Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about 100 kilometers (62 mi) northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, now an industrial and commercial area known as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
1902 nautical chart of Subic Bay
Image: 130405 M BA451 372 (8636779585)
Aerial view of US Naval Base Subic Bay to the right and Naval Air Station Cubi Point to the left in 1990.
U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay
Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles (680 km2), about the size of Singapore. The Navy Exchange had the largest volume of sales of any exchange in the world, and the Naval Supply Depot handled the largest volume of fuel oil of any navy facility in the world. The naval base was the largest overseas military installation of the United States Armed Forces, after Clark Air Base in Angeles City was closed in 1991. Following its closure in 1992, it was transformed into the Subic Bay Freeport Zone by the Philippine government.
An aerial view of Naval Station Subic Bay (right) and Naval Air Station Cubi Point (left; present-day Subic Bay International Airport).
An aerial view of Cubi Point, and in the background, Naval Station Subic Bay
Aerial view of Olongapo Naval Station (later the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay), 1928
1933: Vought O3U-1 "Corsair" observation planes aboard the Augusta during exercises in Subic Bay
