Naval Base Point Loma

Naval Base Point Loma
San Diego, California
Naval Base Point Loma
Type	Military base
In use	1959 - present
Controlled by	United States Navy
Garrison	U.S. Third Fleet
Commanders	Captain Scott Adams

Located in Point Loma, a neighborhood of San Diego, California, Naval Base Point Loma (NBPL) was established on 1 October 1998 when Navy facilities in the Point Loma area of San Diego were consolidated under Commander, Navy Region Southwest. Naval Base Point Loma consists of seven facilities: Submarine Base, Fleet Antisubmarine Warfare Training Center, Fleet Combat Training Center Pacific, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), SPAWAR Systems Center, the Fleet Intelligence Command Pacific and Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar. These close-knit commands form a diverse and highly technical hub of naval activity. The on base population is around 22,000 Navy and civilian personnel.

Mission statement

To provide direct day-to-day operation of base support functions and to ensure that the base best serves the Fleet and tenant commands. We are a regional team dedicated to providing the highest level of base operating support and quality of life services for all operating forces and shore activities on Naval Base Point Loma.

History

In February 1852 President Millard Fillmore set aside the southern portion of Point Loma of about 1,400 acres (6 km²) for military purposes. Subsequently, it was assigned to the U.S. Army and named Fort Rosecrans, after General William Rosecrans, an 1842 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. In 1898 the Army built a coast artillery installation on the site which remained active until 1945, when the University of California Division of War Research and the Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory occupied the site as the Navy Electronics Laboratory (NEL).

Aerial view of Naval Base Point Loma

Submarine Group, San Diego was established in 1946, and Submarine Flotilla 1 was activated in 1949. In 1959 Fort Rosecrans was turned over to the U.S. Navy. The Navy Submarine Support Facility was established in November 1963 on 280 acres (1.1 km²) of the land.^[1] Bathyscaphe Trieste arrived at NEL in 1958; and modified Bathyscaphe Trieste II was based here from 1965 to 1984.^[2] On 27 November 1974 the base was re-designated a shore command, serving assigned submarines, Submarine Group Five, Submarine Squadron Three, Submarine Development Group One, the Submarine Training Facility and later, Submarine Squadron Eleven. On 1 October 1981 the base was designated as Naval Submarine Base.

Starting in April 1995, several commands were decommissioned or their homeports were changed to meet the down-sizing requirements of the Navy. Commands throughout San Diego were regionalized in an effort to provide equal or better base services while managing a reduced budget. The six naval installations on Point Loma were consolidated as Naval Base Point Loma on 1 October 1998.

Tenants

Homeported submarines

• USS Albuquerque (SSN-706)
• USS San Francisco (SSN-711)
• USS Topeka (SSN-754)
• USS Asheville (SSN-758)
• USS Jefferson City (SSN-759)
• USS Hampton (SSN-767)

Torpedo Weapons Retrievers

• Devil Ray (TWR-6)
• Swamp Fox (TWR-821)
• Narwhal (TWR-842)

Major commands

• U.S. Third Fleet
• Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command
• Submarine Squadron 11
• Military Sealift Command, Pacific

See also

• Naval Training Center San Diego

Notes

1. ^ La Tourette, Robert, LT USN (June 1968). The San Diego Naval Complex. United States Naval Institute Proceedings. 
2. ^ History of the Bathyscaph Trieste

External links

Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center

• Official Website

Coordinates: 32°40′37″N 117°14′41″W / 32.67694°N 117.24472°W / 32.67694; -117.24472