United States Navy Battle Fleet Home Port 1919–1940In 1888, the War Department took control of a tract of land next to the bay and added to it in 1897 and 1910. This became Fort MacArthur in 1914 and was a coastal defense site for many years. Woodrow Wilson transferred 200 United States Navy ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1919 when tension arose between the United States and Japan over the fate of China. San Diego was considered too shallow for the largest ships, so the battleships anchored in San Pedro Bay on 9 August 1919. Local availability of fuel oil minimized transportation costs, and consistently good weather allowed frequent gunnery exercises off the nearby Channel Islands of California. The heavy cruisers of the Scouting Force were transferred from the Atlantic to San Pedro in response to the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. By 1934, 14 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, 14 cruisers, and 16 support ships were based at San Pedro. On 1 April 1940, the Pacific Fleet battleships sailed to Hawaii for annual fleet exercises. The battleships remained in the Hawaiian Islands to deter Japanese aggression until the Attack on Pearl Harbor. San Pedro remained a popular port of call for Navy ships through World War II; but the battle fleet never returned.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro,_Los_Angeles,_California
Okay then. I’ve been to Fort MacArthur, a couple of times within the last few years in fact. Saw the USS New Jersey in 1968 I think it was when it was going to be overhauled by the Todd Shipyards.