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

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

located in Bay County, just outside

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

. Among its various tenant commands, it houses the

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division A navy, naval force, 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 and related functions. It include ...

(NSWC PCD), the

Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Diving The United States Navy Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Diving (CENEODDIVE) is one of the eleven learning centers responsible for training explosive ordnance disposal technicians and divers in the United States. CENEODDIVE is stationed ...

(CENEODDIVE), the

Navy Experimental Diving Unit The United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU or NAVXDIVINGU) is the primary source of Commercial diving#Military and naval diving, diving and Diving chamber, hyperbaric operational guidance for the US Navy. It is located within the Naval ...

(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 census, up from 1,536 in 2000. Solomons is a popular weekend ...

, 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 The Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center is one of eight Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Surface Warfare Centers. The headquarters is located in Carderock, Maryland with the historic David Taylor Model Basin. The division ...

, and

Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division The United States Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), named for Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, is located in King George County, Virginia, in close proximity to the largest fleet concentration area in the Navy. NSWCDD is ...

, 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, 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 and related functions. It in ...

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 Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion is a heavy-lift helicopter operated by the United States military. As the Sikorsky S-80, it was developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion, mainly by adding a third engine, adding a seventh blade to the main rotor, ...

. 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 Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

arm of the base. It is part of the

NAVSEA The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, ...

System of

Naval Surface Warfare Center * A Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) is part of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) operated by the United States Navy. NAVSEA Warfare Centers supply the technical operations, people, technology, engineering services and products needed t ...

s. *

(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 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 instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

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 acousticia ...

mine warfare Mine warfare refers to the use of different types of explosive devices: *Land mine, a weight-triggered explosive device intended to maim or kill people or to disable or destroy vehicles *Minelaying, deployment of explosive mines at sea **Naval mine ...

and

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

. 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 sh ...

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

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

technology and weapons integration for the

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

(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 ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

Economic impact

NSWC PCD is a major research, development, test, and evaluation laboratories of the Naval Sea Systems Command (

). 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 Statistical Area. History On ...

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

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...

and

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

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 website
{{FLMilitary, state=autocollapse Naval Support Activities of the United States Navy Buildings and structures in Bay County, Florida