For more than a half-century, Port Chicago has been a major port for shipping munitions to U.S. forces serving overseas. The Navy created the munitions-loading complex at Port Chicago as an annex to the Mare Island Navy Yard in 1942. This old factory town and World War I port possessed three essential qualities: deep water, a railroad, and isolation to protect civilians from potential disaster. The first ship pulled up to the new 1,260-foot-long dock in May 1944, and loading munitions for the Pacific campaigns began. Following World War II, Port Chicago became the major ordnance-shipping center on the West Coast. Much of the ordnance used in Korea and Vietnam passed through here, along with thirty percent of the munitions used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.