Coco Solo

Coco Solo was a United States Navy submarine base established in 1918 on the Atlantic Ocean (northwest) side of the Panama Canal Zone, near Colón, Panama.

United States Senator John McCain was born in 1936 at a Navy hospital^[1] at Coco Solo Naval Air Station.^[2]

Coco Solo Hospital was constructed in the Summer of 1941. The area containing it was transferred from the civil part of the Panama Canal Zone to the naval part when Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8981 on December 17, 1941.^[3] During World War II, Coco Solo additionally served as a Naval Aviation Facility housing a squadron of P-38 Lightning aircraft.

By the 1960s no vessels remained, only some support staff and housing. Coco Solo was also home to the Atlantic Side High School, Cristobal Jr Sr High, which in the late 1970s was also the High school for Panamanians from Rainbow City. Also located in Coco Solo was the local Comissary where Zonian's would purchase food and clothing. At the far end of Randolph Road was the site of Ft. Randolph Riding Club — one of many members of the Canal Zone Horsemen's Association.

From the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, Coco Solo was utilized by the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Army as a residential and administrative location supporting operations at the nearby Galeta Island facility.

After the return of the Panama Canal to Panamanian Control in 1999, U.S. Military activity ceased at both Coco Solo and Galeta Island.

Coco Solo is presently the site of two large container terminals, including Manzanillo International Terminal, the largest container terminal in Latin America.