Lat 22.3°S Long 166.4° E  Nouméa is the capital city of New Caledonia.

Nouméa Harbor
Harbor located at Nouméa.

Nickel Docks
The Nickel Docks are at the wharf of the Nickel Smelter Operations, which were apart from the Noumea city docks. On November 1, 1943, four cargo ships were loading: SS Juan Cabrillo, USS Cassiopeia, SS James Buchanan and SS Cape Breton. and unloading at two finger piers that had been built by the Seabees, when some handling of the munitions caused the explosion. About 100 men were lost, (killed or missing) and another 100 wounded, The ships were removed from their moorings, but did not sustain serious damage. The explosion was, for some years, classified, and now declassified, but there has been little collection of data from each individual file.

Ben Glusing adds:
"I was an officer of the 208th Military Police Company, which furnished guard duty of the docks. I arrived at the scene 8-10 minutes after the first blast. Explosion was followed by fires, all lasting about four and a half hours. We suffered seven men injured; no fatalities. The explosion was, for some years, classified, and now declassified, but there has been little collection of data from each individual file.Until my narrative is completed, I feel I cannot distribute in bits and pieces."

Nouméa Harbor Seaplane Base
Harbor used as a seaplane landing area early in the war

Naval Guns
Located at Anse-Vata on Ouen-Toro Mount are the old naval guns, which protected the maritime access to Nouméa's harbor.

Nouméa Town Hall
Former town hall has wartime relics on display.

Magenta Airfield
Built during the war, two miles north-east of town. Still in use today

Tontouta Airfield (La Tontouta)
Located 23 miles north-west of Nouméa, prewar airfield used during the war by Americans.

Discharged Munitions
Nicolas Duprey reports:
"There are a lot of US dumps around Noumea, often in the water. In a ground disharge I have found a metal quarter with the inscriptions J W Bacon, SAVANNAH, a USN food board, a USN spoon, an other passionate said to us that he discovered 5 dog tags in it! In the water dumps there are trucks, jeeps and other. Sometimes I do scuba diving, and during my last dive I saw ten 155mm shells! But in all of these dumps all the interesting equipment was stolen and the rest isn't in good state or interresting."

Ousassio Hill (Mount Kimball)
Mountain next to the Tontouta Airport, renamed in honor of the pilot of R4D that crashed into the hillside.

R4D-1 Bureau Number 01981

Mount Mou
Mount Mou affords magnificent views over the Mount Mou valley, Tontouta lagoon and a moss forest.

SBD Dauntless Serial Number 40-6603

 

Amieu Pass