Timeline of Guantánamo Bay

Template:Use dmy dates Noteworthy events of Guantánamo Bay.

File:Guantanamo Bay map.png

Map of Cuba with the location of Guantánamo Bay indicated

Timeline

• 30 April 1494 – Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage of exploration, sailed into Guantánamo Bay and remained overnight. He called the bay "Puerto Grande".
• 18 July 1741 – Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, with 3,000 British troops under General Wentworth, arrived at Guantánamo Bay to begin an unsuccessful campaign to capture Santiago.
• December 1760 – Boats from the frigates and cut-out the French privateers Vainquer and Mackau hiding in the bay. The French were also forced to burn another, the Guespe, to prevent her capture.
• 10 June 1898 – A battalion of Marines landed at Fisherman's Point and made camp on McCalla Hill, the first U.S. troops ashore in Cuba in the Spanish–American War.
• 23 February 1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt signed original lease agreement with Cuba for a naval base at Guantánamo Bay. See Platt Amendment.
• 3 March 1903 – U.S. Congress appropriated $100,000 for "necessary expenditures incident to the occupation and utilization of the naval station at Guantánamo, Cuba ..."
• 10 December 1903 – Cuba turned over the Naval Reservation to the United States.
• 27 April 1904 – An appropriation of $385,500 was made for an emergency repair installation at Guantánamo Bay, including a dry dock to be built on South Toro Cay.
• 1906 (exact date unknown) – Work on dry dock on South Toro Cay was discontinued.
• 29 September 1906 – Roosevelt sent U.S. troops to Cuba to crush a revolt, thus bringing about the second U.S. occupation of Cuba, which lasted until 1909.
• 1908 (Spring) – Station ship burned.
• 10 March 1913 – LT John H. Towers (later Admiral and Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics) flew from Guantánamo Bay to Santiago in a Curtiss flying boat in 46 minutes.
• 10 December 1913 – The Naval Station was officially opened at its present location, the main activities having been moved from South Toro Cay.
• 1924 (Winter) – First concentration of Atlantic and Pacific Fleets in Caribbean.
• 7 August 1928 – Naval Station damaged by hurricane, whose center passed 50 miles (80.5 km) to the south.
• 1938 (late in year) – Hepburn Board visited Station and made recommendations for expansion.
• 20 February 1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Guantánamo Bay in .
• 1 July 1939 – Station started receiving water from pumping station at Yateras River via new pipeline.
• 4 December 1940 – President Roosevelt visited Guantánamo Bay in .
• 12 July 1940 – Contract signed with Frederick Snare Corporation to begin a vast construction program for build-up of the Station.
• 1 April 1941 – Naval Operating Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, established.
• 25 February 1948 – President Harry S. Truman visited Base.
• 18 June 1952 – Title of Naval Operating Base changed to Naval Base.
• 8 June 1993 – US detention of HIV-positive refugees at Guantánamo Bay declared unconstitutional.

In addition to two presidents, many other distinguished people have visited the Naval Base. At one time General John J. Pershing was a visitor on board . Charles A. Lindbergh was a visitor during his goodwill flight around the Americas in the "Spirit of St. Louis". Before and during the World War II years, visitors included: members of Congress, Cabinet officers, ambassadors, Harry Hopkins, Eleanor Roosevelt and others.

Other important visitors the base have included:

• U.S. Ambassador Robert Butler (from Havana), 21–22 December 1950
• Admiral and Mrs. Forrest P. Sherman, 31 December 1950 – 1 January 1951
• Vice Admiral R. V. Symonds-Tayler, RN, 8–15 January 1951
• Carlos Hevia, former President of Cuba and Cuban Minister without portfolio (graduate of U.S. Naval Academy, class of 1920) in 19 October 1951
• U.S. Ambassador and Mrs. Howard Travers (from Haiti), 4 December 1951 on two occasions subsequently
• Peruvian Minister of Marine Roque A. Saldias, 20–22 May 1952
• Cuban Minister of National Defense Nicolas Perez Hernandez 17 June 1952
• U.S. Ambassador and Mrs. Willard L. Beaulac (from Havana) 19–20 June 1952
• The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral W. M. Fechteler, 18 December 1952.

See also

• Cuba–United States relations
• History of Cuba
• Timeline of Cuban history