Panama Sea Frontier

The light cruiser USS Concord off Balboa, Panama, on January 6, 1943.

The Panama Sea Frontier was responsible for the defense of the Pacific and Atlantic sea approaches to the Panama Canal and for naval shore facilities in the Central America region during World War II. The Sea Frontier headquarters were located in Balboa, Panama.

On the west coast of the Americas, the responsibility of the Panama Sea Frontier was to protect Allied shipping in an ocean area extending from the Mexico-Guatemala border and out around the Galapagos, then to latitude 5 degree south. On the eastern side of Panama, the sea frontier was responsible for the coastal areas from the Mexico-British Honduras boundary on the Yucatán Peninsula along latitude 18 degrees 5 minutes north to longitude 80 degrees 27 minutes west, and thence to Punta de Gallinas. However, the prime responsibility of this sea frontier was the protection and defense of the Panama Canal and its operating equipment.

The Panama Sea Frontier also had to contend with political as well as military forces, since the president of Panama, Arnulfo Arias, had pro-German leanings, and also because neutral Panama, like neutral Spain in Europe, was a haven for Axis agents, sympathizers, and spies. Anulfo Arias was replaced as president with the pro-Allied Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango, shortly before America was attacked at Pearl Harbor. However, pro-Axis sympathy continued for the followers of Anulfo Arias, and others, and German influence continued to be very strong in the region.

See also

• Panama Conference (1939)
• American Theater (1939-1945)

References

• Admiral Ernest J. King, First Report to the Secretary of the Navy: Covering our Peacetime Navy and our Wartime Navy and including combat operations up to 1 March 1944. April 1944, pp. 75-88.
• Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1943. ISBN 0-7858-1302-0

External links

• Glossary of U.S. Naval Abbreviations (OPNAV 29-P1000)
• Naval Operations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean to March 1944

Latin America during World War II
Events	Seguro Obrero massacre St. Louis Affair Panama Conference Battle of the Atlantic Battle of the River Plate Havana Conference Battle of the Caribbean Operation Bolivar Revolution of '43 Operation Pelikan
Histories	Argentina during World War II Bolivia during World War II Brazil during World War II Colombia during World War II Cuba during World War II El Salvador during World War II Mexico in World War II Panama during World War II Paraguay during World War II Puerto Ricans in World War II Uruguay during World War II Venezuela during World War II
People	Juan José de Amézaga Isaías Medina Angarita Jerónimo Méndez Arancibia Alfredo Baldomir Fulgencio Batista Federico Laredo Brú Manuel Ávila Camacho Alberto Lleras Camargo Lázaro Cárdenas Ramón Castillo Pedro Aguirre Cerda Manuel de Jesús Troncoso de la Concha José Castellanos Contreras Eleazar López Contreras Andrés Córdova Glen Edgar Edgerton José Félix Estigarribia Edelmiro Julián Farrell Ramón Grau Henry Harwood José María Velasco Ibarra Hans Langsdorff William D. Leahy Élie Lescot George Mantello Maximiliano Hernández Martínez Eduardo Santos Montejo Juan Antonio Ríos Morales Higinio Moríñigo Julio Enrique Moreno Aurelio Mosquera Enrique Peñaranda Jacinto Peynado Dusko Popov Alfonso López Pumarejo Carlos Quintanilla Pedro Pablo Ramírez Clarence S. Ridley Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río Arturo Rawson Rafael Trujillo Rexford Guy Tugwell Manuel Prado y Ugarteche Getúlio Dornelles Vargas Gualberto Villarroel Sténio Vincent
See also	American Theater British Guiana during World War II Falangism in Latin America History of Ecuador (1925–1944) History of Peru History of the Dominican Republic History of Mar del Plata Infamous Decade Inter-American Highway Latin American Section National Socialist Movement of Chile ODESSA Panama Sea Frontier Presidential Republic (1925–1973) Ratlines (World War II) SCADTA South Atlantic air ferry route in World War II Southeast Pacific Area Spain during World War II U-977 U-530 Vargas Era