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Naval Station Norfolk is a military base owned by the United States Navy. It is responsible for the operations held in the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is currently the largest naval facility in the world. Its build includes 11 hangars for storing aircrafts and 14 piers for the ships. It can host more than 130 aircrafts, not to mention about 75 ships along its piers. There are over 3,000 ships coming and leaving the base on a yearly basis, so the activity is huge. At the same time, it is the US Navy base with the highest number of military troops. Believe it or not, the number of flights is just as impressive. In fact, there is one flight at about every six minutes, counting around 275 flights on a daily basis. The base is located in Norfolk, Virginia.
History
NS Norfolk was based on one of the few lands suggested for a new base at the Jamestown Exposition. The authorities immediately picked this site for the wide variety of advantages, in 1907. Allocating the funds for the construction was a harsh process, as the authorities considered that purchasing some new ships was more important than developing a new base. However, World War I came knocking at the door, therefore the United States of America were forced to actually strengthen up. Almost two square kilometers were purchased as soon as the country joined the war. It took the workers less than a month to develop a basic camp to house around 7,500 troops. Multiple facilities and buildings were raised during the upcoming six months. By the end of the war, the base could brag with almost 35,000 troops. Soon after the war ended, the activity dropped and the base adopted a standby mode.
As World War II began in Europe in 1939, NS Norfolk got back to life again. One year later, the employee base was significantly increased, while the authorities injected $4 million in a massive upgrade. The base benefited from new runways, hangars and barracks. It played a major role during the war, but it also lived to see one of the harshest accidents in its history, when some charges were not carefully tied up and started to smoke while being carried away by a truck. They exploded and were heard 30 kilometers away. Some remains were thrown more than 10 kilometers away.
Things settled down again when World War II reached to an end. The base kept growing and saw a few other rounds of improvements over the upcoming years. It grew to become the largest naval facility in the world.
Units
The most important tenant command at NS Norfolk is the Navy Warfare Development Command, which is a primary tenant when it comes to innovation and development of new solutions and ideas. The military base also hosts 5 carriers, 5 destroyers, 24 guided missile destroyers, 4 frigates, 8 amphibious assault commands and 7 submarines. There are also a few military sealift commands hosted on site.
