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Town hall 8 base5/31/2023 American defenses in the islands were facilities left by the Spanish Navy which were taken over by the United States. The naval station was widened and with the establishment of the American rule in the Philippines. Navy decided to keep the base in functioning order the President of the United States, then Theodore Roosevelt, on November 9, 1901, by executive order, reserved the waters of Subic and some of the adjacent lands for naval purposes. Realizing the tremendous importance of Olongapo as a naval facility, the U.S. This marked the end of more than three hundred years of Spanish rule over the islands. Eventually, after the surrender, Spain relinquished all her rights in the Philippines to the United States. A detachment of Admiral Dewey's fleet bombarded the navy yard. On May 1, 1898, the construction of the Spanish Administration Building was nearly complete when Admiral Dewey's flagship, USS Olympia, led the Asiatic Fleet into Manila Bay. American invasion era Īerial view of the Olongapo Naval Station in 1928 But this project was hardly begun before it was overtaken by the rout of the Spanish Navy in Manila Bay by US Admiral George Dewey. From higher naval commands, the order was sent to fortify Grande Island at the mouth of Subic Bay with mines and cannons. The Spanish government spent almost fifteen years developing the naval station. Within ten years, the Spaniards had erected walls and markers to fence off the arsenal. The canal served both to drain the swampy area around the yard and also to form a line of defense. Employing Filipino labor, they did extensive dredging of the harbor and the inner basin and built a drainage canal. The Spanish Navy Yard occupied the entire area east of the Spanish Gate. The Spanish planned to make their naval station, and the village of Olongapo an island, protected against attack by rebels. On March 8, 1885, the Spanish Naval commission authorized construction of the Arsenal in Olongapo. Vice Admiral Juan Bautista de Antiquiera made Olongapo a settlement for the Spanish Navy. Spanish King Alfonso XII through a Royal Decree made Subic Bay (then called Subig) as Spain's stronghold in the Far East in 1884. In 1868, a Spanish military expedition was dispatched to study the possibility of relocating the Cavite Naval Station in Subic Bay due to its unhealthy condition. This section needs expansion with: pre-colonial and early Spanish period history.
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