplanes by Hangars / Bldgs. 2 & 3. The seaplanes landed in the Port of Trade Winds Harbor.
After the war, a training center for nuclear decontamination was established on the island.
A good imitation of the atomic blast's mushroom cloud was created at 9 a. m. yesterday on Treasure Islands as the Navy set off a mock nuclear explosion for some 200 scientists attending the closing session of a symposium on medial problems of modern warfare. The make-believe atomic bomb was composed of 300 gallons of napalm, 300 pounds of TNT, and phosphorous and smoke grenades touched off by a blasting cap electrically detonated, it sent up a fireball 150 feet in diameter. Then this black could soared to 600 feet before turning in to a doughnut and dispersing. The dry-land ship at right is the USS Pandemonium. It put on a show too, as its crew of sailors set off the vessel's sprinkling system to demonstrate how to wash down the hull and superstructure after going through radioactive fallout. Photo taken October 18, 1957
A full size mockup of a navy ship dubbed the USS Pandemonium (PCDC-1) was constructed in July 1956. Radioactive materials were placed on the land-locked ship in order to train crews in radioactive detection and cleanup. The Pandemonium remained in use until July 1969. It was moved from its original site and then demolished in 1996.
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During the 1960s-1980s Treasure Island was used by the U.S. Navy for shipboard fire fighting and damage control training for Hull Maintenance Technicians and other sailors. Treasure Island housed the "USS Buttercup" (in Bldg. 341 on Avenue M and 4th Street) which was a static damage control trainer that was used for real time shipboard battle damage repair and control. The Auxiliary Air Facility airfield was limited to helicopter landing pad use at Naval Airship Square on the East side of Hangar/Bldg. 3 near the Naval firehouse at Bldg. 111. Approximately 3,000 military and 1,000 civilian personnel worked at the Naval Station.
Additionally, the Hull Maintenance Technician Training School Phase "A" was trained at Treasure Island for Nuclear, Biological, Radiological and Chemical Warfare Training as part of their phase "A" and phase "B" training.
Treasure Island was also the location for the (nominal) 42-week Electronics Technician (ET) 'A-School'.
During the time that Treasure Island was operational here is a partial list of the Navy Boats that may have visited the Treasure Island Naval Yard.
- USS Tuscaloosa
- USS Muskogee
- USS Omaha
- USS Boston
- USS Oregon City
- USS Bayonne
- USS Orlando
- USS Pocatello
In 1996, Treasure Island and the Presidio of San Francisco Army Post were decommissioned and opened to public control, under stipulations. Treasure Island is now part of District 6 of the City and County of San Francisco, though it is still owned by the Navy. In 1993, the naval station was selected for closure, and Navy operations ended there in 1997.
Please take some time while here to walk around. It is not everyday you get to visit an island with such an amazing history. Of course, I would not play in the dirt if I were you.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.