Topic: Installation- Overview
Welcome to Naval Station Newport -- home to more than 35 naval and defense commands and activities. Newport is the Navy's premier training site for officers, officer candidates, senior enlisted personnel, and midshipman candidates, as well as conducting advance undersea warfare and development systems. The Naval Station is located on the southern end of Aquidneck Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. Your command will advise you where to check-in and newcomer's briefings are sponsored by each command. To request a sponsor go to the Stay NAVY web site: staynavytools.bol.navy.mil/SAA/
Military personnel assigned to Newport come from all parts of the United States and countries around the world. There is 1,400 military staff assigned here and the average daily onboard student count is 1,500. Approximately 4,500 civilians (civil service employees and those paid from non-appropriated funds) are currently employed by Newport Naval Commands and activities.
MISSION
Naval Station Newport maintains and operates facilities and provides services and material to support operations for tenant activities and visiting fleet units, and performs such other functions and tasks as directed by higher authority.
HISTORY
From its infancy during the Revolutionary War to its present day technology, the United States Navy has been a part of Narragansett Bay. The first Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy, Rhode Islander Esek Hopkins used the bay as a haven for his small fleet between combat engagements. After the war, American men-of-war were common sights in upper and lower Narragansett Bay and deployed from Newport to engage in other conflicts on the high seas such as the War with Tripoli, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War.
Until the last two decades of the 19th century, a sailor learned most of his trade on the job. In the 1880s however, a new concept of shore-based training for officers and enlisted personnel was developed, and again the Navy turned to Narragansett Bay.
By 1913, the Navy had acquired government land in downtown Newport, and had constructed the Naval Hospital on the mainland of Aquidneck Island, directly adjacent to Coasters Harbor Island. This extension of the Navy was accelerated several years later when the nation entered World War I. As thousands of recruits came to Newport, the Navy acquired Coddington Point to accommodate the overflow from the Training Station on Coasters Harbor Island. After the war, the Washington Disarmament Conference drastically reduced the Navy's budget, curtailing the expansion of naval facilities.
The threat of a major war with Germany saw an increase of naval activity once again in Narragansett Bay. In 1940, the base developed rapidly. After the World War II, many of the temporary units began to deactivate and in 1946, the entire naval complex in the Bay area was consolidated under a single military command, designated as a U.S. Naval Base.
The Navy in Narragansett Bay adjusted to the peacetime era by increasing its activities in the fields of research and development, specializing in training, and preparing for modern warfare. Except for the brief period during the Korean War, when more than 25,000 trained at Newport, the Navy applied its efforts to these three major areas.
Temporary Housing
Navy Lodge - (401) 849-4500, FAX (401) 841-1807 - Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Each unit can support a family of five and arrangements for two units side-by-side may be made. Each unit is equipped with a full kitchenette. First priority is for Navy and Marine Corps personnel with families arriving or departing on Permanent Change of Station orders.
Susse Chalet - (401) 841-0800 - Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Standard hotel type rooms with refrigerators. Sleeps four people. Please call for rates.
Navy Bachelor Housing - (401) 841-7900, FAX (401) 841-7577 - ADA (spell out) rooms available. Private room/private bath. Cable TV/VCR, phone clock radio, iron/ironing board, coffee maker, micro-fridge and hair dryer.
All lodging facilities - NO PETS ALLOWED
Relocation Assistance
The Fleet and Family Support Center's Relocation Assistance Program extends a welcome to you as you prepare to relocate to the Newport area. If you have not received a "Welcome Aboard Package" from your sponsor, please contact the Relocation Specialist, at (401) 841-2283, to request one.
There are loan locker items to help you until your household goods arrive (or when you are packing out). Loan locker items consist of a kitchen pack (meal prep and service for 4); Aero beds (air mattresses); card table; folding chairs. All items are available on a first come first serve basis and may be checked out for a 2-week period or until your household goods arrive. Please bring a copy of your orders at time of check out.
We can also provide base and local community information as well as information on other military installations worldwide.