Naval Base Trinidad was commissioned on June 1, 1941, and at its peak it had 135,000 troops on the island.

So Naval Base Trinidad became a key to keeping Panama Canal, Venezuela oil and the Caribbean open.

Naval Base Trinidad also was a training center for troops preparing for war.

Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela, was key to protecting South American trade routes and the Panama Canal.

The second task after the port was built, was building a naval air station and a seaplane base at Carenage Bay.

Carenage Bay was also built up as a major port with the construction of a 500-by-50-foot tender pier.

Both bays had major dredging projects done, so the port could support large ships.

A 200 men team worked full-time on a malaria reduction project, due to the swamps in the area.

Carlsen Field became a US Navy lighter-than-air base in the fall of 1943 when blimps were added to the patrol dues.

The Battle of the Atlantic began on September 3, 1939, and by 1941 the United Kingdom (UK) needed help in protecting shipping from British Overseas Territories.

The United States received rent-free 99-year leases of US bases on the British controlled islands of Newfoundland, Bermuda, Trinidad, Great Exuma, Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia, the Bahamas, and one in British Guiana.

The deal was done by President Franklin Roosevelt by executive agreement, without congressional approval.

Later in the year the United States transferred ten Lake-class Coast Guard cutters to the Royal Navy to be used as anti-submarine convoy escorts.

Convoys traveling from Key West to Aruba and Trinidad were give the code WAT.

Allied convoy code TAW was given for the Trinidad to Aruba and Key West trips.

Convoy code for Guantánamo to Aruba and Trinidad was GAT and the return trip TAG.

[48] Columbus Channel which separates the southwest corner of Trinidad and Tobago from the coast of Venezuela was given the nickname Serpent’s Mouth.

On July 3, 1942, she sank the SS San Pablo in the port of Puerto Limón, Costa Rica.

U-161 was sunk by a PBM Mariner plane from the Salvador Emergency advance bases and the troops of the VP-74.

Some Italian submarines also patrolled the Caribbean: Luigi Torelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Enrico Tazzoli, Giuseppe Finzi and Morosini.