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| Joint Expeditionary Base–Little Creek | |
|---|---|
| Part ofJoint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story | |
| Virginia Beach, Virginia | |
 Installation logo | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Naval base |
| Controlled by |  United States Navy |
 | |
| Site history | |
| In use | 1942 – present |
Joint Expeditionary Base–Little Creek (JEB–LC), formerly known asNaval Amphibious Base Little Creek and commonly called simplyLittle Creek, is the major operating base for the Amphibious Forces in theUnited States Navy'sAtlantic Fleet. The mission of the Naval Amphibious Base is to provide required support services to over 15,000 personnel of the 27 homeported ships and 78 resident and/or supported activities. The base's combination of operational, support, and training facilities are geared predominantly to amphibious operations, making the base unique among bases of the United States and Allied Navies.
The Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek is the largest base of its kind in the world. It comprises four locations in three states, including almost 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) of real estate. Its Little Creek location inVirginia Beach, Virginia, totals 2,120 acres (860 ha) of land. Outlying facilities include 350 acres (140 ha) located just north ofTraining Support Center Hampton Roads in Virginia Beach and 21 acres (8.5 ha) known asRadio Island atMorehead City, North Carolina, used forU.S. Coast Guard ships and personnel as well as serving as an amphibious embarkation and debarkation area forU.S. Marine Corps units atMarine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,North Carolina. It is also home to the Naval School of Music.
On October 1, 2009, Little Creek and theU.S. Army'sFort Story completed a two-year merger into one joint base, officially namedJoint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story.
On July 16, 1942, a U.S. Navy truck drove off Shore Drive, the scenic highway along the south shore of theChesapeake Bay between the resort areas ofOcean View inNorfolk andVirginia Beach inPrincess Anne County. The resort town was located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean several miles south ofCape Henry, at the entrance to the bay. Near an inlet called "Little Creek", the truck stopped in a waterlogged bean field of the Whitehurst family's farm. For days thereafter, trucks loaded with lumber and equipment rolled into the area in almost continuous succession. The reason for this mass assault in a bean field 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Norfolk was that, early inWorld War II, Navy planners saw a necessity for landing large numbers of American troops on foreign shores in the face of enemy gunfire. That such operations would be difficult was also evident. New methods and techniques in landing troops would have to be developed. Training would be needed before sufficient men were proficient in the complicated art of theamphibious assault, which would enable U.S. troops to drive to the heart of the enemy.
The base was initially established in the farmland ofPrincess Anne County. During the early phases of World War II the base was a combination of farmland andswamps. Four bases were constructed on this area: Camp Bradford, Camp Shelton, U.S. Naval Frontier Base, andAmphibious Training Base. Camps Bradford and Shelton were named for the former owners of the land. Camp Bradford was a training base for NavySeabees, but in 1943 it was changed into a training center for the crews oflanding ship, tanks. Camp Shelton was an armed guard training center forbluejackets serving on board merchant ships as gun crews. At the end of World War II it served as a separation center. The Frontier Base was the forwarding center for amphibious force personnel and equipment destined for theEuropean theater. The Amphibious Training Base (also known as "Little Creek") was the center for all types of amphibious training and the training of ship's crews forlanding ship medium,landing craft infantry, andlanding craft utility;landing craft mechanized andlanding craft vehicle personnel boat crews were also trained at Little Creek.
In a few months, the trained men who were to land fighting forces from Africa toNormandy were ready for sea. During World War II, over 200,000 Naval personnel and 160,000 Army and Marine Corps personnel trained at Little Creek.
The four bases were partially inactivated at the end of hostilities of World War II. Shortly thereafter, however, the bases at Little Creek, because of their central location on the Atlantic coast, excellent and varied beach conditions, proximity to the naval facilities ofNorfolk, berthing facilities for amphibious ships through the size of LSTs, and other advantages, were consolidated into the present installation and renamed theNaval Amphibious Base, Little Creek with a commissioning date of August 10, 1945. It was designated a permanent base in 1946.
Growing over the years to meet the needs of the amphibious force, the base has developed into one of the most modern in the Navy. Thousands of men and women from all branches of the Armed Forces, as well as military students from foreign nations, now pass through the gates of the Naval Amphibious Base yearly for training in amphibious warfare. Today nearly 13,000 sailors, Marines, and civilian employees are assigned to the various stations or attend schools at the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek in support of the Navy/Marine Corps team.
(As of August 2024)
The base remains bisected by a finger of land not part of the base. The land includes Ferry Road, a rail line, and the docks serving former cross-bay rail barge traffic of the defunctBay Coast Railroad, formerly theEastern Shore Railroad, toCape Charles, Virginia. Ferry Road, crossed by the base'sGuam Road-Amphibious Drive bridge, once served the defunctLittle Creek-Cape Charles Ferry which transported passengers and motor vehicles across the mouth of the bay toCape Charles and Kiptopeke until replacement in 1964 by theChesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
See: Ferry Road bisecting NABLC
This article incorporates material fromNaval Amphibious Base Little Creek’s HistoryArchived 2013-06-26 atarchive.today, a United States Government web page whose contents are in the public domain.
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36°55′1.2″N76°9′50.4″W / 36.917000°N 76.164000°W /36.917000; -76.164000
