Naval Station Norfolk
Naval Station Norfolk occupies about 3,400 acres of Hampton Roads real estate in a peninsula known as Sewells Point. It is the world's largest Naval Station; in fact, based on supported military population, it is the largest military station in the world. The Norfolk Naval Base (NNB) is located on 4,631 acres, directly northwest of the City of Norfolk, Virginia. The Naval Complex includes Norfolk Naval Base as well as other Naval Facilities of the Sewells Point Naval Complex.

When the 78 ships and 133 aircraft home ported here are not at sea, they are alongside one of the 14 piers or inside one of the 15 aircraft hangars for repair, refit, training and to provide the ship's or squadron's crew an opportunity to be with their families. Naval Station is homeport to aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, large amphibious ships, submarines, and a variety of supply and logistics ships. Port Services controls more than 3,100 ships' movements annually as they arrive and depart their berths. Port facilities extend more than four miles along the waterfront and include some seven miles of pier and wharf space.

Naval Station's Nimitz Hall is a major stopping-off point for people destined for ships, aircraft squadrons, and stations overseas. Nearly 9,000 people are processed through the Transient Personnel Unit annually en route to their destinations.

It is uncommon for these ships to all be in port at one time. Naval Station Norfolk made history with the berthing of five (5) Nuclear Aircraft Carriers on 02 July 97 at 1730, when the Navy's newest Nimitz class carrier, USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN-74), returned to port, joining the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73), USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71), USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) and the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69). The only other time five carriers were berthed at the Naval Station was in 1992, but they were not all nuclear carriers.

NAVSTA Norfolk lies on the eastern shore of Hampton Roads, immediately east of the north-south oriented Norfolk Harbor Reach. NAVSTA has 20 piers, ranging in age from 6 years (Pier 10) to 63 years (Pier 7). Eleven of the piers are 50 years old or older. During a March 1998 port visit, local harbor authorities described the pier quality at NAVSTA Norfolk as inadequate. Specific deficiencies include two piers that were in CASREP status because the deck of the piers was not thick enough for use and the fact that only two piers have good, as compared to excellent, electrical power vaults. The rest are worse. Most of the piers do not have reliable fuel service, none of the piers have dedicated fire mains, all pilings are reinforced concrete but are eroding at water level, etc., etc. Pier 2 will be demolished and replaced with an up-to-date double-deck facility, but a specific date for the work was not mentioned. Pier 11 (built 1984) was considered to be in the best condition of all NAVSTA piers, but it is more exposed to wind than many of the other piers.

Berths at NAVSTA are numbered from inshore to seaward with odd numbers on the north side and even numbers on the south side. (For example, Berth 5-6 represents Pier 5/Berth 6.) Piers 2, 3 and 4 are warehouse piers and are primarily used for ships taking on stores. Piers 5, 7 and 10 are primarily for the use of surface combatants. Piers 11 and 12 are primarily for the use of aircraft carriers and large surface combatants. Piers 20 through 25 are primarily for the use of destroyer/submarine forces.

The US Naval Station piers at Norfolk are located about 18 nmi west of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. To reach the piers, vessels from the ocean must transit Thimble Shoal Channel, which crosses the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay; pass through the bridge opening at the lower end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel; pass between Old Point Comfort on the north and Fort Wool on the south; transit the Entrance Reach Channel at Hampton Roads; and enter the Norfolk Harbor Reach Channel which is adjacent to the west side of the Naval Station. The channels are maintained at a minimum depth of 45 feet. Except for areas close to shore, the water is about 18 feet deep from the Atlantic Ocean to Hampton Roads. The channel boundaries are marked by numerous buoys along the route. The buoys are generally 1/4 nmi apart near turns to about 1 nmi apart along straight sections of a channel.

Port Services controls more than 3,100 ships' movements annually as they arrive and depart their berths. Port facilities extend more than four miles and include some seven miles of berthing space. Naval Station's Nimitz Hall is a major stopping-off point for people destined for ships and stations overseas. Nearly 30,000 people are processed through the Transient Personnel Unit annually en route to their destinations.

The Magnetic Silencing Facility maintains and operates degaussing ranges at the Sewells Point Degaussing Range and Lamberts Point Deperming Station and magnetic treatment and calibration services at Lamberts Point Deperming Station. The Station provides degaussing services, including ranging and deperming for US Navy, US Government and friendly nation ships. They also provide technical reports as required, maintain degaussing records of all US Navy ships, and provide on board technical and administrative training to both US Navy ships and friendly nation Navies.

In March 1946, the Chief of Naval Operations directed the Commandant 5th Naval District, who also had been Commandant U.S. Naval Station, to include Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Air Station Norfolk as separate components under the military command of Commandant Naval Base, whose title was changed to Commander Naval Base and then to Commander, Navy Region, Mid-Atlantic.

Postwar period developments underscored the capacity of the Naval Station to change. The station at first stored inactive aircraft carriers, other reserve vessels, and finally submarines and destroyers. Fire fighting and salvage control now became specialties. The Atlantic Fleet Command came ashore in 1948 and placed its headquarters with a staff of 165 officers and 315 enlisted in an abandoned hospital. At the same time, the station rendered service to military as well as scientific pursuits.

Known officially as Naval Operating Base until 31 December 1952, on 1 January 1953 the name of the installation was changed to Naval Station Norfolk.

Always seeking to provide the best service to its customers, the Naval Station has evolved and made necessary and/or convenient improvements such as the Navy Exchange Mall, which was opened at its present location in November 1989 and expanded again by another 189,000 sq. ft. in September 1998. Another momentous occasion in 1998 was the opening of Enterprise Hall, a new state-of-the-art bachelor housing building, centrally located in the heart of the Naval Station next to the Naval Station Galley.

As part of the Navy's response to the post-Cold War drawdown of the 1990's, many new initiatives were implemented at Navy shore installations to reduce their operating cost, improve their efficiency, and better match their capacity to the reduced size of the Navy. In 1998, the Navy began a major realignment of shore command organizations and processes throughout Hampton Roads in a process known as "regionalization". One of the biggest steps and efficiencies in this process was the merger of separate Naval Station and Naval Air Station (which were directly adjacent to each other) into a single installation to be called Naval Station Norfolk. This consolidation became official on February 5, 1999.

In November 2001 the piers at Naval Station Norfolk were renumbered to help eliminate some of the confusion caused by the current system. The new system will begin at the South end of the station (old pier No. 20) and will be numbered consecutively from No. 1 to No. 13. In instances where there is an existing pier (scheduled for demolition) and a new pier, the pier to be demolished will have an ?alpha (A)? added after the pier number. Renumbering of the piers was scheduled in conjunction with the Nov. 19 ribbon cutting of the two new military construction piers on the naval station waterfront. Pier and directional signs will be changed over the weekend of Nov. 15-18. For people who haven?t worked on this base for 20 years, the old pier numbering system was confusing. Just imagine the sailor who is here for the first time standing at pier No. 10. They can see pier No. 7 to the south and pier No. 11 to the north but they are looking for Pier 24. One would assume it is north of pier No. 11 ? previously, it was not. That?s because of how Naval Station Norfolk grew. The naval station is a very large old base that grew in pieces. They started out building piers and numbering them at what was then the south end of the base. However, the Navy obtained additional land to the south of these piers. If they had continued to use the numbering convention in place we would have piers with negative numbers. So, they started over again at the south end of the base, with pier No. 20. Now, with the new numbering system taking effect Nov. 15-19, the piers will be numbered in order. This will allow personnel new to naval station to find the pier they need to be at easier.