San Diego Bay

San Diego

San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is 12 miles long and 1 to 3 miles wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's 840 miles of coastline, after San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay. The highly urbanized land adjacent to the bay includes the city of San Diego and four other cities: National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Coronado. Considered to be one of the best natural harbors on the west coast of North America, it was colonized by Spain beginning in 1769. Later it served as base headquarters of major ships of the United States Navy in the Pacific until just before the United States entered World War II, when the newly organized United States Pacific Fleet primary base was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. However, San Diego Bay remains as a home port of major assets, including several aircraft carriers, of the United States Pacific Fleet, and as a result of base closures beginning in the 1980s, facilities in San Diego Bay are the major naval base facilities still in operation in California.