AvilaBeachAmphibiousTrainingBaseMorroBay

Amphibious Training Base Morro Bay also called Camp Morro Bay and Morro Bay Section Base was a

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

training base for

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

beach

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in cri ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The base opened in 1941 to train troops for the Pacific theater of operations' island leapfrogging using

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force ( infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are large ...

and LCVP. The base was located in

Morro Bay, California Morro Bay (''Morro'', Spanish for "Hill") is a seaside city in San Luis Obispo County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, the city population was 10,757 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,234 at the 2010 census. The town ...

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Missio ...

. The base was on of leased land. Ships for the base were based at the Avila's Port San Luis in San Luis Bay. Which was also leased with the yacht club and its warehouse. Added to the leased land was: two piers, mess hall, gallon water storage tanks, roads, buildings, garages, and ammo storage area. The Navy also extended the bay's breakwater. A wooden

trestle bridge A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles trian ...

was built to get to the nearby sandspit (now Morro Bay State Park), the bridge was removed in 1946 and some pillars still remain. The near Estero Bay was the site of training assault also, by the Navy,

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

and

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

also taking over the unused vacation hotel there. Nearby

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

fields had fighter aircraft fire flour shot to make the training more real. Up to 175 landing craft were at the base and 16,000 troops a day trained. In the base and in nearby Los Osos and

Baywood Baywood can refer to a place in the United States: * Baywood, Louisiana * Baywood, New York Baywood is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population ...

live fire bombing, machine gun,

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among th ...

s, and flamethrowers were used for training. The training ended on 31 October 1945 and the site is now a

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 watt, megawatts of base-load and peak generati ...

power plant built in 1955, site of three large smoke stacks. North of the former base in the notable

Morro Rock Morro Rock ( Salinan: ''Le'samo; '' Chumash: ''Lisamu; Spanish: ''El Morro'') is a volcanic plug in Morro Bay, California, on the Pacific Coast at the entrance to Morro Bay harbor. A causeway connects it with the shore, making it a tie ...

. Avila Beach was also a

Union Oil Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

plant with many oil storage tanks, use for Navy ships.

Baywood Park Training Area

Baywood Park Training Area opened in July 1943 as a branch of the

Camp San Luis Obispo Camp San Luis Obispo is the original home of the California Army National Guard. It served as an Infantry Division Camp and Cantonment Area for the United States Army during World War II. History Camp San Luis Obispo, formerly called Camp Merri ...

and Amphibious Training Base Morro Bay. The site was on of leased land. The site is in the current town of

Baywood-Los Osos, California Baywood-Los Osos (locally known as Los Osos-Baywood Park) is an unincorporated community in western San Luis Obispo County, California. The population was 14,351 in the 2000 census. It includes the communities of Los Osos, which is located near ...

and the Morro Bay State Park. The lease ended in 1947.US Army Baywood Park Training Area, FUDS
/ref> BlackHillMorroBayPanorama

References

{{WWII US ships United States in World War II Military in California

Baywood Park Training Area

See also

References