Very simply this is where your ship calls home. This doesn’t mean you will be there much, but it is a place where you go in between all of those times at sea. The Navy has many home ports all over the world. Possibly the best known are Norfolk, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor.

A home port does not have to be on the coast. It is technically any place that is your assigned home place. This is true for most Naval Aviators. They might be home ported at NAS Oceana but deploy when their carrier leaves Norfolk. There is a home port in Nevada, NAS Fallon, home to the Navies Fighter Weapons School.

The Navy also operates several home ports in foreign countries. Most notable of these is U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, home to the only forward deployed carrier in the Navy, the USS Kitty Hawk. Another famous Naval home port on a foreign land is the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

Every sailor has a home port, but that does not mean you are there much of the time. Mine was in Norfolk and we spent less than 90 days in port in 1991. It sure did seem like more, but it wasn’t.