Naval Base Guam, March 2003: The second sub to arrive for Submarine Squadron 15, USS San Francisco, is moored alongside its tender ship, USS Frank Cable, at Guam’s Polaris Point. Military activity was ramping up on the strategic island at the time. In addition to the naval expansion, the Air Force presence on nearby Anderson Air Force Base grew with the opening of the Global Hawk facility in 2009 to house and service up to six of the unmanned aircraft systems.

Read the 2003 article on the build up on Guam here.

related stories

• From the archives, 2003: Guam seeing buildup into a Pacific hub