The Beginning to World War II
In May 1888, the United States established a coaling station to
service the vessels of the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. His Hawaiian
Majesty King David Kalakaua had granted the U.S. the exclusive rights
to enter and develop the area earlier that year. The U.S. Naval Radio
Station in the Pearl Harbor area, the first government station in the
islands, began operations on Oct. 1, 1906. This radio station
continued its operation until its deactivation in 1916.
On March 3, 1915, Congress passed an Appropriations Act that
authorized $400,000 for the construction of a high-powered, long
distance radio station at Pearl Harbor. In 1916, this new station,
NPM, began operations at Hospital Point, Pearl Harbor. At 2:30 a.m. on
the morning of Sept. 20, 1916, Capt. Clark, the first commandant of
the 14th Naval District, sent the following message from the NPM to
the Naval Radio Station, Long Beach, California:
"SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, WASHINGTON, D.C. I HAVE THE HONOR TO SEND YOU
THE FIRST THROUGH MESSAGE TO WASHINGTON, D.C., FROM PEARL HARBOR,
HAWAII RADIO STATION, AND CAN REPORT SATISFACTORY PROGRESS OF THE
PLANT. GEORGE R. CLARK SENDS."
A congratulatory message from the Secretary of the Navy arrived 33
minutes later. During the years following World War I, the naval
activities in the Pearl Harbor area continued to expand. It soon
became obvious that the future expansion of the radio station
facilities in the area would not be practical. In 1933, a tract of
land at Lualualei was set aside by the territory of Hawaii for use by
the U.S. Navy. Seven self-supporting steel towers were erected to a
height of 610 feet at this new site for an antenna system for long
wave radio transmitting. The site was officially activated in 1936,
and by 1941 twelve transmitters were in operation.
The World War II Years
With the arrival of the major U.S. Pacific Fleet units at Pearl Harbor
in 1939, it became increasingly clear that a new receiver and control
station was needed. Therefore, a secluded spot at Wahiawa, some 20
miles north of Pearl Harbor, was chosen and purchased by the Navy for
approximately one million dollars. Construction began on the 697.2
acres of land in 1940 and was scheduled to be completed in 1942.
During that time, the station at Wahiawa was considered the most
important of a number of Naval Radio and Air Stations being
constructed as a part of a general expansion program.
On Dec. 7, 1941, a few minutes before 0800, several squadrons of
Japanese aircraft passed over the Lualualei Transmitter Site on their
way to bomb Pearl Harbor. As the planes passed over the major Naval
Radio Stations they were strafed, but the casualties among the
communications personnel were light. However, the radio stations
themselves proved highly vulnerable to attack. Lualualei was located
only 4,000 yards from the shoreline and received its power over
exposed land lines from the Hawaiian Electric Company, 22 miles away.
The radio facility at Wailupe, also along the seacoast, was deemed
unprotectable. So, on the morning of December 10, it was decided to
have all of the equipment at Wailupe moved to the new site at Wahiawa.
This new site was an excellent receiving area and the best-protected
radio station on the island. Men worked day and night to transfer
operations to Wahiawa and on December 17 the relocation was completed
without the slightest interruption in communications service. This
location became known as the Naval Radio Station, Wahiawa. Shortly
thereafter, the Security Group Unit was also moved from Heeia to
Wahiawa.
To improve naval communications in the Pacific area, a Communications
Security Unit (COMSEC) was established at Wahiawa in 1942 under the
management and control of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Their
purpose was to assist in a program of cryptographic security, message
traffic control and message traffic analysis. It became apparent after
the war that the naval communication facilities in Hawaii could never
revert to their small pre-war status, but would have to continue in
the role of "big business."
