Location
Lat (DMS) 34° 26' 9N Long (DMS) 119° 49' 39W Goleta is located at an elevation of 65' / 19m above sea level in Santa Barbara County (County of Santa Barbara) in California in the United States of America (USA). Borders the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Santa Ynez Mountains to the north. To the east is Santa Barbara.
Ellwood Oil Field
The Ellwood Oil Field is located in of Goleta, California roughly ten miles west of Santa Barbara.
Offshore is South Ellwood Offshore Oil Field in the Pacific Ocean. Named after Ellwood Cooper who owned the Ellwood Ranch that became Goleta. Also incorrectly spelled "Elwood". In July 1928, oil was first discovered at this location by Barnsdall Oil Company and the Rio Grande Company that began drilling into the vaqueros sandstone at this location. After coming up dry, the first product well initially produced 1,316 barrels per day more exploration continued.
During the 1930s, this was an active oil field. On February 23, 1942 shortly after 7:00pm, Japanese submarine I-17 surfaced off Coal Oil Point a few hundred yards off the Ellwood Oil Field. Over twenty minutes fired 17 shells from her 14cm deck gun at the Richfield aviation fuel storage tanks on the bluff. The shots were mostly wild, one landing more than a mile inland. The closest shell exploded 27m from one of the fuel tanks. The shelling caused only minor damage to a pier and a pump house. Recovered shell fragments are displayed at CAF Camarillo (Southern California Wing Aviation Museum).The shelling caused only minor damage to a pier and a pump house. Although the attack was ineffective, this was the first Axis vessel to shell the mainland and reports of the shelling triggered an "invasion" scare across the west coast of the United States. Previously, Commander Kozo Nishino had visited Ellwood Oil Field as the captain of a civilian oil tanker to load fuel and during a formal welcoming ceremony ashore was embarrassed when he tripped and fell into a patch of cactus. Possibly his attack was because of his knowledge of the location and to seek revenge.
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Last Updated
February 19, 2022
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