California
State Military DepartmentP.O. Box 6670
San Diego, CA 92106
Naval Receiving Facility, Imperial Beach, California Highway 75 W to 8th St., straight west on Palm St., north on Silver Strand Blvd., to Gate. Access: By permission only.
This area was used for harbor defenses during the war. It was named after Brigadier General William H. Emory in 1942. The area was turned over to the Navy in 1947 which has converted the gun bunkers, Battery 134 and Battery Grant (#239), into a Naval radio receiving station. All gun batteries still exist, though overgrown somewhat. Access to the area is very restricted, though the hills of the two 1940 constructions are readily visible from outside the gates.
North Island Naval Air Station: No public access.
The only structures built by the Army at Fort Pio Pico were Battery Meed and a cable terminal box. The post was named after the last Mexican governor of Alta California, Pio Pico. The post was abandoned by the Army in the 1920s and subsequently turned over to the Navy with the rest of the old Army Rockwell Air Field on North Island (est. 1917) in 1935. Subsequent construction has obliterated these structures and even the site itself.
Cabrillo National Monument: Visitor's Center, hiking trails
Naval Ocean Systems Center
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery : Rosecrans Blvd. (SH 209) to Cannon Blvd, follow signs (SH 209) to Catalina Blvd., and south to gate. Public Access to National Monument and National Cemetery Access to Naval facilities by permission only.
Naval Submarine Base, San Diego: Entrance gate at the end of Roscrans Blvd. Access to base by permission only.
Point Loma was reserved as a military reservation by the United States in 1852, as it had been part of the public domain under the Mexican government. The small battery built by the Spanish in 1797 at Ballast Point had long since fallen into decay. A battery was constructed at Ballast Point by the Army in 1873, but was never completed. New construction began in 1896 on 4 batteries on Ballast Point with the barracks and associated buildings nearby. The post was named in 1899 after Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, a prominent Civil War veteran. New construction added weapons to the post's arsenal in 1914, 1937, 1941 and 1943. In June of 1959, the Army turned over control of the remainder of the reservations to the Navy .
Today, there are a considerable number of remnants from the Army's tenure at Point Loma, but most are on Navy property and generally off limits to the public. Cabrillo National Monument has some information in their visitor center and a bay-shore trail goes by a number of fire control and searchlight installations. At the bend in the road enroute to the oceanside section of the monument is the site of a 4 gun 155mm emplacement, but only one mount has been uncovered, and there are no interpretive signs. The Navy Submarine Base is the location of a number of old Army buildings, but the rest of the emplacements are generally off limits to all unauthorized personnel. The HECP is visible from the NW corner of the National Cemetery and Battery White (4-12" M) can be seen from the eastern edge of the cemetery. The cemetery is the final resting place of a number of distinguished American Service men, including the men who fell in the Battle of San Pasqual (near present day Escondido) during the Mexican War.
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| Point Loma |
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