Naval Support Activity Panama City (NSA PC), is a military shore installation of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

located in Bay County, in

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Route 98 in Florida, U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

. Among its various tenant commands, it houses the

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

(NSWC PCD), the Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Diving (CENEODDIVE), the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), and Coast Guard Station Panama City.

History

The NSA PC was founded as the U.S. Navy Mine Countermeasures Station on 20 July 1945, as a result of the transfer of the test station from

Solomons, Maryland Solomons, also known as Solomons Island, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,368 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 1,536 in 2000. S ...

, but was renamed ca. 1955 to the U.S. Navy Mine Defense Laboratory. In 1972, it was renamed the Naval Coastal Systems Laboratory which changed to Naval Coastal Systems Center in 1981. The base has been a subsidiary of several other commands in the past including Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, and Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, under which it was designated Naval Surface Warfare Center: Coastal Systems Station. It obtained its current name in 2007 after changing from the prior command structure to the tenant command structure used by the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

today in its command of research and development centers. In addition to waterfront port facilities, the installation also contains a hangar and a paved heliport facility approximately 300 feet by 400 feet in size to accommodate naval helicopters up to and including the MH-53E Sea Dragon. The Navy airfield identifier is NBV.

Tenant commands

NSAPC consists of several tenant command organizations: *Naval Surface Warfare Center: Panama City Division (NSWC PCD): This is the largest tenant command and the

Research and Development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

arm of the base. It is part of the NAVSEA System of

Naval Surface Warfare Center The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) is part of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) operated by the United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United Sta ...

s. * Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Diving (CENEODDIVE) * Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU): The Experimental Diving Unit is the evaluation facility for Navy Diving. *Navy Diving Salvage and Training Center: The Navy Diving Salvage Training Center is the training facility for Navy Diving, Reconnaissance Marines, Army engineer divers, and Coast Guard diving. These divers are trained for such missions as wreckage recovery, mine defusing, and reconnaissance. *Deployable Joint Command and Control System *Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment *Coastal Operations Institute * Coast Guard Station Panama City

Research

NSWC PCD conducts research on

littoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely i ...

warfare and its disciplines include

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

, mine warfare and

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

. NSWC PCD employs approximately 1,100 scientists and engineers within NSWC PCD. The newest facility on the base is the Littoral Warfare Research Facility, a $10 million research and development facility dedicated to littoral warfare research; it was completed in 2006. Engineering projects of historical note include the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle, Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) and

Landing Craft Air Cushion The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air-cushioned landing craft (hovercraft) used by the United States Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel from s ...

ed (LCAC). Current projects include the majority of U.S. research into

hovercraft A hovercraft (: hovercraft), also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the ...

technology and weapons integration for the

Littoral Combat Ship A littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for littoral warfare in near-shore operations by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface comba ...

(LCS).

Geography

NSA PC totals and houses 221 buildings. Additionally, NSA PC operates several miles of inter coastal waterways for a direct connection to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

Economic impact

NSWC PCD is a major research, development, test, and evaluation laboratories of the Naval Sea Systems Command ( NAVSEA). It is one of the largest employers in

Bay County, Florida Bay County is a county on the Emerald Coast in Northwest Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 175,216. Its county seat is Panama City. Bay County is included in the Panama City, Florida metropolitan area. History On February 1 ...

with an annual payroll of about $117 million. NSA PC employs approximately 2800

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

personnel, for an annual payroll of over $150 million. NSA PC contracts services buys local goods, and maintains an active construction program. Its economic impact on Bay County is about $400 million annually.
"NSA PC About" Page

References

External links

NSWC PCD websiteCDSA websiteNSAPC Website
{{FLMilitary, state=autocollapse Naval Support Activities of the United States Navy Buildings and structures in Bay County, Florida