Page 132 - Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and Their Buildings

2.3.1.3 Military Training

The first technical school to open on Treaure Island was the Radio Materiel School. The school
opened October 1941, with nine officers, nine Chiefs and six hundred students. The conditions
under which the newly established school functioned were a true indication of both the low
priority Treasure Island had in the ranks of military schools, and the determination of the station
to complete its mission. The construction of the buildings which housed the Radio School were
not yet completed at the time of the first classes. As described in the book "The Naval History
of Treasure Island" (Ref. P):

"The Bay Area rainy season was in full swing and remained so for the first forty
five days of school. The heating plant had blown up and a donkey boiler had
been installed to provide warmth. The books and equipment for the school
which had been promised by Washington, D.C. had failed to materialize and the
only material on hand was some radio equipment that could not be utilized for
some months to come. Classes were started using mimeographed pamphlets
brought from Bellevue by some of the officers and men.
Examinations were given previous to commencement of the school for the six
hundred students, and the highest fifty that showed possibilities of being
instructor material were chosen and in a very short time were given an outline of
what would be expected of them in the next few days as teachers instead of
students. Fortunately, among this first group were several Electrical Engineers,
men of high caliber, who later became excellent instructors."

The first class attending the Radio Materiel School graduated in June, 1942. Shortly thereafter,
the original quota of one hundred men per month was doubled to two hundred men per month.
The student level continued to rise until it eventually leveled off at four hundred graduates per
month. There the quota maintained throughout the remainder of the war. Interestingly, the
Radio Materiel School on Treasure Island graduated more than ten thousand Radio Technicians
by Victory in Japan Day (V-J Day), which accounted for more than half of all Radio Technicians
trained by the Navy during that period.

As the war expanded, training grew at a rapid rate. From a humble beginning as a Local Defense
School attached to TADCEN, the "Pre-Commissioning School" during the first eighteen months
of the war successfully completed the training of twenty-five hundred reserve line officers, and
administered "deck training" to numerous ships crews. Through development and expansion of
the Pre-Commissioning Center, the Operational Training School was formed as the primary
training unit. The Pre-Commissioning Training Center and the Operational Training School
combined to create a "Treasure Island University" campus for training the crews of the Navy
ships that steamed under the Golden Gate. The mission of the Operational Training School was
to prepare crews for duty on (1) the new ships coming out of the shipyards, (2) fast cruisers,
(3) destroyers of the "Tin Can Navy", (4) the large auxiliaries of the "A" Fleet, and (5) the "work
horse" Coast Guard Cutters. The school also provided post-graduate training to thousands of
military personnel, mostly serving on combatant and auxiliary ships of the Pacific Fleet, as well
as to Armed Guardsmen and ratings of the Royal Canadian Navy. More importantly, the
professors imparted the "facts of life" to more than one hundred thousand officers and
bluejackets in order to help them fight a winning war at sea and return home safely.

2-28 Historical Study ofYerba Buena Island, September I, 1995
Treasure Island, and their Buildings