Historic California Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields

Lake Chabot Machine Gun Range

 

Lake Chabot Machine Gun Range circa 1946. The triangular target track can be seen in the center of the photograph..

 

With the start of World War II, the U.S. Navy required a large quantity of new training facilities to enlarge its pool of trained aerial gunners for its patrol and bomber aircraft. In order to accomplish this mission, the 12th Naval District entered into a lease arrangement with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) to establish a gunnery range on a watershed area adjacent to the Lake Chabot Reservoir.

The U.S. Navy built a circuit training range on which gunners would fire turret mounted machine guns that were built onto the beds of light trucks, rail cars, and fixed firing platforms. Gunners would engage targets that were on an automated circuit on small rail cars. This would simulate firing in air-to-air combat.

In addition to the automated circuit range, there was a shotgun range that was used for the primary training of aerial gunners. This was basically a skeet range in which trainees would learn the fundamental techniques of aerial gunnery, such as proper sighting of fast moving targets.

Documentation supports that during the U.S. Navy's tenure, there seems to have been problems with the training activity causing erosion that resulted in an overabundance of silt in Lake Chabot. Documentation at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland also states that tracer ammunition fired at the range caused at least one major wildfire.

With the end of World War II, the need for aerial gunners decreased and the Site was no longer needed by the U.S. Navy. While a copy of the lease or other termination documents could not be located during records research, documentation indicates that the lease between the U.S. Navy and EBMUD expired on 30 June 1947

Site Map

 

Building Schedule

Building No.	Facility	Comment/ Concern
1	Barracks	None
2	Subsistence Building (Mess Hall)	None
3	Bachelor Officers Quarters	None
4	Small Arms Ammunition Storage	None
5	Control Tower	None
6	Sewage Disposal	None
7	25,000 Gallon Water Tank	None
8	Repair Shop	None
9	Turret Truck Garage	None
10	Turret Maintenance Shop	None
11	Target Repair Building	None
12	Ammunition Belting and Paint Building	None
13	Recreation Building	None
14	Armory	None
15	Dispensary	None
16	Paint Locker	None
17	Rail Car Storage Shelter	None
18	Malfunction Classroom	None
19	Classroom	None
20	Classroom	None
N/A	Pump House	Adjacent to 100,000 Gallon Water Tank
N/A	100,000 Gallon Water Tank	None
N/A	Underground Storage Tank	Adjacent to Subsistence Building
N/A	Underground Storage Tank	Adjacent to Subsistence Building
N/A	Above Ground Storage Tank	Adjacent to Bachelor Officers Quarters
N/A	Pump House	Between Dispensary and Repair Shop
N/A	Septic Tank	Between Dispensary and Repair Shop
N/A	Boxing Ring	Adjacent to Barracks
N/A	500 Gallon Above Ground Gasoline Tank and Pump	Adjacent to Building 10
N/A	60’x6’ Target Butt	Burst Control Range
N/A	118’x6’ Target Butt/Storeroom	Malfunction Range
N/A	61’x10’ Firing Platform	Burst Control Range
N/A	101’x10’ Firing Platform	Malfunction Range

 

 

 

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Updated 8 February 2016