Navy presence on Terminal Island started in 1938. The
Terminal Island Naval Dry Docks were authorized in June 1940, and construction began in August 1940 on one large drydock and two smaller docks. Recreation facilities, personnel and shop buildings were ordered in February 1942, and work began on Drydocks 2 and 3 and several piers in April 1942. On 9 February 1943, the
Secretary of the Navy established the facilities as the
US Naval Dry Docks,
Roosevelt Base, California. In 1993, California congressmen
Horn and
Rohrabacher cited the military value of the shipyard in a successful attempt to keep it open.
Mare Island NSY was closed following the 1993 evaluations, and the vote in favor of keeping LBNSY open was narrowly decided by the BRAC Commission chairman's tiebreaking vote. However, two years later, the naval shipyard was recommended for closure in the 1995 round of BRAC evaluations (BRAC IV) by then-Defense Secretary
William Perry. Although the commission toured Long Beach NSY in April 1995, the BRAC Commission elected not to override the recommendation to close Long Beach NSY, and closure was completed on 30 September 1997. By 2004, 72% of the land had been turned over to the City of Long Beach by the military. The shipyard appears in a 1995 episode of
Visiting... with Huell Howser.
Civilian use statue in nearby
Bluff Park, Long Beach In 1997,
COSCO (The China Ocean Shipping Company) wanted to lease the space from the City, including building a $400 million cargo terminal. It was opposed by
Rush Limbaugh, as the company was owned by the Communist run People's Republic of China, and was being reviewed for national security by the
Department of Defense. However, continued controversy and opposition by Republican lawmakers caused cancellation of the lease, and the new cargo terminal, which was in fact built by the Long Beach Harbor Department (
Port of Long Beach), was leased to
Hanjin Shipping, a South Korean firm. Hanjin was the majority partner in Total Terminals International (TTI), which was the primary tenant at Pier T until the financial collapse of Hanjin in August 2016. Hanjin entered talks to sell its stake in the Long Beach Terminal to its minority partner in TTI,
Mediterranean Shipping Company in October 2016. ==Pacific Reserve Fleet, Long Beach==