US Naval Base Australia

The first bases were built with Australian Allied Works Council civilian contractors and rent was paid for under the reverse Lend-Lease act. Later the US Navy Seabees, Naval Construction Battalions, took over the construction of US Naval Advance Bases in Australia. Bombing of Darwin's Naval Base Darwin on 19 February 1942, demonstrated more southern ports were needed. Northern Australia ports were within reach of Japan long-range bombers. Japan made air raid attacks on some of the Northern Australia ports. In 1942 and early 1943 there were fears Japan could try to invade Australia. Japan planned an invasion of Australia, but after the losses at the Battle of the Coral Sea Japan canceled these plans. In 1942 with the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) the Allies tried to limit the advance of Japan. ABDACOM did not have enough troops or supplies to carry out the mission.[2] [3] By the end of the war the US Naval had bases on all four shores of Australia. The US Naval built bases for troops, ships, submarines, PT boats, seaplanes, supply depots, training camps, fleet recreation facilities, and ship repair depots. Some of the bases were shared with the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. To keep supplies following the bases were supplied by the vast II United States Merchant Navy. By spring 1943, the build up of the US Navy to support the Pacific War had caused overcrowding at the ports on the east coast of Australia. To help the Seabee departed Naval Base Brisbane on 19 June 1943 to set up a new base in Milne Bay. The Naval Base Milne Bay was a new major United States Navy sea and airbase base built on Milne Bay in Milne Bay Province in south-eastern Papua New Guinea. US Naval Base New Zealand was also a staging base for US Troops. After the war in 1945, the Australian bases closed.[4][5]

The US Navy has only one base currently in Australia:

• Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt in Exmouth, Western Australia. .[6]
• There is one other non-Navy US base in Australia: Pine Gap in Alice Springs, in the center of Northern Territory.

Major World War II US Naval bases in Australia:

• Naval Base Brisbane
  • Camp Seabee
  • Naval Air Station Brisbane
  • Hamilton repair depot
  • Naval Air Station Brisbane
• Naval Base Sydney
  • Rose Bay Seaplane Base
• Naval Base Darwin
• Naval Base Melbourne
  • Naval Depot Geelong
  • Naval Intelligence Center Melbourne
• Naval Base Perth
• Fremantle submarine base
• Exmouth Submarine Base

Minor World War II US Naval bases in Australia:

• Auxiliary Albany Submarine Base
• Naval Base Adelaide
• Roebuck Bay Seaplane Base
• Naval Air Station Palm Island
• Thursday Island Submarine Base
• Naval Base Palm Island
• Naval Base Cairns
• Townsville Naval Section Base
• Horn Island Seaplane Base
• Toorbul Combined Training Centre
• Port Stephens amphibious landing training base
• Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne – intelligence unit
• Fleet Radio Unit Radio Station Cooktown at Cooktown, Queensland. FPO# 813 SF Cooktown

• 
  Pacific War Theater Areas map 1942
• 
  Camp Seabee at Naval Base Brisbane from the air
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  Dunedin at Gardens Reach at Naval Base Brisbane on the Brisbane River. South Brisbane wharves in background
• 
  Strategic supply chain situation in South Pacific in July 1942
• 
  United States Merchant Navy routes durning World War 2, including Australia
• 
  Japanese advances in the Southwest Pacific and Southeast Asia areas during the first five months of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The proposed offensive on Fiji, Samoa, and New Caledonia is depicted in the lower right corner.
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  The submarine tender USS Holland with five American submarines at Fremantle submarine base in 1942
• 
  US Navy Seaplane Base Nedlands at Naval Base Perth in 1943
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  An Australian propaganda poster from 1942 referring to the threat of Japanese invasion. This poster was criticised for being alarmist when it was released and was banned by the Queensland government. Japan did have a plan.[7]
• 
  Darwin Harbour with the sunken ship MV Neptuna and burnt-out wharf of Naval Base Darwin following the attack on February 19, 1942
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  Camp Seabee gate at Eagle Farm, Brisbane
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  Camp Seabee Dock on Brisbane River
• 
  Camp Seabee Naval Base Brisbane, base building trips map
• 
  Seabees building Naval Air Station Palm Island in 1943
• 
  South Pacific islands in 1945

• Axis naval activity in Australian waters
• US Naval Advance Bases
• List of Royal Australian Navy bases
• US Naval Base Solomons
• Christmas Island

• youtube, Abandoned Navy Base on The Brisbane River
• youtube, World War 2 – Defence of Australia