Naval Station Pascual Ledesma, also known as Cavite Naval Base or Cavite Navy Yard, is a

military installation A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and Military operation, operations. A military base always provides ...

of the

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) () is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an estimated strength of 24,500 active service personnel, including the 10,300-strong Philippine Marine Corps. It operates 91 combat ...

Cavite City Cavite City, officially the City of Cavite ( and ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 100,674 people. The city was the capital of Cavite, ...

. In the 1940s and '50s, it was called Philippine Navy Operating Base. The

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 usu ...

is located at the easternmost end of Cavite Point in the San Roque district (specifically Fort San Felipe) of the city. Via traffic lane, this naval establishment is next to the famous Samonte Park. It was the former extension of U.S.

Naval Station Sangley Point Naval Station Sangley Point was a communication and hospital facility of the United States Navy which occupied the northern portion of the Cavite City peninsula and is surrounded by Manila Bay, approximately eight miles southwest of Manila, th ...

(transferred to the Philippines in 1971) which is now Naval Station Heracleo Alano. In 2009, it was named after Cmdre. Pascual Ledesma (b. May 17, 1843 – d. June 6, 1917), a leader of the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

and the first Officer-In-Command of the Philippine Navy.

History

Spanish period

The port town of Cavite Nuevo was established after the Spanish colonizers found that the deep waters around the tip of Cavite Point ''(Cavite la Punta)'' are suitable for large ships and established the ''Astillero de Rivera'' (Rivera Shipyard).

became the main seaport of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

and the staging port for the

Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade The Manila galleon (; ) refers to the Spanish trading ships that linked the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies to Mexico (New Spain), across the Pacific Ocean. The ships made one or two round-trip voyages per year between the ports of Man ...

. After the demise of the galleon trade, the shipyard became the Spanish Arsenal."Fuerza de San Felipe Neri"
Muog.

American period

When the sovereignty of the Philippines was ceded to the Americans after the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, the U.S. took over all the military stations left by the Spaniards including the Cavite Naval Yard. The Americans made several modifications and improvements, but also included the demolition of Fort Guadalupe and partially of Fort San Felipe. It was the US Navy's only ship repair facility in the western Pacific before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Sangley Point Naval Station Sangley Point was a communication and hospital facility of the United States Navy which occupied the northern portion of the Cavite City peninsula and is surrounded by Manila Bay, approximately eight miles southwest of Manila, th ...

was a component of the navy yard. Sangley Point was a subordinate command of the Yard and where the naval radio transmitting facility and the naval hospital was located. In 1941, the 16th Naval District was established in the navy yard during the American colonial period. At the beginning of World War II, the Cavite Navy Yard was destroyed by Japanese bombers. It was abandoned and the Japanese used the yard for small boat repair. It is the same place the Japanese forces used as a headquarters after they conquered Cavite during the Second World War. In 1945, the yard was retaken by the combined Filipino and American forces and recommissioned, but it was turned over to the Philippine government in 1947 for the Philippine Navy.

After independence

Early in December 1970, it was officially announced that U.S. Naval Station Sangley Point would be closed. On July 1, 1971, Sangley Point changed status from active to inactive in preparation for the turnover of the facility to the government of the Philippines. On-the-job-training sessions were conducted for Philippine naval personnel to ensure the safe and proper operation of all base industrial facilities. On September 1, 1971, the base was officially turned over to the government of the Philippines, ending 73 years as a U.S. naval facility. It is currently used as a facility of the

and the

Philippine Air Force The Philippine Air Force (PAF) () is the aerial warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Initially formed as part of the Philippine Army as the Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC) in 1935, the PAAC eventually saw combat ...

. William J. Mitzel and his wife Barbara were the last US personnel to occupy quarters on the installation. Mr. Mitzel was responsible for the final turn over and lived on the installation with his wife, when the turn over was completed. In line with

General Order number 229 dated July 7, 2009, the naval installations were renamed to honor esteemed predecessors in the military/naval service who fought for the protection of the nation's sovereignty, territorial integrity, democracy, and the maritime interests of the country. With this, the Naval Base Cavite, the naval station in Fort San Felipe, was assigned the name Naval Station Pascual Ledesma. Naval Base Cavite provides support services to the Philippine Navy and other

Armed Forces of the Philippines The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) () are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Philippine Army, Army, the Philippine Air Force, Air Force, and the Philippine Navy, Navy (including the P ...

tenant units in the base complex, such as refueling, re-watering, shore power connections, berthing, ferry services, tugboat assistance, sludge disposal services and housing.

Naval Sea Systems Command

Formerly the Naval Support Command, the Naval Sea System Command operates the country's military shipyards providing repair and maintenance of all navy

ships A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, ...

and

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

and their

weapons A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

. They develop new technologies for the Navy and maintains their

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

and

electronic equipment Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

in order to sustain the naval

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

capability of the Philippine Navy. It is the biggest industrial complex of the

. The Philippine Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command shared a video on their realization to restart their naval shipbuilding capability with the reopening of the Naval Shipbuilding Center (previously called the Cavite Naval Yard) which was refurbished and retooled as part Israel Shipyard's contract to supply fast attack interdiction crafts to the Philippine Navy. The new facility will be building/assembling some of the Acero-class FAICs (Shaldag Mk. V) that were procured by the DND under the FAICM Acquisition Project, and will likely to the same once additional orders are made. Israel Shipyard turned over the upgraded shipyard to the Philippine Navy in 2023.

Naval Logistics Center

The Naval Logistics Center began as the OSP} supply center under the finance branch of the Philippine Army for supporting the few vessels turned over by the US Navy. In October 1947, the supply center was elevated to a regular division and paved the way to the establishment of the general supply depot named as the Naval Supply Center in 1950. It was placed under control of the Commander, Naval Shore Establishment, later called the Fleet Support Command and the Naval Support Command in 1967. It is now called the Naval Logistics Center. The depot procures and maintains, manages supplies and

raw materials A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials/Intermediate goods that are feedstock for future finished ...

, operates equipment and facilities and render related services in support of the

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

requirement of Philippine Navy units.

Hospital

Located within the base is the Cavite Naval Hospital, a medical facility that provides hospital and out-patient services to Philippine Navy personnel and their dependents. It is located on P. Zamora Extension/Reynoso Road,() adjacent to the navy chapel. The other naval hospital, Manila Navy Hospital is located in

Fort Bonifacio Fort Andres Bonifacio (formerly Fort William McKinley) is the site of the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (Headquarters Philippine Army or HPA) located in Taguig, Philippines. The camp is named after Andres Bonifacio, the revolutio ...

Taguig City Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig (), is the List of cities in the Philippines, fifth-most populous city in the Philippines situated on the eastern shores of Metro Manila, the national capital region. It is a center for culture, finance ...

.Pike, John
"Philippine Navy Organization"
GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved on 2014-10-21.

Education

Sangley Point National High School is located at Naval Station Heracleo Alano. It is situated along La Naval Rd, Naval Station Heracleo Alano,

, San Antonio, Cavite City; not at Naval Base Pascual Ledesma regarding the above topic.

Chapel

Naval Base Cavite is served by the Stella Maris Chapel, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

cy located on P. Zamora Ext. (or Reynoso Rd)() inside the base in Fort San Felipe, Cavite City."Stella Maris Chapel"
Facebook. Retrieved on 2014-10-21.

References

{{Military Bases of the Philippines Naval installations of the Philippines Military installations established in 1971 Military facilities in Cavite Buildings and structures in Cavite City Closed installations of the United States Navy