The Military in San Diego
5/5
()
About this ebook
Scott McGaugh
Scott McGaugh is a veteran journalist and published author of Honor Before Glory (Da Capo/Hachette, 2016), the New York Times bestseller Surgeon in Blue (Arcade, 2013), Battlefield Angels (Osprey, 2011) and Midway Magic (CDS/Perseus, 2004). Midway Magic became the basis for a History Channel program, Hero Ship: The USS Midway, featuring the author and Honor Before Glory is in development as a feature film. McGaugh served as the founding marketing director of the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, the most visited floating ship museum in the world. Television appearances have included the History Channel, Travel Network and Discovery Channel, among others. Radio appearances have included NPR's Weekend Edition.
Read more from Scott Mc Gaugh
Surgeon in Blue: Jonathan Letterman, the Civil War Doctor Who Pioneered Battlefield Care Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Battlefield Angels: Saving Lives Under Enemy Fire From Valley Forge to Afghanistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin: The Glider Pilots of World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Military in San Diego
Related ebooks
San Diego Harbor Police Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5San Diego Yesterday Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAviation in San Diego Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSan Diego's Naval Training Center Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Navy in San Diego Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fort Sheridan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU.S. Marines In Vietnam: Fighting The North Vietnamese, 1967 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImages from the Otherland: Memoir of a United States Marine Corps Artillery Officer in Vietnam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU.S. Marines In Vietnam: The Advisory And Combat Assistance Era, 1954-1964 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOcean Beach Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU.S. Marines in Vietnam: High Mobility and Standdown 1969 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU.S. Marines In Vietnam: Vietnamization And Redeployment, 1970-1971 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Protested Against the Vietnam War? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDuke Homestead and the American Tobacco Company Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU.S. Marines In Vietnam: The Landing And The Buildup, 1965 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPatch Guide: U.S. Navy Ships and Submarines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCalifornia Cavalry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Alabama in the Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 409th Infantry in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5La Mesa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattleship Marine-A Combat History of the USS Wisconsin in Desert Storm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Stan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLoimologia: Or, an Historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665 With Precautionary Directions Against the Like Contagion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurviving the Death Railway: A POW's Memoir and Letters from Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsU.S. Marines In Vietnam: The Defining Year, 1968 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Dear Wife: The Letters of Pvt. Charles H. Prentiss 1862-1865 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTracing Your Prisoner of War Ancestors: The First World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColumbia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5John F. Kennedy: from Florida to the Moon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBerkley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White Album: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Years a Slave (Illustrated) (Two Pence books) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Military in San Diego
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very well done pictorial essay in San Diego's military, and most prominently its naval, history. This book contains photographs illustrating naval/ military projects not normally covered in similar books.
Book preview
The Military in San Diego - Scott McGaugh
Center.
INTRODUCTION
The history of the San Diego region is inextricably interwoven with the history of the US military. Over the course of five generations, this symbiotic relationship, which predated the birth of the nation, is one in which most San Diegans take a great deal of pride.
More than 200 years ago, the Spanish recognized the value of San Diego as a strategic military foothold on the West Coast. When California became a province of the United States in the mid-1800s, the nation quickly recognized San Diego’s strategic position, with the area first being used as border protection. Then, as America turned its attention to the Far East, San Diego became even more relevant. City leaders worked with Congress and President Roosevelt in the mid-1900s, successfully advocating a military metropolis
that eventually evolved into the San Diego region of today. Beginning with the arrival of the Great White Fleet in 1908, the military has been woven into the fabric of the region’s fate.
As the armed services evolved in the 20th century, San Diego matured as well. The military presence spawned massive migrations of military personnel and civilians to the region, requiring vast expansions of housing, schools, public services, education, and health care. From welders to engineers, much of San Diego’s labor force has been fueled by the employment needs of the military. Similarly, as technology evolved, San Diego’s economic base has reflected shifts from aircraft manufacturing to military and defense space technology. San Diego’s robust innovation sector, from high tech to biotech, as well as its world-class academic institutions, has been nurtured by billions of dollars in military research and defense (R&D) funding that has flowed into this region.
