Naval Station Bremerton
Bremerton WA
47?33'00"N 122?38'30"W
The Bremerton store front services both the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Naval Station Bremerton. The Shipyard provides services of the Dockmaster who will also serve as the Store Front Manager, the Pier Master who coordinates all movements on the waterfront, and the Homeported Ships Zone Manager who fully supports the needs of the homeported ships.

The Bremerton Naval Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility is located adjacent to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. This storage and processing center for "Mothballed" ships is involved in foreign military and salvage sales.

As of April 1996, the shipyard was Home Port to seven US Navy ships. The home ported ships include one nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVN), three fast combat support ships (AOE) and two nuclear-powered cruisers (CGN). In July 1999 the Navy completed a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) designed to determine the appropriate homeports for three Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet. The Final EIS preferred alternative supports developing facilities to homeport two Nimitz-class carriers at Naval Air Station North Island, CA. It also maintains Naval Station Everett, Wash. as a homeport for one Nimitz-class carrier. The possibility of relocating that ship's homeport to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., will be re-evaluated after USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) completes a six-month scheduled maintenance period there in October 1999.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS), Bremerton is located on the north side of Sinclair Inlet. Sinclair Inlet is reached from Puget Sound by passing through Rich Passage and the waters of Port Orchard. PSNS Bremerton is a large facility. It has nine piers with a total of 12,310 ft (3,752 m) of deep water mooring space. Individual berths range from 700 ft (213 m) to 1,400 ft (417 m) with alongside depths ranging from 30 to 44 ft (9.1 to 13.4 m) (Figure 14). Pier heights are 17 ft above zero tide level. All piers are oriented north-south. Due to the prevailing southwesterly winds, the preferred berths are on the west side of the piers. The shipyard has six dry docks, one of which is 1,152 ft (351 m) long, the largest in the US Navy.

Four mooring buoys are available in Sinclair Inlet: Buoy L-1 is used for barges only. Buoy A-11 is a class D mooring and is good for 85 kt winds with an AS (Submarine Tender) moored to it. Buoy A-12 is a class B mooring and is good for 85 kt winds with a CVA class aircraft carrier moored to it. Buoy A-13 is a class C mooring and is good for 85 kt winds with an AD (Destroyer Tender), AO (Fleet Oiler) or similarly sized vessel moored to it. Because of numerous underwater cables, there are no anchorages near the shipyard. The nearest designated anchorage is located northwest of Blake Island in Puget Sound. Depths in the anchorage range from 90 to 390 ft. Holding is rated as good on a mud bottom. Harbor authorities at Bremerton state that the anchorage is exposed to north and south winds, but can be used by a CVN during storm force (?47 kt) winds. PSNS Bremerton does not have a designated Fleet Landing for ships using the anchorage.

The shipyard experiences strong southwesterly winds due to the funneling effects of the Olympic Mountain Range and nearby topography. The shipyard experiences no problem with winds from other directions. Wave motion is limited at the shipyard due to the lack of fetch to the southwest. According to local harbor authorities, the anchorage northwest of Blake Island is more vulnerable to wave motion, but ships in the anchorage are not likely to experience wave-related problems. Maximum wave heights are: pierside berths, 1 to 1.5 ft; buoys, 1.5 to 2 ft; and 2 to 2.5 ft in the anchorage. According to local authorities, fog is a minor problem during early morning hours in late spring and early autumn. Currents in Sinclair Inlet adjacent to the shipyard are weak and ill defined. However, currents of up to five kt are common in the west end of Rich Passage. The directions of the currents are tide dependent, setting west on a flood tide and east on the ebb. Velocities are similar for both ebb and flood tides.

The only identified hazard at PSNS Bremerton is strong southwesterly winds. The shipyard experiences strong southwesterly winds due to the funneling effects of the Olympic Mountain Range and nearby topography. A strong storm system with 70 kt winds forced a CVN on to her mooring in January 1993. The same storm caused two inactive submarines to part their moorings. Because of the north-south orientation of PSNS Bremerton?s piers, strong southwesterly winds tend to force ships mooring to the west side of the piers on to their berths. Similarly, the winds also tend to force ships mooring to the east side of the piers off of their berths. Harbor pilots are well aware of the problem, and take adequate precautions when ships are mooring or departing their berths.

