Suisun Bay

San Pablo Bay with Suisun Bay at upper right

Aerial photo of the Suisun Bay. Benicia to the left, Martinez to the right, and Fairfield/Suisun City to the north

USS Iowa and "Ghost Fleet" in Suisun Bay

Another view of the "Ghost Fleet".

Coordinates: 38°04′N 122°04′W / 38.07°N 122.07°W / 38.07; -122.07^[1]

Suisun Bay (/səˈsuːn/ suh-SOON) is a shallow tidal estuary in northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta. Suisun Marsh, the tidal marsh land to the north, is the largest marsh in California. Grizzly Bay forms a northern extension of Suisun Bay. The bay is directly north of Contra Costa County.

The bay was named in 1811, after the Suisunes, a Native American tribe of the area. The word originates with the Patwin.

On the west, Suisun Bay is drained by the Carquinez Strait, which connects to San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of San Francisco Bay. In addition to the major bridges at the Carquinez Strait, it is spanned in its center by the Benicia-Martinez Bridge and at its eastern end by the State Route 160 crossing (Antioch Bridge) between Antioch and Oakley.

It is the anchorage of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, a collection of U.S. Navy and merchant reserve ships, which was created in the period following World War II. The Glomar Explorer was anchored here after recovering a sunken Soviet submarine in the mid-1970s (see Project Azorian). Many ships were removed and sold for scrap in the 1990s, but 80 ships remain, including (until 2012) the World War II battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). In 2010, plans were announced to remove the mothball fleet in stages, with final removal by 2017.

The Central Pacific Railroad built a train ferry that operated between Benicia and Port Costa, California from 1879 to 1930. The ferry boats Solano and Contra Costa were removed from service when the nearby Martinez railroad bridge was completed in 1930. From 1913 until 1954 the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electrified interurban line, crossed Suisun Bay with the Ramon, a distillate-powered train ferry.

On April 28, 2004, a petroleum pipeline operated by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners ruptured, initially reported as spilling 1,500 barrels (264m³) of diesel fuel in the marshes, but, this was later updated to about 2,950 barrels. Kinder Morgan pleaded guilty to operating a corroded pipeline (and cited for failing to notify authorities quickly after the spill was discovered) and paid three million dollars in penalties and restitution.^[2][3]

See also

• Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet

References

External links

• Kinder Morgan Information Regarding Pipeline Release
• Suisun Bay's ghost fleet may finally R.I.P.

San Francisco Bay Area Bodies of water Bodega Bay Carquinez Strait Clifton Forebay Golden Gate Grizzly Bay Guadalupe River Half Moon Bay Lake Berryessa Napa River Oakland Estuary Petaluma River Richardson Bay Richmond Inner Harbor Russian River Sacramento River San Francisco Bay San Leandro Bay San Pablo Bay Sonoma Creek Suisun Bay Tomales Bay Counties Alameda Contra Costa Marin Napa San Francisco San Mateo Santa Clara Solano Sonoma Major cities San Jose San Francisco Oakland Cities and towns 100k–250k Antioch Berkeley Concord Daly City Fairfield Fremont Hayward Richmond Santa Clara Santa Rosa Sunnyvale Vallejo Cities and towns 50k–99k Alameda Brentwood Castro Valley Cupertino Livermore Milpitas Mountain View Napa Novato Palo Alto Petaluma Pittsburg Pleasanton Redwood City San Leandro San Mateo San Rafael San Ramon South San Francisco Union City Vacaville Walnut Creek Cities and towns 25k-50k Belmont Benicia Burlingame Campbell Danville Dublin East Palo Alto Foster City Gilroy Los Altos Los Gatos Martinez Menlo Park Morgan Hill Newark Oakley Pacifica Pleasant Hill Rohnert Park San Bruno San Carlos San Pablo Saratoga Suisun City Windsor Cities and towns 10k–25k Alamo Albany Alum Rock American Canyon Ashland Bay Point Cherryland Clayton Discovery Bay Dixon El Cerrito El Sobrante Emeryville Fairview Half Moon Bay Healdsburg Hercules Hillsborough Lafayette Larkspur Millbrae Mill Valley Moraga North Fair Oaks Orinda Piedmont Pinole San Anselmo San Lorenzo Sonoma Stanford Tamalpais-Homestead Valley Sub-regions East Bay North Bay San Francisco Peninsula Silicon Valley South Bay Transportation Sports

San Francisco Bay watershed Outline Hydrography Ecology List of tributaries List of lakes Subdivisions Major San Francisco Bay Suisun Bay San Pablo Bay Minor Golden Gate Grizzly Bay Richardson Bay San Rafael Bay Richmond Inner Harbor San Leandro Bay Former Yerba Buena Cove Mission Bay Waterways Rivers San Joaquin Sacramento Napa Guadalupe Petaluma Creeks (discharging into the Bay) Alameda Baxter Cerrito Codornices Coyote (Santa Clara) Coyote (Marin) San Leandro San Lorenzo Schoolhouse Temescal Sausal Redwood San Mateo Sonoma Corte Madera Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio San Rafael Miller Novato Tolay San Francisquito Pacheco Alhambra Adobe Rodeo Refugio Pinole Garrity Rheem Karlson San Pablo Castro Wildcat Fluvius Innominatus Marin (Alameda County) Strawberry Easton Mission Creek Reservoirs Calaveras Reservoir Straits and estuaries Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta Carquinez Strait Oakland Estuary Raccoon Strait Parks and protected areas Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge Eden Landing Ecological Reserve Hayward Regional Shoreline Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center Crown Memorial State Beach Eastshore State Park Emeryville Crescent State Marine Reserve Point Isabel Regional Shoreline César Chávez Park Brooks Island Regional Shoreline Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge Coyote Point Park Middle Harbor Shoreline Park National Estuarine Research Reserve China Camp State Park San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park SF Bay Trail Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline Big Break Regional Shoreline Islands and peninsulas Major islands Alameda Alcatraz Angel Treasure Island Yerba Buena Minor Brooks Bair Bay Farm Belvedere Brother Castro Rocks Coast Guard Mare Red Rock The Sisters Marin Islands Roe Ryer Seal Islands Peninsulas/infill Albany Bulb Point Isabel Foster City Fleming Point Hunters Point Steamboat Point Potrero Point Wetlands Chelsea Cordelia Crissy Field Hoffman Meeker Mowry Napa Sonoma Point Molate Seal Stege Suisun Westpoint Bridges and tubes Bridges San Francisco–Oakland Eastern span replacement Richmond–San Rafael San Mateo–Hayward Dumbarton Golden Gate Benicia–Martinez Antioch Carquinez Leimert Fruitvale Tubes Posey/Webster Street Transbay Ports and marinas Port of San Francisco Port of Oakland Port of Richmond San Francisco Naval Shipyard Mare Island Naval Shipyard Port of Redwood City Berkeley Marina Oyster Point Marina/Park Clipper Yacht Harbor Foster City Marina (proposed) Other Discovery Site Humphrey the Whale COSCO Busan oil spill Delta and Dawn Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve California clapper rail Reber Plan San Leandro Oyster Beds Thicktail chub Delta smelt Richmond Shipyards U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model Guadalupe Watershed Clifton Court Forebay Conservation and Development Commission The Watershed Project Save The Bay Harold Gilliam Marincello Citizens for East Shore Parks Friends of Five Creeks Urban Creeks Council Cargill salt infill Ferry service/SF Bay Ferry 1971 oil spill Greenbelt Alliance The Bay Institute San Francisco Baykeeper San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science Water Trail Estuary Partnership Leslie Salt Portal Category