The Great Salt Lake Chapter has a rich and vibrant Navy Supply Corps history. During the early days of World War II, Admiral King then Chief of Naval Operations was quoted as saying “I don’t know what the hell this logistics is….but I wants some of it!”. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was evident that a robust logistics supply network was needed to prosecute a wartime campaign against Japan. There was great fear that the West coast Naval Supply Centers were vulnerable to attack, and so a search was on to locate a viable location that would not be vulnerable to attack by enemy forces.
The Navy evaluated several sites before settling on a location in Clearfield, Utah. Clearfield was selected due to its strategic location to the Ogden, Utah where rail links would tie NSD Clearfield to each major fleet location on the west coast, to include Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego. Deliveries to each location could be made within 24 hours by rail, or less if by air. NSD Clearfield was a strategic backstop for all of the west coast Navy Supply Depots.
An interesting footnote is that the railway at NSD Clearfield was sourced from Promontory Point, Utah where the Golden Spike was driven to unite the nation in 1869 when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. These rails were then repurposed to support national defense in support of NSD Clearfield’s role in supporting the Pacific Campaign in World War Two.
Construction would begin in June 1942, and in December 1942, NSD Clearfield would release its first shipments.
At time of commissioning NSD Clearfield was the second largest Naval Supply Depot in the world, and by the end of WWII it would be the largest. NSD Clearfield would serve for another 20 years before being decommissioned in 1962. In 1962 it was noted by Distribution Age magazine that NSD Clearfield comprised 5% of the US warehouse capacity. Today it is the home of the Clearfield Job Corps Center, and the Clearfield Freeport Center.
Written by: Greg Johnson, CAPT, SC, USNR (Ret)
