In the 1930s the Long Beach Airport was owned by that city and was also used as a Naval Reserve air station. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the United States Navy perceived as a hostile attitude on the part of the City of Long Beach regarding improvements and maintenance of Long Beach Airport. Without telling the Long Beach officials, the Navy began looking for a new place for its flight operations. Admiral Ernest J. King, then the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, and Admirals William D. Leahy, Joseph K. Taussig, and Allen E. Smith pointedly requested that the city of Long Beach repair the runways and reminded the city that the Pacific Fleet, then laying offshore in both Long Beach and San Pedro harbors, had a payroll of more than $1 million a month. Eventually the city complied with the Navy's requests.