Naval Base Guam is a strategic U.S.

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

located on

Apra Harbor Apra Harbor, also called Port Apra, is a deep-water port on the western side of the United States territory of Guam. It is considered one of the best natural ports in the Pacific Ocean. The harbor is bounded by Cabras Island and the Glass Breakwat ...

and occupying the Orote Peninsula. In 2009, it was combined with

Andersen Air Force Base Andersen Air Force Base (Andersen AFB, AAFB) is a United States Air Force base This is a list of installations operated by the United States Air Force located within the United States and abroad. Locations where the Air Force have a notable ...

to form

Joint Region Marianas Joint Region Marianas' mission is to provide installation management support to all Department of Defense components and tenants through assigned regional installations on Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in support of training in the Mariana ...

, which is a Navy-controlled joint base. The Ship Repair Facility, Guam, was located next to Naval Base Guam, along Apra Harbor. It was closed in 1997, due to the recommendation of the

1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission preliminary list was released by the United States Department of Defense in 1995 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It recommended closing 32 major United States military bases ...

. Naval Base Guam is home to Commander

Submarine Squadron 15 Submarine Squadron 15 (also known as SUBRON 15) is a squadron of submarines of the United States Navy based at Naval Base Guam. Fleet Ballistic Missile squadron 1963–1981 Submarine Squadron Fifteen was established on 1 September 1963 at Pe ...

, Coast Guard Sector Guam, and Naval Special Warfare Unit One, and supports 28 other tenant commands. It is the home base to dozens of Pacific Command, Pacific Fleet,

Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...

, and

Seabee , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philippin ...

units. is stationed in Guam to tend the submarines of the Seventh Fleet, and changed from

Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia is a British Ministry of Defence facility leased to the United States Navy, located on the atoll Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Camp Thunder Cove is part of the facility, and is operated by the United Sta ...

to Naval Base Guam to fulfill the same role. Coast Guard Sector Guam ships include and including , ''USCGC Oliver Henry'', ''USCGC Frederick Hatch'', and .

History

On July 21, 1944, also known as

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...

, American forces declared the island secure from the Japanese Army. The construction was started by the Navy's Lion Six.

Seabees , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philipp ...

from the 5th Naval Construction Brigade built the base on the site of the destroyed US Marine Corps barracks in Sumay, Apra Harbor. The Navy code named the type of base the Seabees built for its size and purpose, i.e Oak, Acorn, Lion and Cub. A Lion was a main base for the fleet. Naval base Guam was the first named Naval Operating Base and later nicknamed The Pacific Supermarket. In recent years, expansion of the base has been opposed by many locals in Guam.

Homeported submarines

USS Topeka (SSN 754) returns to homeport

* * * * *

Sub-installations

Sub-installations aboard Naval Base Guam include Camp Covington. Camp Covington is one of the three main body deployment locations for the Navy Seabees. Currently, Camp Covington is a deployment site in the rotation of the three Seabee battalions making up the 30th Naval Construction Regiment. The 7th Fleet's Navy Expeditionary Forces Command Pacific is also headquartered here. The camp has a gym, a cardio hall, and a mini-mart. It has its own barracks for Officers, Enlisted, and Chief Petty Officers; a galley, an armory, dental clinic, and various HQ buildings and warehouses.

Other commands

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US ...

Ship Support Unit Guam * Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Mobile Unit FIVE * Navy Munitions Command East Asia Division Unit Guam * Naval Airborne Weapons Maintenance Unit 1 * Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Guam * THIRTIETH Naval Construction Regiment

Services

Naval Base Guam has amenities and services including a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

, visitor's quarters, theater, and bowling lanes.

References

External links

Official website
(''closed''). GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2010-02-19. *

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

documentation: ** ** ** {{United States Navy shore installations Historic American Engineering Record in Guam

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

Military installations of the United States in Guam United States Navy installations Apra Harbor Orote Peninsula Santa Rita, Guam Guam Highway 1 1944 establishments in Guam