Existing comment:
The grant for the site at Loma Portal consisted of 135 acres of highland donated by the Chamber of Commerce and 142 acres of tideland given by the City of San Diego. Construction work began in 1921, and on 1 June 1923, US Naval Training Station, San Diego, was placed in commission under the command of Captain (later Rear Admiral) David F. Sellers, USN.
During the 1920s, the Recruit Receiving and Outgoing Units were housed in the Detention Unit, known as Camp Ingram, which consisted of a group of walled tents adjacent to the south boundary of Camp Paul Jones. Until Camp Lawrence was completed in 1936, recruits spent their first three weeks of training under canvas in this Detention Unit.
At the time of its commissioning in 1923 Camp Paul Jones housed the population of the station and the maximum recruit strength was 1,500. The period of recruit training was then 16 weeks. The shoreline of San Diego Bay extended considerably further inland than at present, and the land used for the later expansion of the station was entirely underwater and had to be raised through extensive dredging and filling operations. |