Naval Station Pascagoula used to be one of the military bases established by the United States Navy in Mississippi, on Singing River Island. The base is no longer alive and the land it laid on belongs to the local Secretary of State. The island was built by the Americans. It was about 1.8 square kilometers and was formed of dredge materials coming from a nearby installation. Its lifetime was relatively low. The construction started in 1988 and 18 years later, the base was shut down.
Mission
The missions NS Pascagoula had to deal with were overwhelming at some point. The primary objective of the installation was to deal with the local inhabitants and support all the missions the tenants were involved in. The base supported the United States Navy and all the operations performed in a tight collaboration with the Department of Defense. However, there was way more than that. As if these were not enough, the military troops were also supposed to support the nearby facility Ingalls Shipbuilding. All the troops that were deployed there were first taken over by NS Pascagoula.
As for the inhabitants, they were never left down. They did seem like an extra weight on the base shoulders, but it successfully maintained some of the most modern and impressive facilities. The housing office or the recreational activities and the morale welfare activities were motivating and encouraging. The wide variety of recreational fields, sports courts, dining facilities and snack bars made the inhabitants feel like home.
Prior to the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission, the missions of the facility increased drastically. At that time, multiple nearby facilities were closed, while others lost some of their commands. The importance of this one and its new construction – which automatically implied modern facilities and services – forced it to take over a lot of commands and services. Multiple units joined the base at the same time, yet the officials successfully managed to adapt to this situation.
History
The history of NS Pascagoula dates back to 1985. The United States Navy found the Singing River Island to be an excellent location for a military facility. It didn’t waste too much time and got all the required papers and funds, then began the official construction three years later, in 1988. The groundbreaking ceremony was officially held in 1992. The base was set up with the clear purpose to support the frigates dealing with Perry class missiles. The first ship arrived on site during the same year – USS Gallery.
In 2005, NS Pascagoula was supposed to be taken through a massive round of consolidation and improvements. However, later the same year, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure commission decided to shut it down. One year later, in the autumn of 2006, the base was officially closed. At that time, there were more than 2,000 military troops hosted on site, over 4,000 civilian families, around 200 civilian contractors and workers and close to 5,000 retired troops or reserve units. The installation dealt with around $100 million on a yearly basis.
