Naval Station Everett

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Naval Station Everett is the United States Navy's most modern facility. It is located next to the marina area of the city of Everett, WA, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. The Navy Support Complex is located between Marysville and Arlington, 11 miles north of the naval station. Naval Station (NAVSTA), Everett is located on the northeast side of Puget Sound. NAVSTA Everett was designed as a homeport for a US Navy Battle Group. It accommodates the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier as well as several smaller surface combatants.

Naval Station Everett's history began in 1983 when Secretary of the Navy John Lehman first proposed a new Puget Sound-area naval base as part of the Strategic Homeport concept. In the early 1980s Congress approved the strategic homeporting initiative to build additional bases and disperse the fleet from the main concentration areas. The strategic homeport program enjoyed the support of not only of the House and Senate but of the Reagan Administration and the Department of Defense. It was decided in 1985 that the strategic homeport program was the best method for implementing the militarily-sound principles of dispersal, battlegroup integrity, and increasing the naval presence in the geographic flanks. It was also popular in Congress for its pork barrel aspects.

On April 17, 1984, Everett was selected from among 13 ports as the ideal location for the new homeport. Congress approved the first funds for construction on October 2, 1986 and the official ground breaking ceremony was November 9, 1987. On September 9, 1988 the Navy awarded the $56 million construction contract for the carrier pier, which is 1,620 ft (494 m) long, with a width of 120 ft. In June 1992, three Navy ships participated in the formal opening of the new pier.

A second ground breaking ceremony was held August 30, 1993 for the Naval Station Everett Support Complex, located off 136th Street in Smokey Point. The Navy acquired the 52 acre (210,000 m²) site to build a commissary, exchange, family service center, thrift shop, education offices, bachelor officer quarters, craft shop/gear issue, chapel and religious education center, an auto hobby shop, ball fields and courts, fleet parking for personnel assigned to deployed Everett-based ships and a 50-room Navy Lodge.

During the first week of 1994, Naval Station Puget Sound personnel began transitioning to the new Fleet Support and Administration buildings and officially began operations at Naval Station Everett. On April 8, 1994, an official dedication ceremony was conducted with over 1,000 guests in attendance.

On September 3, 1994, USS Ingraham (FFG-61) and Ford (FFG-54) arrived as the first of seven ships to be assigned here. On November 22, 1995, Paul F. Foster (DD-964) arrived at the naval station. On that same date, the Navy officially announced the assignment of David R. Ray (DD-971), Callaghan (DD-994), and Chandler (DDG-996) to Naval Station Everett. David R. Ray arrived July 29, 1996 and Callaghan and Chandler both arrived September 27, 1996. To complete the complement of ships at Naval Station Everett, Abraham Lincoln made a change of homeport from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton to Everett on January 8, 1997. In March 1998, Callaghan was decommissioned, and two ships based in Japan, Fife (DD-991) and Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60), made their official change of homeport to Everett on May 5, 1998.

In July 1999 the Navy completed a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) designed to determine the appropriate homeports for three Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet. The EIS examined four locations: Bremerton, Wash.; Everett, Wash.; San Diego; and Pearl Harbor. The Navy's decision was to develop facilities to homeport two Nimitz-class carriers at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif. in addition to John C. Stennis (CVN-74), and to maintain NS Everett, Wash., as a homeport for one Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. The successful completion of Abraham Lincoln's six-month maintenance period at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., validated the Navy's preference to keep a carrier homeported in Everett. The in-depth EIS process began in December 1996. Following public scoping meetings held in communities at each of the four alternate locations in February 1997, the Navy spent more than 18 months examining the ports to determine how well they satisfied the CVN Homeporting Objectives and Requirements as they pertain to Operations and Training; Facilities and Infrastructure; Maintenance; and Quality of Life.

As of 2005, NS Everett is home to one destroyer, three frigates, one nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and the Coast Guard's buoy tender. There are about 6,000 Sailors and Civil Service persons assigned to commands located at Naval Station Everett. The naval station itself has about 450 Sailors and Civilians assigned.

As of 2005, Captain Eddie J. Gardiner, USN, is the commanding officer of NS Everett.