Subic Bay has 214-year-old naval history

Subic Bay is on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, the Philippines, 100 km northwest of Manila Bay. It had been the site of US naval base Subic Bay, a major maritime facility. It is now an industrial and commercial area, the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

The bay holds a hallowed place in naval history. In 1800, Spain discovered that it was a naturally deep and strategically located harbor, and soon built a naval fortress there.

In 1898, a US fleet seized the port after destroying the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay.