Fort Avalon
The island of Santa Catalina, California had already been taken over wholesale by the US war effort prior to the Serpentfall; and it was summarily ignored in the confusion, chaos, and wholesale devastation that shattered the United States. It took the US Coordinating Committee a year to even formally realize that the facilities on Santa Catalina were still in operation, and by then it was… perhaps ‘too late’ is the wrong term. The various groups there still all recognize the authority and legitimacy of the Warren administration. Provided that President Warren doesn’t push too hard on that.
There are three major powers on what is now called ‘Fort Avalon.’ The largest is the US Maritime Commission under Rear Admiral Emory Land, who quietly moved his offices and administration there in mid-1945. Admiral Land is said to know the last known location and quantity of every item shipped under his purview — which is to say, everything shipped by the USA in World War II. His current command more or less controls the shipping links between the Pacific Coast and US forces still overseas, and while the Admiral is a committed patriot he is also not entirely convinced that the Warren administration is properly handling the recovery of the rest of the country. Land has thus made arrangements with local agents from the Office of Strategic Services, providing the OSS with operational cover in exchange for the OSS providing him with equal amounts of political and bureaucratic cover. Land has also built up the US Coast Guard’s presence at Fort Avalon; the Guard’s facility at Two Harbors is now the best-equipped and largest in the United States.
There are two reasons why the US government is tolerating this exercise in military feudalism — well, aside from the fact that ‘military feudalism’ is the default option for most of America’s remaining military forces. The first is the aforementioned potential stranglehold Admiral Land has on what’s left of the war effort; if Fort Avalon ever decides to go buccaneer, all of America’s overseas possessions will wither on the vine.
Second, and possibly even more importantly: Santa Catalina was a key training facility before the Serpentfall, and it’s continued that focus today. The academies at Avalon and Two Harbors and Emerald Bay are producing highly trained sailors and officers who learn, from day one, how to fight pirates, slavers, and sea monsters with limited equipment and almost no backup. A ‘Landlubber’ (pun very much intended) is eagerly-sought after by naval mercenary forces and what remains of the world’s shipping lines, to the extent that the two can now be distinguished from each other.
The OSS finds this useful, too.