Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Fast Facts
The Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is the only designated Naval Station facility in the U.S. naval fleet that has never been a major naval base. The facility was built by the U.S. Navy with the stated intention of operating all of its naval capabilities in the waters offshore of Cuba. The area has been designated as a Special Transit Zone for U.S. naval vessels, with the exception of nuclear-powered submarines. According to U.S. naval records, the Naval Station was intended as a naval base to operate the submarine fleet and the aircraft carrier strike force, as well as the nuclear-powered submarine fleet. As of June 2005, it appears the intention of the base had become to operate all naval forces, with an increase in aircraft flying from the base over increasing use of helicopters.
The Naval Station was formally established in February, 2002, and is located in the waters of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and the Bay of lxas, (adjacent to the naval base), with the site covering the north side of the Bay of lxas.
The Naval Station’s history starts in the late 1970s, with the establishment of the naval training facilities, which included the United States Merchant Marine Academy at the base. The Naval Station had a total of six locations: the original Naval Station, located in the Bay of lxas, the second Naval Station, located in the center of the Bay of lxas, the Third Naval Station in the Bay of lxas, and the U.S. Naval Shipyard, located in Naval Station’s Naval Station’s center of the Bay of lxas.
The base had two naval gunnery ranges: one at Camp Lawton, which was in a large building on the north side of the base, and another at Camp Blanding, which was located in the center of the base. An aircraft flying ramp was built at the base’s north end in 1988, and an aircraft ramp was built at the south end in 1980.
The base has a total of five military airfields: two in the north end of the base, one on