Naval Base Ventura County

Group of US Navy installations near Oxnard, California

Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base in Ventura County, California. Formed by the merger of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme, NBVC is a diverse installation composed of three main locations — Point Mugu, Port Hueneme, and San Nicolas Island. The base serves as an all in one mobilization site, deep water port, railhead, and airfield. NBVC supports more than 100 tenant commands with a base population of more than 19,000 personnel, making it the largest employer in Ventura County.

The facility at Port Hueneme was built as a temporary depot in the early days of World War II to train, stage, and supply the newly created Seabees (from "C. B. ", the initials for "Construction Battalion"). The base was officially established and began operating May 18, 1942 as the Advance Base Depot. In 1945 the Advance Base Depot was renamed the Naval Construction Battalion Center. During the Korean War, almost all Navy construction equipment and supplies for the war were routed through CBC Port Hueneme. and was developed in the late 1940s into the Navy's major missile development and test facility. This facility was the site where most of the Navy's missiles were developed and tested during the 1950s and 1960s, including the AIM 7 Sparrow family and the AIM 54 Phoenix air to air, Bullpup air to surface, and Regulus surface to surface missiles. NAS Point Mugu has dominated the area since the 1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural. The base has been home to many ordnance testing programs, and the test range extends offshore to the Navy owned San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands. In 1963 the U. S. Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. The facility was relocated in 1967 to Point Loma in San Diego, California. NAS Point Mugu was the airfield used by former President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his Santa Barbara ranch. The airfield was used during the state funeral in 2004, as the place where the former President's body was flown to Washington, D. C. to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The body was flown to Point Mugu aboard presidential aircraft SAM 28000 two days later. Until the late 1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX (VXE 6), the squadron of LC 130s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility.

Naval Base Ventura County was established on October 11, 2000, during a ceremony held at Point Mugu. The two commands of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme were consolidated into a completely new organization. and $74.3 million in estimated construction cost. In May 2018, an investigation found that mismanagement had resulted in more than $32 million worth of equipment being unaccounted for because warehouse employees had failed to keep proper inventory records. Some classified materials in the warehouses had been stored improperly also. The warehouses hold supplies and repair equipment for destroyers, frigates and cruisers that carry classified weapons systems.

In September 2016, the Coast Guard Air Station in Los Angeles was relocated to Naval Base Ventura County from its former location at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) when the lease on the existing facility ended. Administratively, it was merged with/became a subunit of the Coast Guard Air Station in San Francisco, as the satellite facility FOB Point Mugu. This relocation allowed LAX to accommodate the planned improvements for LAX's midfield, including the Midfield Satellite Concourse North (MSC North) terminal. In July 2021, the US Coast Guard announced it had begun construction on $53 million of facility investments to "transition the site from its current, semi permanent Forward Operating Base Point Mugu to the full service air station" to be named CGAS Ventura, anticipated to open in August 2023. Vice Admiral Michael F. McAllister, the commander of the USCG Pacific Area stated, “We’re excited to break ground to re establish a permanent air station. The new air station in Ventura will enhance critical mission capabilities, allowing us to better serve this critical area.” McAllister also said that CGAS Ventura would be the first CGAS added by the Coast Guard in more than two decades. The permanent new air station will include a hangar facility with four bays, shops, and storage for MH 65T and MH 60J helicopters, as well as an administration building.

At Point Mugu, NBVC operates two runways and a 36000 square miles (93,240 km2) sea test range, a Tier 1 facility also controlled by NBVC. Additionally, the air traffic control facility contains a TRACON that provides terminal radar services for nearby busy Class D airports Camarillo Airport and Oxnard Airport. At Port of Hueneme (pronounced "Why nee mee"), NBVC operates the only deep water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The port also boasts 16 mile (26 km) of rail with dedicated access for on and off loading military freight for the various branches of service.

Tenant commands encompass an extremely diverse set of specialties that support both the fleet and fighter, including U. S Space Force's 10th Space Operations Squadron (formerly the Naval Satellite Operations Center (NAVSOC)), responsible for controlling and maintaining the Mobile User Objective System and Ultra High Frequency Follow On satellite constellations; and three warfare centers: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division, and Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center. NBVC is also home to deployable units, including the Pacific Seabees and the west coast E 2C,D Hawkeyes. The facility also shares runways with the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station. NBVC is also responsible for maintaining a training area used by Naval Construction Group ONE at Fort Hunter Liggett, located approximately 240 mile (386 km) north of NBVC's main facilities. MQ 25A Stingray drones will be based at Point Mugu under the Airborne Command and Control Logistics Wing.

Located on Naval Base Ventura County is the U. S. Navy Seabee Museum, one of 10 official U. S. Navy museums. The museum is the principal repository for the Seabees’ operational history. The Seabee Archive contains various operational records, battalion histories, manuscripts, oral histories, biographies, and personal papers pertaining to the Seabees. On 18 May 2011, a Boeing 707 belonging to Omega Aerial Refueling Services and chartered to the U. S. Navy skidded off the runway and burst into flames shortly after landing. A reported amount of approximately 150,000 pounds of jet fuel was on board when the plane crashed. All three personnel aboard the aircraft survived with non life threatening injuries. On 7 November 2015, a rocket launched from Point Mugu caused a momentary "frenzy" of confusion amongst south Californian locals. Another source says the Trident II (D5) test missile was launched from a submarine.