JOINT EXPEDITIONARY BASE LITTLE CREEK-FORT STORY

OVERVIEW

Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story is the major East Coast hub for U.S. naval special warfare, expeditionary, and amphibious forces, occupying about 3,400 acres across two Hampton Roads sites in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The base was created in 2009 by the consolidation of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek (on Chesapeake Bay) and the U.S. Army's Fort Story (at Cape Henry on the Atlantic coast) under Navy host command, following a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 directive. Approximately 15,000 active-duty Sailors, Soldiers, and civilian employees support the joint installation.

Little Creek, the larger of the two sites, is the East Coast headquarters of Naval Special Warfare Group TWO and the East Coast Navy SEAL community, including the SEAL teams that draw their personnel from the Atlantic Fleet. The base also hosts Naval Beach Group TWO and Assault Craft Units 2 and 4, which operate the East Coast fleet of LCAC hovercraft and other amphibious connectors that move Marines from amphibious ships to the beach during expeditionary operations. Other resident commands include Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group TWO, naval mobile construction battalions, expeditionary intelligence and combat camera units, and a wide range of fleet support activities. Fort Story at Cape Henry hosts U.S. Army training units that benefit from direct Atlantic Ocean beach access for amphibious and special operations training, plus the historic Cape Henry Lighthouses.

KEY FACTS

• MissionMajor East Coast hub for naval special warfare, expeditionary, and amphibious forces
• CompositionJoint base of former Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and Army's Fort Story (Cape Henry), merged in 2009
• SEAL CommunityEast Coast home of the U.S. Navy SEAL community (Naval Special Warfare Group TWO)
• Amphibious MissionHome of Naval Beach Group TWO and the East Coast amphibious assault craft fleet
• SitesLittle Creek (main installation) on Chesapeake Bay; Fort Story at Cape Henry on the Atlantic coast

HISTORY

The U.S. military presence at Cape Henry and Little Creek dates to colonial times — Cape Henry was the site of the first English landing in 1607 and was fortified throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries — but the modern installation traces its origins to 1942, when the U.S. Navy established Naval Amphibious Training Base Little Creek on the southern shore of Chesapeake Bay as the principal East Coast amphibious training site for the European and Mediterranean theaters. Through the war, hundreds of thousands of Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines trained at Little Creek for the amphibious assaults at North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy.

After the war, the Navy retained Little Creek as the East Coast home of the post-war amphibious force. Through the late 1940s and 1950s, the base evolved into the principal Atlantic Fleet amphibious base, hosting Naval Beach Groups, mobile construction battalions, and an expanding range of expeditionary commands. In 1962, with the Navy's expansion of the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) into the new Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, SEAL Team TWO was commissioned at Little Creek as the original East Coast Navy SEAL team. Through the rest of the Cold War, Little Creek became the East Coast nucleus of the Navy SEAL and naval special warfare communities.

Fort Story, on the Atlantic coast at Cape Henry just east of Little Creek, was established by the U.S. Army in 1917 as a coastal artillery and harbor defense installation guarding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. After World War II, with coastal artillery rendered obsolete by aviation and missile technology, the Army repurposed Fort Story as a training site for amphibious and helicopter assault units, taking advantage of the unique combination of beach, surf, and dunes available on the open Atlantic coast.

The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 round directed the consolidation of multiple Hampton Roads installations under reduced numbers of host commands. Among the resulting actions, Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and the Army's Fort Story were merged into Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story under Navy host command, with the consolidation completed on October 1, 2009. The new joint base preserved the distinct identities and missions of both sites while consolidating base support functions under a single command structure. JEB Little Creek-Fort Story today remains the East Coast home of the U.S. Navy SEAL community and the principal East Coast hub for naval expeditionary forces.

MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS

• Naval Special Warfare Group TWO (East Coast Navy SEAL parent command)
• East Coast SEAL teams (e.g., SEAL Teams 2, 4, 8, 10)
• Naval Beach Group TWO and Assault Craft Units 2 and 4
• Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group TWO
• U.S. Army Cape Henry / Fort Story training detachments

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY

NOTABLE EVENTS

1. 1942
   Naval Amphibious Training Base

   Naval Amphibious Training Base Little Creek established on Chesapeake Bay to train Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces for the European and Mediterranean theaters.
2. 1962
   East Coast SEALs

   SEAL Team TWO commissioned at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek as the original East Coast Navy SEAL team.
3. 2009
   Joint Expeditionary Base

   BRAC 2005 merged Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and the Army's Fort Story into Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story under Navy host command.

NEARBY BASES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

SOURCES

• Wikipedia: Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story
• CNIC — JEB Little Creek-Fort Story
• Naval Special Warfare Command