Edhat Staff
[Ed Note: This article is reprinted from 2019]
By edhat staff
Today in local history, the Ellwood Oil Field was fired on by a Japanese submarine on February 23, 1942, during World War II.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, seven Japanese submarines were seen patrolling the west coast where they sank two merchant ships and damaged six more.
President Roosevelt’s had scheduled a radio speech on February 23, 1942, which concerned the Japanese government who ordered a submarine to shell the California coast on that same day.
Around 7:00 pm an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine came to a stop opposite the Ellwood field and aimed at a Richfield aviation fuel tank just beyond the beach. The Japanese opened fire about 15 minutes later, the first rounds landing near a storage facility. The majority of the workers were gone for the day but a few on-site spotted a ship in the distance and called the police.
The Japanese shells destroyed a derrick and a pump house, while the Ellwood Pier and a catwalk suffered minor damage. After 20 minutes, the gunners ceased fire and the submarine sailed away. Estimates of the number of explosive shells fired ranged from a minimum of 12 to as many as 25.
The attack caused widespread panic and President Roosevelt ordered the internment of Asian-Americans just a week later.
For a more comprehensive report on this attack, read Tom Modugno’s Goleta History article.
Detail map of Ellwood and Ellwood Offshore Oil Field, showing location of Luton-Bell Well No. 17, damaged by Japanese shelling Feb 23, 1942 (source: wikipedia)
Sources: Wikipedia and Goleta History
Ellwood’s mini-claim to fame. So glad it was a boondoggle.
Very cool to see the historical marker at Haskells (Bacara beach). It always sparks conversation with our guests.
You can read about the fate of the submarine here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-17
Yeah, the story about the commander slipping into the cactus patch and losing face, then coming back for a measure of revenge, is just an urban legend.
Thanks for the link to your video. Interesting.
The internment of the Japanese was/is a shameful, shameful thing. I read somewhere that a lot of people benefitted from taking over prime land which was owned by the Japanese interned here in CA. Truly a black mark in our history.
After this the military had troops stationed along the beaches. There was a camp on Fernald beach, on the front lawn of a home there. The owners let the men use a big room and there were dances with local girls/women coming for the parties. There was a guard at the RR tracks at Posilipo to only let in residents (or dancing partners). A little “Moody cottage” was a red light house on Posilipo. The house is now up on TV Hill.
A friend who was in the “Home Guard” told me they wanted canons stationed along the beach areas. He said they didn’t have enough, the one in Carpinteria on the bluffs was made of cardboard, real looking enough to have a submarine think it was real. I guess there were others too.
We produced a short video of the Ellwood incident for a class project – at SBCC back in 1990’s.
Here is the link to the YouTube video of our award-winning class project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-xfCku3Bs
What was mentioned in the video, was that the shelling of Ellwood, prompted Executive Order 9066, rounding up the American Japanese . The ensuing Japanese internment camps are now considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century.
We produced a short video of the Ellwood incident for a class project – at SBCC back in 1990’s. Here is the link to the YouTube video of our award-winning class project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-xfCku3Bs
What was NOT mentioned in the video, was that the shelling of Ellwood, prompted Executive Order 9066, rounding up the American Japanese . The ensuing Japanese internment camps are now considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century.