Did you know...? That 2 months after Pearl Harbor was attacked, a long range Japanese sub fired on the Ellwood oil fields (Richfield Oil Co) California? Near Santa Barbara, though the damage was minimal, the event was key in triggering the West Coast invasion scare

The "Flying Santa Barbaran" War Bond Campaign

 Following the attack, a popular war bond drive, "Avenge Ellwood!" (named for the Ellwood oil field), was launched. 

A bomber, dubbed the "Flying Santa Barbaran," was proposed as a symbol of this revenge, but it was never actually built.

Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, seven Japanese submarines patrolled the American West Coast. They sank two merchant ships and damaged six more, skirmishing twice with U.S. Navy air or sea forces. By the end of December, the submarines had all returned to friendly waters to resupply.

At around 7:00 pm on February 23, 1942, the I-17 came to a stop opposite the Ellwood field on the Gaviota Coast. 

Nishino ordered the deck gun readied for action. Its crew took aim at a Richfield aviation fuel tank just beyond the beach and opened fire about 15 minutes later with the first rounds landing near a storage facility. 

The oil field's workmen had mostly left for the day, but a skeleton crew on duty heard the rounds hit. They took it to be an internal explosion until one man spotted the I-17 off the coast. An oiler named G. Brown later told reporters that the enemy submarine looked so big to him he thought it must be a cruiser or a destroyer until he realized that only one gun was firing.

The Japanese shells destroyed a derrick and a pump house, while the Ellwood Pier and a catwalk suffered minor damage. 

Total damage from the attack was assessed at $500.

This was the view down to Ellwood Oil Field in 1942

The attack was the first naval bombardment of the United States by a foreign power since the War of 1812.   Additionally, at about 5,100 miles east of Japan, the bombardment of Ellwood was the furthest direct attack on a land target that the Japanese Empire made during World War Two

Less than two months after the attack in Goleta, James Doolittle and his Raiders would lead the first of many U.S. air raids on the Japanese homeland, showing that Japan was vulnerable to air attacks.

one of the shells that was fired which did not explode was recovered at Silsby Spalding’s Tecolote Ranch in Winchester Canyon. 

They contacted the US Army, who confiscated the munition and took it to Aberdeen, Maryland for further study. 

After several years and many communications with the Army they defused the shell and returned it to the Spalding family where it had become a family heirloom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Ellwood

https://carriagemuseum.org/articles/the-japanese-bombardment-of-ellwood/

https://www.independent.com/2023/07/19/goleta-history-or-myth-if-the-shrapnel-in-these-walls-could-talk/

https://goletahistory.com/attack-on-ellwood/