Interior image from the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station complex, 1943 (From the NHS Collections)
December 7th marks the seventieth anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor; the effect of this event on Newport’s vast Naval presence was immediate. Long time Naval War College professor Admiral William Satterlee Pye (1880-1957) was immediately placed in command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet after the swift dismissal of Admiral Kimmel following the Japanese bombing. Pye was succeeded by Admiral Nimitz, and then returned to Newport to serve as President of the War College until 1946. Sudden changes also occurred at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station complex on Goat Island, Rose Island and Gould Island. Women civilian workers were aggressively recruited and hours of operation increased to 24 / 7. By 1944 the Torpedo Station employed a total of 14,122 workers and produced one third of all torpedoes used in World War II.