u.s. navy anti-aircraft ammunition supplies per ship in world war 2

Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive. At 3:06 am a balloon carrying a red flare was seen over Santa Monica and four batteries of anti-aircraft artillery opened fire, whereupon ‘the air over Los Angeles erupted like a volcano.’ From this point on reports were hopelessly at variance.” Anti-aircraft artillery on Army Day at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, 1936. At 2:43 am, planes were reported near Long Beach, and a few minutes later a coast artillery colonel spotted ‘about 25 planes at 12,000 feet’ over Los Angeles. Thereafter the information center was flooded with reports of ‘enemy planes,’ even though the mysterious object tracked in from sea seems to have vanished. Radars tracked the approaching target to within a few miles of the coast, and at 2:21 am the regional controller ordered a blackout. The (Army Air Force) kept its pursuit planes on the ground, preferring to await indications of the scale and direction of any attack before committing its limited fighter force. Antiaircraft batteries were alerted at 2:15 am and were put on Green Alert-ready to fire-a few minutes later. “Radars picked up an unidentified target 120 miles west of Los Angeles. From “Chapter 8: Air Defense of the Western Hemisphere” by William Goss, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. Then, after midnight, all hell breaks loose. Thousands of air raid wardens go to their posts throughout Los Angeles County. Regardless of cause, air raid sirens first blare at 7:18 p.m. Young Research Library, University of California at Los Angeles. Credit: Los Angeles Daily News Negatives.

Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron with other city officials at air raid shelter dedication in 1942. Theories include weather balloons, UFOs, birds, or just jitters by Angelenos with Pearl Harbor still a fresh memory and, even fresher, a Japanese submarine torpedoing a Santa Barbara oil field on February 23. What, if anything, is being fired upon remains a mystery. Five civilians die – three from traffic accidents spawned by the chaos and two from heart attacks. On the evening of February 24, 1942, an anti-aircraft barrage of more than 1,440 rounds is launched at what is initially thought to be a Japanese aerial attack on the City of Angels.

U.s. navy anti-aircraft ammunition supplies per ship in world war 2