Mare Island National Park

We here at Save Our Sail support recent efforts, initiated by Representative George Miller (D-Martinez), to designate portions of Mare Island a National Park. Miller has asked the National Park Service (NPS) to study the island's rich architectural and natural history for consideration.

Pending the survey's outcome, a feasibility study would be scheduled and then forwarded to Congress for approval.

Miller was instrumental in obtaining national park status for such local historic landmarks as Port Chicago, and the Rosie the Riveter/ WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, both of which have historic ties to Mare Island.

In his press release, Miller states: "By making these places national parks, we're helping preserve them for the next generation so they can better understand our past. Mare Island in particular has a fascinating history, of both local and national significance."

Save Our Sail - Welcome!

When the nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Mariano G. Vallejo SSBN 658 was decommissioned in 1995, parts of the boat were saved with the idea that someday they would be put on public display on Mare Island. Those parts include the boat's control room, her periscopes, and her 65-ton sail & dive planes. The periscopes and control room displays are now in the Mare Island Museum, literally across the street from where the ship was built  & launched thirty years earlier, in 1965.

The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation, the sail's caretaker, is working on a plan to place the 658's sail in a dramatic, accessible site for permanent display.