History
The United States Navy has been operating regularly in Pacific Northwest waterways since 1841. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Revenue Marine (forerunner of the U.S. Coast Guard), explored, charted, and protected the area during the mid-Nineteenth Century. Ships and cutters worked to keep the peace between natives and settlers, and helped negotiate boundary disputes over the San Juan Islands. When the U.S. purchased Alaska in 1867, the sea services began patrols to regulate fishing and sealing, assist mariners in distress, and establish forward presence in the Last Frontier.
Bases and a shipyard were operating in Puget Sound by the 1890s, and on May 7, 1903, the Thirteenth Naval District was established in Seattle. It was renamed Naval Base Seattle in 1980, and subsequently renamed Navy Region Northwest in 1999.
Commander, Navy Region Northwest provides consolidated base operations support for Navy activities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska. The Commander oversees the assigned shore organization and provides facilities and space management, exercise coordination, and support to homeported and transient ships, submarines, and aircraft as well as afloat and ashore tenants, military and family members.
Puget Sound is the U. S. Navy’s third largest fleet concentration area. The Department of the Navy spends more than $2.8 billion annually in the Region, and Region installations and facilities occupy more than 28,000 acres of land.