Captain John Cavender had one last duty to perform before ending his 36-year naval career. On Sunday, 31 March, before more than 3,000 people, Cavender, the commanding officer of the Mare Island Navy Yard, closed the base and ended both his career and an era in naval history.
After the more than hour-long ceremonies, at a reception in one of base’s warehouses, Cavender described this final duty as “absolutely the hardest job I ever had to do in the Navy,” and that “it was very emotional for me.” Many of those attending the closing ceremonies held at Mare Island’s Morton Field felt the emotion, for tears streamed down faces throughout the crowd.
With the final salute and the lowering of the flag, the base that had gone from the sail era to nuclear power became a victim of the “peace dividend.” In 1993 the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, citing the need for fewer nuclear-capable shipyards, the constant dredging of the Mare Island docking areas, and the high cost of operating the yard, ordered the base closed.
It was a devastating blow, not just for the city of Vallejo, located just across the Napa River, but for the community at large. Generations of Vallejo-area residents had worked at the base, making it not only the largest employer in Solano County, but one of the largest in Northern California.
At the time of its closing, Mare Island employed more than 7,500 civilian employees, peaking at more than 39,000 during World War II. With the closing of the base, not only jobs tied directly to the base were lost, but the entire area now feels the economic impact of the closing.
But Mare Island was not just an employer, it was part of the community, part of the identity of the area. While the ship yard’s legacy will live long in the minds of many of those who attended the three- day closure commemoration, the city of Vallejo set about making future plans for the land itself.
Within a week of the closure announcement, former Vallejo Mayor Tony Intintoli, Jr., formed the Mare Island Futures Work Group. The 52-person organization began working on reuse plans for the base for civilians purposes. By mid-1994 the group forwarded a reuse plan that was adopted by the Vallejo City Council to make the base a multiuse facility and started looking for users of the land. The Navy will maintain control of the base while an environmental cleanup is completed sometime after the turn of the century.
The city has been successful in attracting some tenants to the base. By the closure date of 31 March, the XKT Corporation, a steel fabrication firm, had moved in, using some of the shipyard’s warehouses and fabrication areas. Number One Golf Company has taken over the base golf course for public use, and Pegasus, Inc., is planning to begin dismantling ships at Mare Island by this summer.
While the true reason for the name Mare Island is not known, plenty of folk- lore surrounds the name. The most accepted is that Mexican General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, in honor of a favorite horse, declared the it “Isla de la Yergue” or “Island of the Mare.” The head of a horse became part of the Mare Island emblem.
By the early 1850s U.S. expansion in the west created a need for a naval base to support the small squadron of ships operating in the Pacific. In 1853 the Navy purchased the 990-acre island that sits between the Napa River and San Pablo Bay in Northern San Francisco Bay.
A year later, with a floating dry dock brought from the east coast, a handful of blacksmiths, sail makers, shipwrights, and wood caulkers, the first permanent U.S. Navy base on the west coast opened under the command of Commander David G. Farragut. In 1855, The St. Mary’s, a steam sloop of war, became the first ship to dock at Mare Island to use the new repair facility.
During its first years in service, Mare Island maintained not only U.S. ships, it also serviced ships from England, France, Russia, and other nations. Mare Island’s role soon expanded from ship repairs to ship building, when it launched the USS Saginaw, a 453-ton, four-gun, steam-driven side paddle wheeler in 1859.
Over Mare Island’s lifetime 513 ships were built, including the battleship USS California in 1919, the cruisers Chicago in 1930, San Francisco in 1933, and dozens of destroyers, destroyer escorts, submarines, and various auxiliary ships. In 1957, a little more than 100 years after its creation, the base entered the nuclear age with the launching of the submarine USS Sargo. More than a dozen nuclear-propelled submarines followed at Mare Island, which also provided support and repairs for other nuclear-powered ships.
Over the years, Mare Island continued to expand, adding four dry docks ranging in length from 435 feet to 741 feet to replace the original floating dry dock. More than 7,800 feet of ship berthing was added along the waterfront, and more than 890 buildings still dot the base, including 217 residential structures.
The first West Coast shipyard recorded several other firsts during its tenure. Workers at the yard converted the first Navy ship to bum fuel oil instead of coal. The placing of a flight deck on the cruiser USS Pennsylvania created the first shipboard aircraft landing deck, and the USS Grayback, the first guided-missile submarine was built at Mare Island. The yard also hosted the first naval hospital and Marine barracks on the West Coast, and in 1900 St. Peter’s Chapel became the first chapel in the U.S. Navy where both Protestants and Catholics gathered for services.
During World War II Mare Island became one of the primary repair facilities for battle-damaged ships. Many of the ships sunk and damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor found their way to Mare Island for repairs.
Although Mare Island never had to defend itself against foreign enemies, the base in later years was forced to fend off a more dangerous enemy: the budget cutter. Many times the yard’s name surfaced when discussions turned to base closures. But strong support by politicians and local leaders had kept the base open until the fateful 1993 announcement that Mare Island would be closed, 31 March 1996.
But Mare Island was not to die quietly. Unlike the closing of many other military bases that had simple closing ceremonies, some as short as two hours, those at Mare Island planned a three-day “Mare Island Conversion Celebration.”
Events included tours of the base and of the Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien from San Francisco. A Retirees Reunion was held along with the Mare Island Conversion Celebration Parade. Civil War reenactments, a paratroop demonstration, and vintage plane flyovers were held before the final ceremony.
People walked the streets that had once been closed to the public, touring the waterfront where hundreds of ships had docked for repairs. Tours also included many of the buildings, some more than 100 years old. Chris Guinon of Napa came with his family of four to have a Sunday picnic at the park across from Farragut Plaza, his way of saying goodbye. Guinon’s first job was as a mechanical engineer in the office of Ocean Engineering.
“It’s kind of sad,” said Guinon. “I don’t mind the Cold War being over, but it's sad to see the place close after all the work that was done here. It would be a great place for a university.”
So on a sunny clear spring Sunday, thousands came to say their goodbyes at the base athletic field named after Commander Dudley “Mush” Morton, who skippered the Mare-island-built submarine USS Wahoo credited with sinking 20 Japanese vessels before being sunk in World War II.
Many of those on Morton Field echoed the words of Barry Gates, who had worked at Mare Island for 30 years before retiring in October. He said the closing was like “ losing an old friend.” The ceremonies were “pretty emotional for me,” he reflected. “I am really glad I came to the ceremony. I think they did it up just right.”
After more than an hour of speeches including one by Admiral Bruce DeMars, Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, and a fly over of F/A-18 Hornets from the Lemoore Naval Air Station, Captain Cavender stepped to the microphone.
In his speech, the longest of the day, one halted several times as he paused to check his emotions, he thanked several people in attendance for their work in the getting the base ready for closure and thanked others for their emotional support, including his wife Cindy. Looking over the crowd he concluded his remarks by saying “Mare Island, you did good. God Bless America, thank you.” Cavender then ordered the colors lowered.
As a breeze rippled through the flag, it was slowly lowered, folded, and placed in the hands of Base Command Master Chief Alex Mines. Mines, who also ended his naval career this day, glanced down at the flag, saying later that he felt honored to end his career in the Navy this way: “It was a good job to do as my last in the Navy.”