US Naval Training Center - Anchor Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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P I i Y w i 1 w Y I I ...Bn

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'o S Q U. S. NAVAL TRAINING CENTER Scan Diego, Californiasi O Q 1 I P OUNTLESS GENERATIUNS of seafaring men have come to regard the anchor as a symbol of i, their profession and a mark of security to the ships in cf which they serve. By the Romans the anchor was re- garded as a symbol of wealth and commerce, while the C' Greeks gave to it the significance of hope and steadiness, a meaning that persists in religion and heraldry today. C' The symbolism of the Greeks was carried on by the early ,J Christians with a meaning of steadfastness, hope and t salvation. tim Here, too, in recruit training, the anchor has special significance, not only as the symbol of the recruit's new life and surroundings but also as the steadfast symbol of the security in his new career that his recruit training will give him. In the pages that follow, the daily life of a recruit is traced fr o m his initial arrival at the Naval Training Center until his graduation some nine weeks later. ':l:'I-:l::E: .A.1u'GI10Iz. gg

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HE NAVAL TRAINING CENTER San Diego had its inception in 1916 when Mr. William Kettner, Con- gressman from the Eleventh Congressional District of California and spokesman for the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, interested the Honorable Franklin KD. Roose- velt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, in establishing a naval training activity on the shores of San Diego Bay. Due to the Nation's entry into World War 1, further de- velopment of this plan was postponed until 1919, when Congress authorized acceptance by the Navy of the present site of the Training Center. The original grant consisted of 135 acres of highland donated by the San Diego Cham- ber of Commerce and 141-2 acres of tideland given by the City of San Diego. Construction work began in 1921, and on 1 June 1923 the U. S. Naval Training Station, San Diego, was placed in commission under the command of Captain flater Rear Admirall David F. Sellers, U. S. Navy. At the time of its commissioning in 1923 the sta- tion bore little resemblance to its present size or ar- rangement. At that time Camp Paul Jones housed the entire population of the station and the maximum re- cruit strength was 1,500. The period of recruit train- ing was then sixteen weeks. The shore line of San Diego Bay extended considerably further inland than at present, and the land now occupied by Preble Field, the North Athletic Area and Camp Farragut was en- tirely under water. The recruit parade ground was lo- cated on the present site of the Public Works garage. During the 1920's the Recruit Receiving and Outgoing Units were housed in the Detention Unit, known as Camp Ingram, which consisted of a group of walled tents adjacent to the south boundary of Camp Paul Jones. Until Camp Lawrence was completed in 1936, A recruits spent their first three weeks of training under canvas in this Detention Unit. In 1939 a construction program was commenced which within three years was to increase the capacity of the sta- tion four-fold. This expansion went hand in glove with a large scale program of harbor improvements by means of which the channel and anchorages in San Diego Bay were deepened and 130 acres of filled land were added to the eastern boundaries of the station. By 1941 Camp Luce had been completed, and the construction of Camps Mahan, Decatur, and Farragut was already well under way when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Virtually all this construction work was completed by September, 1942, when the capacity of the station had reached its wartime peak of 33,000 men, 25,000 of whom were re- cruits. The period of recruit training during World War II varied between three weeks and seven weeks. In April, 1944, the Secretary of the Navy changed the status of the Training Station to that of a group com- mand and redesignated it the U. S. Naval Training Center, San Diego. Under the Center Commander were established three subordinate commands: The Recruit Training Com- mand, The Service School Command and the Administra- tive Command. The years 'immediately following World War II saw a considerable reduction in population of the Training Cen- ter despite a post-war expansion of the Service Schools, and by the end of 1949 the population of the Center had dropped to a twenty-year low of 5,800 men. Six months later, when the Communists invaded the Republic of Korea, an immediate expansion of all Naval training ac- tivities took place and by September of 1950 the Center was again operating.at nearly full capacity. - continued on next page -1 1 4 l 15. A.: