Ancient Hawaiians Ancient Hawaiians called the island
Mokuumeume ("isle of attraction" or "island of strife"), In the
Hawaiian language the word
moku means to cut or sever in two, as well as an island or inlet. The word
ume means to draw, attract or entice and was used to name the ceremony for the common people. Hawaii historian
Herb Kawainui Kāne considered
ume to be a courtship game. Those selected for
ume (never virgins or the unmarried) would sing around a large bonfire while a tribal leader with a
maile (wand) chanted, touching individual men and women. The native Hawaiian people of the area were called
Ke Awalau o Puuloa. They used the island to cultivate watermelon and to harvest
pili grass for the construction of
thatched roofs. with
Kanekuaana, a giant water lizard which supplied food to the people of
ʻEwa Beach. He used the land to raise sheep, hogs, goats and rabbits as provisions for ships, While on Oahu, he would map the Pearl River (known today as
Pearl Harbor). On August 28, 1865, the island was bought at public auction for $1,040 by James I. Dowsett, who sold it to Caroline Jackson for $1 on December 28. Ford married Caroline Jackson in June 1866, taking control of the island and changing its name from Marín Island to Ford Island. The island was managed by
Sanford B. Dole on behalf of Ford's minor children until Ford, Jr. came of age and sold the island in 1891 to the John Papa ʻĪʻī land trust.
Sugar reciprocity Sugar had been a major export from Hawaii since Captain
James Cook's arrival in 1778. During the 1850s, the U.S. import tariff on sugar from Hawaii was much higher than the import tariffs Hawaiians were charging the U.S., and
Kamehameha III sought reciprocity. As early as 1873, a United States military commission recommended attempting to obtain Ford Island in exchange for the tax-free importation of sugar to the U.S. At that time
Major General John Schofield, U.S. commander of the military division of the Pacific, and
Brevet Brigadier General Burton S. Alexander arrived in Hawaii to ascertain its defensive capabilities. U.S. control of Hawaii was considered vital for the defense of the west coast of the United States, and they were especially interested in
Pu'uloa, Pearl Harbor. The sale of one of Hawaii's harbors was proposed by
Charles Reed Bishop, a foreigner who had married into the
Kamehameha family, had risen in the government to be
Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and owned a country home near Pu'uloa. He showed the two U.S. officers around the lochs, although his wife,
Bernice Pauahi Bishop, privately disapproved of selling Hawaiian lands. As monarch,
William Charles Lunalilo, was content to let Bishop run almost all business affairs but the ceding of lands would become unpopular with the native Hawaiians. Many islanders thought that all the islands, rather than just Pearl Harbor, might be lost and opposed any cession of land. By November 1873, Lunalilo canceled negotiations and returned to drinking, against his doctor's advice; his health declined swiftly, and he died on February 3, 1874. and chose
David Kalākaua as the next monarch. The new ruler was pressured by the U.S. government to surrender Pearl Harbor to the Navy. They drafted their own constitution on July 6, 1887. The new constitution was written by
Lorrin Thurston, the Hawaiian Minister of the Interior who used the Hawaiian militia as threat against Kalākaua. Kalākaua was forced to dismiss his cabinet ministers and sign
a new constitution which greatly lessened his power. When the United States still seemed uninterested in reciprocity, he threatened to forge more favorable export agreements with Australia or New Zealand. Sugarcane was grown and harvested on Ford Island with a network of
aqueducts from freshwater reservoirs, transported to Waipio by barge and then by rail to the mills. Although the Bishop estate valued the land at $600 per acre, the United States was only willing to pay $30 per acre. In 1917, the John Papa ʻĪʻī estate agreed to sell part of the Island to the United States for construction of an airfield, only 49 arrived; one deserted en route. When Currey was transferred to
Washington, command of the squadron was given to Captain John B. Brooks and then Major
Hugh J. Knerr, who built hangars and a runway. Early soldiers had to level the island, removing hills and boulders. All housing and major hangars were completed in 1918, including a large steel-and-wood hangar, two concrete hangars for seaplanes and flying boats, a supply warehouse, a machine shop, a photography laboratory and a powerhouse. Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor, consisting of nine officers and fifty-five men, was commissioned on December 19, 1919. The Army received the west side of the island, and the Navy the southeastern side. Kirk-Patrick's men had two
