WWII Came to California

[Subdeacon Joe]

Joe Lovell

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Kurt E WilsonCalifornia History

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23DEC1941 [WWII] SS Montebello, an 8272-ton, American-flagged, oil tanker, having departed Port San Luis, California, and bound to Vancouver, British Columbia, is torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese submarine, I-21, and sinks off the coast of Cambria, California. It is carrying three million gallons of crude oil that may still be in its holds. Later that same day, the I-21 shells and damages the 6,418-ton American tanker SS Idaho near the same location.

http://www.militarymuseum.org/Montebello.html

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Click on this image, then scroll down and read the entire post. Very informative. I learn something new every day. 
 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

There was also

https://goletahistory.com/attack-on-ellwood/

 

The submarine had cruised to the Santa Barbara Channel with orders to bombard the Ellwood oil installations near Goleta. Ellwood boasted one of the largest oil fields in California and, unlike San Francisco or Los Angeles, did not have a major military presence, making it an attractive target for the Japanese Navy. Goleta did have a Coast Guard patrol boat stationed nearby, the Marines had a fleet of patrol bombers stationed at the Goleta airport, the army had troops spread along the coast as shore patrol, plus two howitzer cannons were at the ready, one at Coal Oil Point and the other at Ellwood. Mysteriously, all these defenses were relocated just days before this attack! Leaving only civilian volunteers at aircraft spotting stations.

 

 

Nishino ordered his men to fire at 7:15 pm, their first rounds landing close to one of the storage facilities. Most of the oil workers had gone home for the night, but the few that remained on duty heard the first rounds impact. They suspected an internal explosion, but a worker spotted the I-17 in the dark. An oiler named G. Brown later described the attacker as so big he thought it was a cruiser or destroyer, until he realized only one gun was firing. Nishino changed targets to a second storage tank. Brown and the others immediately called the police, but by this time Nishino’s men had fired several more rounds.

[Canton Chris]

7 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Joe Lovell

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Shared with Public

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kurt E WilsonCalifornia History

  · 

23DEC1941 [WWII] SS Montebello, an 8272-ton, American-flagged, oil tanker, having departed Port San Luis, California, and bound to Vancouver, British Columbia, is torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese submarine, I-21, and sinks off the coast of Cambria, California. It is carrying three million gallons of crude oil that may still be in its holds. Later that same day, the I-21 shells and damages the 6,418-ton American tanker SS Idaho near the same location.

http://www.militarymuseum.org/Montebello.html

‘This is totally interesting! I live in Cambria & never knew any of this! Thnx Subdeacon Joe!

[Subdeacon Joe]

15 minutes ago, Canton Chris said:

‘This is totally interesting! I live in Cambria & never knew any of this! Thnx Subdeacon Joe!

 

My pleasure!  There is an old unconfirmed story about some shelling in Sonoma County.  One or two shells that took out a windmill that pumped water into a cattle trough a little north of Bodega Bay. One version is that it just took out the trough.  But, unconfirmed.

[Trailrider #896]

Nowadays, with that Iranian spyship radioing targeting data to the Houthis, and two fleet taskforces around, and we are still doing damned all to protect commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian ocean (one tanker struck by an antiship missile just recently).  For our Navy to do anything besides swatting drones out of the air, the word has to come down the chain-of-command, but the Wuss-in-Chief is in the hills somewhere celebrating Christmas!  What has to happen? Loss of an oiler with a gazillion barrels of oil spilled, or a U.S. serviceperson to be KIA?  

 

Tell Iran to beach that motha or retrieve it from the ocean floor!