After World War II
Shortly after the war, a committee was appointed by the CNO to make a
survey of the facilities at Wahiawa and to make the appropriate
recommendations concerning the location of the central point of radio
communications. The committee decided that the central point should
return to Pearl Harbor and that Wahiawa be relegated to a receiver
site. However, in 1956, it was decided that insufficient space existed
in the Pearl Harbor area to permit the continued expansion of
communications facilities on Oahu. In addition, the various components
were scattered throughout the Pearl Harbor complex which made the
operation highly uneconomic and difficult to supervise. It was decided
to relocate the central point back to the Wahiawa site.
Because the requirements for rapid communications from the Department
of the Navy to the fleet operational commanders had changed, the CNO
authorized the activation of an additional teletypewriter system. This
system, known as HICOM, was activated in 1957 and operated parallel to
the existing communications channels. Later, the Commander in Chief,
U.S. Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), established an additional parallel
circuit known as the "Atomic Strike Coordinator Circuit." It was
determined that even more rapid communications would be necessary.
Therefore, a new communications net, known as the "Naval Operation
Net" was formed in 1959. At the same time, the Navy decided that the
stations at Haiku and Heeia were no longer needed. The station at
Heeia was turned over to the Marine corps Air Station at Kaneohe,
while the Haiku station was placed in a non-operational status.
The communication stations on Oahu underwent a consolidation in 1967.
The message centers at Pearl Harbor (NAVSHIPYD), Makalapa
(CINCPACFLT), Camp Smith (CINCPAC), Moanalua (FLEWEACEN), Secure Voice
Pearl Harbor, and Consolidated Maintenance came under an Officer-in-
Charge, which was known as NAVCOMMACTS Pearl Harbor. NAVCOMMACTS Pearl
Harbor was a department of NAVCOMMSTA Honolulu who exercised
administrative and operational control. The message center at Barbers
Point also came under the control of NAVCOMMSTA Honolulu at the same
time.
The Makalapa Local Digital Message Exchange (LDMX) was activated in
March 1973 by Vice Admiral G. C. Talle, Deputy CINCPACFLT. The
system's activation marked a significant step forward by improving
writer-to-reader speed of service, message formatting, routing
indicator assignment, and message recall for CINCPACFLT. In September
1977, the NAVCOMMACTS Pearl Harbor was disestablished and NTCC Camp
Smith, NTCC Makalapa, NTCC Pearl Harbor, Secure Voice, and
Consolidated Maintenance became separate departments of NAVCOMMSTA
Honolulu. Concurrently, NTCC Moanalua was disestablished and the
communication functions were turned over to the Fleet Weather Center.
In December 1977, NTCC Pearl Harbor was disestablished and absorbed
into NTCC Makalapa in an ongoing effort to consolidate communications
on Oahu. Subsequently, in February 1978, NTCC Makalapa, located in the
basement of the CINCPACFLT headquarters building at Makalapa, became
officially known as NTCC Pearl Harbor. The commanding officer of
NAVCOMMSTA Honolulu transmitted the first message, via the LDMX
system, in a ceremony marking the transformation of the CINCPAC
Telecommunications Center at Camp H.M. Smith from Joint operation to
Navy management in September 1973.
In April 1976, the Naval Communications Station Honolulu was
officially renamed Naval Communication Area Master Station, Eastern
Pacific (NAVCAMS EASTPAC). On Feb. 18, 1977, the commanding officer at
NAVCAMS EASTPAC officially dedicated the new Super High Frequency
(SHF) Satellite Facility at Wahiawa, the largest such facility of its
kind. Concurrently, the Navy's Satellite Facility at Helemano was
deactivated. NTCC Ford Island became a department of NAVCAMS EASTPAC
in October 1983.
On Dec. 1, 1990, NAVCAMS EASTPAC and NARDAC Pearl Harbor merged to
form the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station,
Eastern Pacific (NCTAMS EASTPAC). This merger took place to ensure
that the Navy could meet the challenges of technological changes and
advances.
The command was again renamed on Oct. 20, 1997. The new name, Naval
Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station (NCTAMS) Pacific,
better reflected the command's regional operating area.