Curtiss HS2L flying boats and two N-9 planes salvaged from World War I, which they stored in two large canvas hangars across the harbor from the island. To accommodate ship berthing the Navy built a concrete-and-stone quay around the entire island, Material was also dredged to deepen the West Loch, East Loch, and Middle Loch for the mooring of battleships. The Navy replaced its PK, F5L, and H16 aircraft with newer models (see table below). Construction began on a new Army airfield,
Hickam Army Airfield, named after pioneer
U.S. Army Air Corps pilot
Lieutenant Colonel Horace Meek Hickam. The Navy built a $25,000 boathouse, spent $579,565 on a new crew barracks and built a firehouse, water-supply and lighting systems. In 1939, after three years of construction, Hickam Field opened. The Army transferred its operations there, leaving Luke Field under Navy control. The latter was renamed Naval Air Station Ford Island, and became the headquarters of
Patrol Wing 2; its former namesake was re-honored with a new base,
Luke Air Force Base in
Arizona. A September 8, 1939, presidential emergency proclamation spurred the rapid construction of new facilities to prepare the island for additional operations. This included additional barracks, a new assembly and repair hangar, an administration building, a dispensary, a control tower, a laundry and a theater. Japan was forced to either give up its expansion plans or find alternative raw materials to continue producing equipment for the war. Before dawn, the U.S. strategic center in the
Pacific consisted of the seven battleships moored along
Battleship Row and the six pairs of interrupted quays along the east side of Ford Island. Quay F-2 (the southernmost), which usually
berthed an aircraft carrier, was empty. The battleships ringing Ford Island were the Japanese attackers' primary targets. H. L. Young, commander of
Enterprise air group, attempted to man the control tower to provide communications between the island,
Enterprise, and the planes. However, he reported that although he attempted to communicate with
Enterprise by radio from Ford Island, the communications systems there were inadequate, and he attributed the friendly fire to ineffective radio communications. Just west of the island, the
seaplane tender was hit by a crashing dive bomber, a bomb and fragments of another bomb. She was then unsuccessfully attacked by a Japanese
midget submarine, which fired a torpedo before being sunk by the destroyer . The
USS Utah (BB-31), a Florida class battleship- an older ship launched December 1909 and by 1941 in service as a training ship, was also moored on the western side of the island and was sunk by torpedoes. A total of 58 officers and enlisted were killed and 461 survived. Attempts to use the same methods as "Oklahoma" to right the Utah were unsuccessful. There is now a memorial near the remains of the ship.
Aftermath The Japanese disabled all seven battleships on Battleship Row.
Maryland,
Tennessee and
Pennsylvania were repaired in only a few weeks but
Oklahoma and
Arizona were total losses. The weakened state of the US Pacific Fleet would allow the Japanese Navy to hold the initiative until the
Guadalcanal Campaign eight months later.
Enterprise launched aircraft to patrol Ford Island and search for Japanese carriers. Five American pilots returning from missions to hunt down the Japanese fleet were mistakenly shot down by Ford Island anti-aircraft gunners while attempting to land. Because of the island's lack of fresh water and electric power to the dispensary, a temporary hospital had to be set up at the #2 barracks. The Marines who had picked up rifles for guard duty were tasked with feeding and clothing the soldiers and sailors. Coral was piled between the ship and the island so the ship would roll upright, instead of sliding toward the shore. Despite recovery efforts and patching,
Oklahoma sank during a mid-Pacific storm while it was being towed to the scrapyard.
Nevada,
California,
West Virginia and the
minelayer were re-floated and salvaged by the Navy. The entire salvage operation took 20,000 man-hours underwater and 5,000 dives to recover human remains, weapons, ammunition and artifacts of historic or military importance. ==Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Ford Island==