Activities currently operate under their own directives and there is not a complete guide to port operation services within the Puget Sound Region. Additionally, funding for acquisition, maintenance, and repair of all associated property and equipment is totally dependent on each individual commands internal list of priorities and budget constraints. Within the region, seaport operations support services are provided independently by several different activities, each within their own purview and responsibility. Principal activities involved with port operation functions include: NAVSTA EVERETT, NAVSUBASE Bangor (includes SWFPAC, Trident Refit Facility (TRF), SUBGROUP 9, COMSUBRON 17), Weapons Support Facility Seal Beach Detachment (WSFSB)- Port Hadlock, NUWC Division Keyport, NAVSHIPYD Puget Sound and NAS Whidbey Island.

PACNORWEST Regional Port Operations provides store front operations to all US Navy facilities within the Puget Sound area that control functions for water based port operations. This regionalization initiative is establishing a regional organization to oversee port operations and to directly control and provide many of the subfunctions currently performed by the individual activities. This approach requires that some of the major individual activities maintain a storefront operation for customer services and provide those services to smaller activities where the workload does not warrant a full time storefront.

The Seaport Support installation core business area includes all functions and subfunctions that are in direct operational support of the port. Seaport Support has two functions, Port Services and other Port Operations. Port Services and other Port Operations are divided into several subfunctions that includes direct management and administration of the individual subfunction.

PORT SERVICES includes administration and management of waterfront and harbor operations that that provide direct support for the operation of the port.

BERTHING AND HOTEL SERVICES consists of all activities in support of ships entering or leaving the harbor and moored or anchored within the harbor. It includes harbor pilot services, support provided while moored, weapons and material handling, oily waste disposal, hazardous waste disposal, and fueling of ships. Berthing and hotel services also include provision of fenders and other devices plus relocation of floating cranes and other activities that support ship?s berthing. In addition, it includes management of NAVAIDS funded by the installation.
PORT LOGISTICS consists of all activities involved in cargo handling support provided by the installation Port Services organization.
PORT OPERATIONS CENTER consists of all activities in support of the harbor master and watch team that manage the movement of ships and schedules the delivery of services to ships. It also includes administration, management and training for all Seaport Support functions and Senior Officer Present Afloat (SOPA) Administrative activities.
TUGS AND CRAFT consists of activities conducted to lease, operate (less pilot services) and maintain tug boats, yard oilers, barges, and other small craft (craft maintenance costs paid by other commands are NOT included in the Standard Accounting and Reporting System - Field Level (STARS/FL).
OTHER PORT OPERATIONS include administration and management in direct support of port operations activities that provide indirect support to the operation of the port.

DEGAUSSING consists of all activities in support of the operation and maintenance of the port degaussing range
SEA RESCUE consists of all activities primarily involved in providing a waterborne search and rescue capability. It includes labor and material used in the operation of rescue boats (including installation funded maintenance activities).
SPILL RESPONSE consists of all activities that provide the capability to respond to hazardous spills in the harbor associated with operation of the seaport.
WEAPONS consists of all activities that provide receipt, segregation, storage, issue, handling, maintenance, tests, and checks of weapons for supported ships. The subfunction also includes explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) activities where applicable.
In the reorganized structure, several functions are being removed from area commands and placed into a regional office. The regional office will be physically located at NAVSTA Bremerton, however some of the functions may be performed by personnel located at the storefronts until full implementation is achieved. There will be three geographical storefronts, NAVSTA Everett, NAVSTA Bremerton, and SUBASE Bangor. Port Operations at Keyport and Port Hadlock will be a detachment of the SUBASE Bangor Storefront. Port Operations at NAS Whidbey Island will be a detachment of the NAVSTA Everett Storefront. Trident Refit Facility and NAVSHIPYD Puget will continue to supply contracted services to the Port Operations Storefronts at SUBASE Bangor and NAVSTA Bremerton respectively.

All tugs and tug contracts to support Puget Sound will reside organizationally at the regional level. The allocation of assets will be determined by the Harbor Master for the region with input from the Port Captain. At the present time, tugs will be stationed at Naval Submarine Base Bangor and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Depending on utilization, the number of tugs and locations can change to allow maximum flexibility. The future plan is to utilize "Full Time Charter" to maximum advantage and the Navy YTBs to the maximum extend possible with additional "Spot Hires" on an as needed basis. All maintenance on the tugs will be the responsibility of the tug crews and the maintenance mechanics assigned to Port Operations. When additional trade skills are required to support repairs or major maintenance, port operations will utilize personnel from the various depot maintenance activities in the region.