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A HISTORY LESSON THE FIRST BATCH DID NOT GET
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make a more concerted effort to build up the Singapore base. This had started in 1926 with the
award of a contract to Swan Hunter to build a floating dock that was eventually towed in two
halves to Singapore. In 1928, a contract had also been awarded to Sir John Jackson (Singapore)
Ltd. to begin work on the graving docks and wharves in Sembawang. By 1935, when Sultan
Ibrahim of Johore made a massive donation of
£
500,000 towards the project, the area between
Sembawang and Changi had been transformed from marshland to a sprawling military complex
of service installations, gun emplacements, airfields, hangars, workshops, stores, pumping
stations, power stations, a hospital, barracks and housing units. An airfield had been put up
at Tengah and additional facilities at Kallang to support a flying boat squadron.
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The area
between Pasir Panjang and Alexandra had also been developed into army facilities. Altogether,
British military installations mushroomed all over Singapore, from Blakang Mati (Sentosa
Island) to Woodlands and the whole of the North East, whereas the previous concentrations
Early map showing locations of British naval and air bases in Singapore prior to WWII. Picture courtesy of “The
Times Weekly Edition”.