Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary in Northern California. It is a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay and lies where the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River meet. This special place forms the entrance to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta.

To the west, Suisun Bay connects to San Pablo Bay through the Carquinez Strait. Grizzly Bay extends northward from Suisun Bay. The bay is located between Contra Costa County to the south and Solano County to the north.

The bay was named in 1811 after the Suisunes, a Patwin tribe of Wintun people. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Central Pacific Railroad used train ferries like the Solano and Contra Costa to cross the bay until a nearby railroad bridge was built. Later, the Sacramento Northern Railway also used a train ferry called the Ramon to cross Suisun Bay.

In 2004, a petroleum pipeline ruptured and spilled fuel into the marshes. The company operating the pipeline faced penalties for their part in the incident.

Geography

Suisun Bay is a shallow area where water meets land, and it is part of the larger San Francisco Bay in Northern California. It is where the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River come together, forming the start of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. To the west, the bay flows out through the Carquinez Strait and connects to San Pablo Bay, which is another part of the San Francisco Bay.

See also: List of islands of California § Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet

The bay was home to the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, a group of ships kept ready for the U.S. Navy and merchant reserve ships. These ships were stored after World War II. One famous ship, the USNS Glomar Explorer, was anchored here after it helped recover parts of a sunken submarine in the 1970s during Project Azorian. Many of these ships were sold for scrap in the 1990s. By August 2017, the last of the 57 ships from the old fleet were removed. Some naval ships still remain in Suisun Bay, mostly part of the Military Sealift Command Ready Reserve Fleet.

The battleship USS Iowa and the "Ghost Fleet" were once in Suisun Bay, though the Iowa has since moved to the Port of Los Angeles to become a museum ship.