Navy Trivia

Admiral of the Navy - There is only one Admiral of the Navy and it was Admiral George Dewey.

Scenes to Remember 

Pictures contributed by James Ziemba, HM2.  The above pictures were taken between October 1963 and June 1965.

Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek

The Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, the largest base of its kind in the world, is the major operating station for the amphibious forces of the United States Atlantic Fleet. The base's location totals 2,120 acres of land and is sited at the extreme northwest corner of Virginia Beach. Little Creek's mission is to provide continuously improving support and services to operating forces and shore commands.

Little Creek is a small inlet on the southern shore of Chesapeake Bay approximately midway between Cape Henry and NAVSTA Norfolk. Ships of the U.S. Navy Amphibious Forces, such as LSDs, LPDs and LSTs routinely use the pier facilities at Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek. Pier integrity at the Amphibious Base varies from pier to pier. Piers 11 through 19 on the west side of the harbor are thought to be the strongest. They are the only piers at the facility, except for the quay wall and "dogleg" on Little Creek Cove, that can be used by large ships. Some pier work has recently been completed, but consisted mainly of replacing faulty concrete decking.

The entrance channel to the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek has a project depth of 22 ft. It passes between two jetties into Little Creek Harbor on a bearing of 177.5°. Ships entering Little Creek Harbor should not exceed 20 ft draft.

Commissioned in 1945, the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek grew out of four bases constructed during World War II--the Amphibious Training Base, the Naval Frontier Base, and Camps Bradford and Shelton. It consisted of three annexes named for the former owners of the property--Shelton on the east, Bradford in the center, and Whitehurst to the west. Camp Bradford was named by the U. S. for a Confederate Army officer. During World War II, Camp Bradford was about half of the present Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. On March 16, 1943 Camp Bradford changed its identity from a SeaBee Training Base to an Amphibious Training Base. Between May 1943 and January 1944, over 100,000 troops were amphibiously polished at Bradford. Day and night, men, tanks and guns poured in and out of the holds of LSTs, LCIs, LCTs, LCVP; Bradford's beaches were alive with activity. Early in January 1944 with the end of Army training in sight, Bradford took a deep breath and plunged into the vital LST program. Hundreds and hundreds of LSTs [Landing Ship, Tank] were manned by the thousands of men trained at Camp Bradford. Bradford's training staff was comprised of Mediterranean assault veterans giving trainees the benefit of their earlier combat experience. Many training time-savers were ingeniously put to work. One was the Mock-Up. This was the creation of the top deck and bridge of an LST on dry land. It was exactly the same size in every way. Its only difference was that this mock ship, known as the USS NEVERSAIL, was made of wood and concrete rather than steel.

The 61 piers surrounding Little Creek Channel provide docking facilities for approximately 30 Navy ships home ported at Little Creek.

The Little Creek site includes woodland training areas in support of amphibious operation. Sandy beaches and mudflats provide a realistic scenario for other hands-on training. Also included are three miles of beach on the Chesapeake Bay and 3/4 of a mile of beach on the Atlantic Ocean.

Afloat commands
As of December 2009)

• USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41)
• USS Fort McHenry (LSD-43)
• USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44)
• USS Ashland (LSD-48)
• USS Carter Hall (LSD-50)
• USS Oak Hill (LSD-51)

• USS Tempest (PC-2)
• USS Hurricane (PC-3)
• USS Monsoon (PC-4)
• USS Squall (PC-7)
• USS Thunderbolt (PC-12)