page_title: U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay
section_title: Vietnam War
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay / Vietnam War
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo #: NH 82517
context_page_description: Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles, about the size of Singapore. The Navy Exchange had the largest volume of sales of any exchange in the world, and the Naval Supply Depot handled the largest volume of fuel oil of any navy facility in the world. The naval base was the largest overseas military installation of the United States Armed Forces after Clark Air Base in Angeles City was closed in 1991. Following its closure in 1992, it was transformed into the Subic Bay Freeport Zone by the Philippine government.
context_section_description: The Vietnam War was the period of peak activity as Subic Bay became the U.S. Seventh Fleet forward base for repair and replenishment after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964.  The average number of ships visiting the base per month rose from 98 in 1964 to 215 by 1967.  The base, with 6 wharves, 2 piers, and 160 mooring points and anchorages, had about 30 ships in port on any given day. Alava pier was extended by 600 feet (180 m) in 1967. The record of 47 ships in port was set in October 1968. About one-third of these were Military Sea Transportation Service ships bringing 45,000 tons of food, ammunition, and supplies and 2 million barrels of fuel oil, aviation gasoline, and JP-4 jet fuel each month including fuels transferred to Clark Air Base via a 41-mile (66 km) pipeline. The Naval Supply Depot maintained an inventory of 200,000 parts. The 4,224,503 sailors visiting Subic Bay in 1967 purchased more than $25 million in duty-free goods from the Navy Exchange.
  More than $63 million of construction projects contracted between 1964 and 1968 did not prepare the Ship Repair Facility (SRF) for the increasing workload and emergency peaks generated by the war.  American military and civilian population totaled about 4,300; and more than 15,000 Filipino SRF workers worked 12-hour shifts for an average of over 60 hours per week.  The physical plant consisted of quonset huts put up after World War II; and workers used obsolete tools and equipment supplemented by machine tools made available by decommissioning the New York Navy Yard.  Additional floating drydocks and a third repair ship were assigned from the United States to increase the capabilities of the repair facility.
  The fire-ravaged USS Forrestal was repaired in August 1967 before her return to the United States for a complete overhaul. Destroyers USS O'Brien, USS Ozbourn, USS Turner Joy and USS Edson, damaged by North Vietnamese shore batteries, were repaired, as were amphibious assault craft, river patrol boats and other small craft.
  The Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Hobart was repaired at Subic following the attack by USAF aircraft on 17 June 1968.
  On 3 June 1969 the Royal Australian Navy carrier HMAS Melbourne was involved in a collision with USS Frank E. Evans about 240 miles (390 km) southwest of Manila. USS Kearsarge brought 196 of the 199 survivors to Subic Bay. A Joint Australian/U.S. Board of Inquiry convened on 9 June in the library of George Dewey High School, the same day the stern section of Frank E. Evans arrived under tow by a tug. It was stripped and towed to sea as a gunnery target.
  Harbor Clearance Unit One was activated at Subic Bay in 1966 with the mission of salvaging ships from the rivers and harbors of Vietnam. Two of the biggest jobs were the salvaging of SS Baton Rouge Victory from the Saigon River and the raising of the 170-foot (52 m) dredge Jamaica Bay from the Mỹ Tho River. Both jobs were accomplished despite continuous harassment by enemy sniper fire.
  NAS Cubi Point served as the primary maintenance, repair and supply center for the 400 carrier based aircraft of the Seventh Fleet's carrier force. The jet engine shop turned out two jet engines a day to keep pace with the demands of the air war in Vietnam.
  Following the Fall of Saigon in the summer of 1975 hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Vietnam. Thousands of these refugees were rescued at sea by U.S. Navy ships and taken to Subic Bay. A temporary processing center that handled thousands of refugees was set up on Grande Island in 1975. They were later taken to the Philippine Refugee Processing Center in Morong, Bataan.
  The Military Bases Agreement of 1947 was amended in 1979, changing the role of the Americans at Subic Bay from landlord to guest. The amendment confirmed Philippine sovereignty over the base and reduced the area set aside for U.S. use from 244 square kilometres (94 sq mi) to 63 square kilometres (24 sq mi). Philippine troops assumed responsibility for the perimeter security of the base to reduce incidents between U.S. military and Philippine civilians. The unhamper
caption: USS Klondike beside USS Taussig, USS John A. Bole, USS Lofberg and USS John W. Thomason in Subic Bay
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