Today, military spending in the region is approximately $20 billion annually, the majority of which supports approximately 130,000 jobs. In addition, more than an estimated 300,000 civilians support the military’s presence.
The relationship between the military and San Diego goes far deeper than the gross regional product. It speaks to the tens of thousands of Americans who depart from San Diego’s shores every year in service to their country. It is reflected by military housing complexes throughout the region, where the children of civilians and those in uniform attend the same schools. Further, it is not just an active duty military community. San Diego is home to the third-largest population of veterans in the United States; 1 in 12 employees is a veteran, and 1 in 6 businesses is owned by a veteran.
Over the years, San Diego has evolved from a remote Spanish presidio outpost to a Pacific powerhouse and has become home to the largest Navy complex in the world. Worldwide commands of US Navy Special Forces, its surface fleet of ships, and all air wings are headquartered in San Diego.
Looking ahead, San Diego will continue to lead the nation in military/civilian stewardship and will continue to flourish as a community through its long-standing relationship with the armed forces of the United States.
—Charlotte Cagan
Executive Director
San Diego History Center
While San Diego may be internationally recognized today for its intimate relationship with the US Navy, the historical roots of its relationship with the military were first seeded by the US Army. Then nearly half a century later, the Army established the first substantial military aviation presence in the region. As national priorities and world affairs evolved, the Navy gradually became dominant. Here, marines conduct a marching demonstration for the public in 1915. Today, San Diego’s relationship with the military spans not only the Navy, but also includes a vast array of military R&D institutions and alliances.
ONE
THE CHANGING GUARD
1769–1907
Over the course of the first 150 years of its history, San Diego’s relationship with a local military presence underwent a number of changes. In 1769, the Spanish established the first military outpost to protect a nearby mission as well as to deter exploring sea captains from claiming territorial ownership for their kings and queens.
Spanish military influence continued until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Navy sailors captured San Diego at the beginning of the war, constructed a small fort of logs and earthen embankments, and named it Fort Stockton.
The subsequent Army-dominated period saw an increased military presence. Point Loma was recognized for its military value, and San Diego grew as a port of entry for supplies destined for the region’s mostly Army outposts. In the latter half of the 1800s, the focus shifted to improving regional infrastructure to support a more diversified military presence. A river had to be relocated, and the bay had to be dredged.
By 1907, San Diego had matured from Spanish outpost of occupation, to a permanent Army foothold, to increasing Navy interest. This formed the backdrop for what would become the dominating local emergence of the US Navy.
OPPOSITE: When the Spanish entered San Diego Bay in 1769, they built a presidio, or fort, on a hill overlooking the bay. The original fort featured two brass cannons and a wooden stockade surrounding a number of simple brush huts. The 300-by-300-foot compound later was reinforced with adobe blocks. After Mexico won its independence, the presidio became the residence of the governor of Alta California. The compound was abandoned in 1835 when its occupants moved into the new Pueblo de San Diego at the foot of the hill.
Soon after the United States’ declaration of war against Mexico in 1846, a force of American sailors and Marines aboard the USS Cyane rowed ashore and raised the American flag in the plaza of San Diego. After a series of skirmishes with Mexican loyalists, the ship’s commanding officer, Comdr. Samuel DuPont, ordered his men to construct a fort above the old presidio. It marked the official possession of San Diego by the American military. The fort was later named Fort Stockton to honor Commodore Robert F. Stockton, the commander of the Pacific Squadron. A small garrison manned this earthen-walled fort until it was relieved by the arrival of the famed Mormon Battalion that had marched 2,000 miles from Iowa. The walls of the fort can still be seen near a monument to the Mormon Battalion atop what is now known as