Seeking records of Fortaleza Harbor & Mucuripe Harbor
Lucas Macedo Lopes Oct 8, 2020 10:19 AMHello there! I am currently doing research about the transformations of the Fortaleza shore and now I am digging about the time that Americans came to Fortaleza during WWII. My focus is to identify the changes in the harbor of the city and its shore. During WWII, Fortaleza had one old harbor and, during WWII, it was constructed a new one at Mucuripe Bay (where there is a Lighthouse), near to Fortaleza.
The point is, I read in one Brazilian book that the US built the fuel tanks of the harbor and finalized the Mucuripe Harbor construction, but I do not have more evidence to confirm that. What I recently found is this excerpt of the book "Building the Navy's Bases in World War II Volume II (Part III) Part III: The Advance Bases Chapter XVIII Bases in South America and the Caribbean Area, Including Bermuda":
“Fortaleza. - When construction of Navy installations to support the operation of two blimps and six patrol bombers was started at Fortaleza on April 14, 1943, the program provided for a paved runway, 5,000 feet by 200 feet, and housing and fueling facilities for the Army. Naval construction, accomplished by a management contract let by the District Army Engineer, required nine months for completion. In addition to personnel facilities, a helium-storage building, four fuel tanks with a total capacity of 20,000 gallons, a paved parking area, a nose hangar, and a blimp take-off mat were constructed. All facilities were used to capacity after completion. The Fortaleza base was decommissioned in June 1945”.
Do you have any idea where I can find any documents; maps; reports about this topic? Also, where can I request photographs of the city of Fortaleza and its Harbor during this time?
I found out that USS Chain; USS Caris; USS Barnegat; USS Goff; USS Humboldt; USS Lapwing; USS Matagorda; USS McDougal; USS Patoka; USS PC-591; USS PCE-844; USS PCE-870; USS Rehoboth; USS Sandpiper; USS Saucy; USS Seneca and; USS Thrush navigate to/from Fortaleza and anchored here (maybe there is more or one above is wrong). Also there was the construction on an Airbase here (PICI Field). If you know any other ships that were here, I would be very glad. Thank you a lot for your time and attention.