Naval Station Norfolk's mission is to support and improve the personnel and logistics readiness of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The Norfolk naval base provides seaport, airport, and squadron facilities, quality of life, and personnel management services.Don't miss the tours of the Naval Base. The 45-minute tour departs from the Naval Tour and Information Center located at 9079 Hampton Blvd, next to Gate 5. Bus tours conducted by Navy personnel ride past aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious assault ships and the busy airfield. The tour also drives by historic homes from the 1907 Jamestown Exposition. There is a charge for the tour. A picture ID is required for all adults. Tour schedules are subject to change, so we stronglysuggest that you call the tour office at 757-444-7955 before going.
Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest Naval Station, occupies about 4,300 acres of Hampton Roads real estate on a peninsula known as Sewells Point. Port facilities extend more than four miles along the waterfront and include some seven miles of pier and wharf space.75 ships and 134 aircraft are home-ported here, and when they are not at sea they're along side one of the 13 piers or inside one of the 11 aircraft hangars for repair, refit, training and to provide the ship's or squadron's crew an opportunity to be with their families. Naval Station Norfolk is homeport to aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, large amphibious ships, submarines, supply ships, airplanes and helicopters.
Air Operations conducts over 100,000 flight operations each year, an average of 275 flights per day or one every six minutes. Over 150,000 passengers and 264,000 tons of mail and cargo depart annually on Air Mobility Command aircraft and other chartered flights from the NSN airfield. It is the hub for Navy logistics going to the European and Central Command theaters of operations, and to the Caribbean.
The land on which Naval Station is located was originally the site of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, a mammoth 300th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the first permanent English settlement in America in 1607. 21 states constructed buildings that celebrated their history and industry. Pennsylvania House, a 2/3rds replica of Independence Hall, is one of several state houses that are still standing at the Naval Station.During the Jamestown Exposition, high-ranking naval officers agreed that this site was ideal for naval activity. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the Secretary of the Navy was persuaded to buy the property.
