Page "Clatsop County, Oregon" Paragraph 18

Fort Stevens, located near the peninsula formed by the south shore of the Columbia river and the Pacific Ocean, became the only continental US military installation attacked in World War II, when submarine I-25 of the Imperial Japanese Navy fired 17 rounds at the base June 21, 1942.

The submarine escaped when the order was given not to return fire with the shore guns.

This was done to so that the base position was not given away.

While the damage caused was slight ( reportedly only a baseball backstop was damaged and a powerline severed ), the presence of the enemy ship sowed panic along the Pacific coast of the United States.