Naval Base Kitsap is a U.S. Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state, created in 2004 by merging the former Naval Station Bremerton with Naval Submarine Base Bangor. It is the home base for the Navy’s fleet throughout West Puget Sound, provides base operating services, support for both surface ships and Fleet Ballistic Missile and other nuclear submarines as one of the U.S. Navy's four nuclear shipyards, one of two strategic nuclear weapons facilities, and the only West Coastdry dock capable of handling a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and the Navy's largest fuel depot. Naval Base Kitsap is the third-largest Navy base in the U.S. It also provides service, programs, and facilities for their hosted combat commands, tenant activities, ships' crews, and civilian employees. It is the largest naval organization in Navy Region Northwest, and composed of installations at Bremerton, Bangor, Manchester, Indian Island, and Keyport, Washington. It received the 2005 Commander in Chief's Award for Installation Excellence - the Best Base in the U.S. Navy.
History
Bangor
Serving the U.S. Pacific Fleet, this base is one of only two such Trident submarine bases operated by the U.S. Navy: the base at Kings Bay, Georgia, used by the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, is the only other. Nearby is Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific, where submarine-launched ballistic missiles are stored and maintained.
In November, 2009, five protesters, including 82-year-old priest William J. Bichsel, S.J., cut through two fences to reach an area near where nuclear warheads are stored in bunkers. The protesters put up banners, sprinkled blood on the ground, scattered sunflower seeds and prayed until they were arrested; all faced prison sentences. Bichsel was released from federal prison on February 9, 2012.
Environment
In 2010, after purchasing the base's first hybrid bus on April 29, 2010, Naval Base Kitsap purchased two additional hybrid buses, with five others to be delivered by the end of July. The diesel-electric vehicles are the Navy's first hybrids and were funded through the GSAAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act Replacement/Exchange Program and are overseen by NAVFAC, the Navy's non-tactical vehicle program manager. In March 2020, private water wells of homes surrounding Bangor have been found to be contaminated with PFAS; one was found to have more than 70 parts per trillion of PFAS.
