History Sembawang

1 history

1.1 military

1.1.1 sembawang camp


1.2 land reclamation
1.3 roads , waterways

history

the sembawang area in twentieth century site of nee rubber estate. during colonial times, sembawang home major british naval base, construction of began in 1928 , completed in 1938. base included dockyards, wharves , workshops, supporting administrative, residential , commercial areas. naval base has since been handed on singapore government, in 1968 converted commercial dockyard (as sembawang shipyard, part of singapore exchange-listed sembcorp marine) went on become sembcorp, major state-owned industrial conglomerate.

military



a flight of raaf avro lincoln bombers overflying singapore naval base, june 1953.

the completion of royal navy s singapore naval base (also known hms sembawang) in 1938 , raf sembawang (also known hms simbang) in march 1940 marked start of military presence in sembawang. in february 1942, both bases partially torched , wrecked retreating british forces during battle of singapore deny use units of advancing imperial japanese army. after end of world war ii in 1945, both bases reverted british control , go on play important part in britain s continued military presence in far east (along 3 other raf bases in singapore: raf changi, raf seletar , raf tengah) during critical period of malayan emergency (1948–1960), brunei revolt in 1962 , during indonesia–malaysia confrontation (1962–1966).

despite withdrawal of british forces singapore in 1971 , handover of singapore naval base singapore government in 1968, british ministry of defence (mod) continues maintain small logistics base @ sembawang wharf control of foreign military activities there, includes repair, refuel , resupply ships of australian, british , new zealand navies other commonwealth countries under auspices of 5 power defence arrangements (fpda). special arrangement extended united states navy since 1960s support american involvement in vietnam war.

as part of 1990 agreement between singapore , united states, american military forces (primarily naval , air force) have been making use of sembawang s base facilities. task force 73/commander, logistics group western pacific (comlog westpac) command has been headquartered in sembawang since 1992, providing logistic support 7th fleet in operations in pacific , southeast asia.

sembawang camp

the sembawang camp singapore armed forces military base on admiralty road, open military personnel on official business. camp houses 1st , 3rd transport battalion of singapore army, republic of singapore navy s naval diving unit (ndu). also, compound housing naval diving unit known terror camp in deference old admin , officers club section of royal naval facility called hms terror.

land reclamation

extensive land reclamation throughout singapore has left sembawang 1 of country s last natural beaches, wak hassan beach located @ sembawang park. today, vegetable farms, rubber plantations , chinese graveyards surrounding former naval base have given way modern housing, in 1990s during development of new town singapore housing , development board. town remains major port, sembawang wharves handling high volume of bulk commodities cargo, such timber , rubber.

roads , waterways

sembawang road 1 of key roads built connect naval base city centre in south. road began track in 1920s , officially named sembawang road in 1938. buses operated various private companies main mode of transport. thoroughfare dotted many villages along length: chye kay village, sungei simpang village, chong pang village, sembawang village. of these villages cleared during 1970s–1990s make way yishun , sembawang new towns. last of villages, kampong wak hassan, cleared in 1998. present day sembawang road major arterial road linking northern , central portion of singapore.

many other roads in sembawang named after various royal navy dockyards, warships, admirals, countries , cities. examples include wellington, canberra, canada, gibraltar, kenya , falkland. these names given during previous british administration, , reflect town s history british naval base.

the main river running through sembawang, 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) long sungei sembawang, flowed along winding route , ended west of sembawang shipyard. middle section diverted in 1920s provide land needed british naval base. during 1970s, northern portions of river straightened , canalized. southern portions of river, consisted of mangroves, ponds , grassland, filled in during 1990s in preparation development of sembawang new town.