Naval Air Station Jacksonville

Naval Air Station Jacksonville
Towers Field
Jacksonville, Florida in the United States
An aerial view of NAS Jacksonville during 2018
NAS Jacksonville Location in the United States
Coordinates	30°14′09″N 081°40′50″W
Type	Naval Air Station
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Navy
Controlled by	Navy Region Southeast
Condition	Operational
Website	Official website
Site history
Built	1940 (1940)
In use	1940–present
Garrison information
Current commander	Captain Marcos Cantu
Garrison	Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Eleven
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: NIP, ICAO: KNIP, FAA LID: NIP, WMO: 722065
Elevation	7 metres (23 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 10/28 2,744.1 metres (9,003 ft) Asphalt 14/32 1,822 metres (5,978 ft) Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville) (IATA: NIP, ICAO: KNIP, FAA LID: NIP) is a large naval air station located approximately eight miles (13 km) south of the central business district of Jacksonville, Florida, United States.

Location

NAS Jacksonville is located in Duval County, Florida, within the city limits of Jacksonville. The base sits on a piece of land between the St. Johns River and Ortega River historically called Black Point. The airbase is part of the overall Jacksonville Naval Complex, a collection of Navy Bases in the Jacksonville Metropolitan Area that include Naval Station Mayport, the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field (now Cecil Airport), Naval Outlying Landing Field Whitehouse, and the Pinecastle Range Complex. It also neighbors a small ghost town called Yukon.

History

During [Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer and actor. An influential figure in popular music, he has been credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip hop artists. Gaining recognition by starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–2008), Drake began his recording career in 2006 with the release of his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement (2006). He followed up with the mixtapes Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment.[4]

Drake's first three albums, Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013) were each met with commercial success, debuting atop the Billboard 200 and spawning the Billboard Hot 100-top ten singles "Find Your Love", "Take Care" (featuring Rihanna), "Started from the Bottom", and "Hold On, We're Going Home" (featuring Majid Jordan).[5] Drake's fourth album Views (2016) peaked the Billboard 200 for 13 non-consecutive weeks and spawned the singles "Hotline Bling" and his first US number one as a lead artist, "One Dance" (featuring WizKid and Kyla); the latter was credited for popularizing dancehall and Afrobeats in contemporary pop music.[6][7] Views was followed by the double album Scorpion (2018), which spawned three US number-one singles: "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". His sixth album, Certified Lover Boy (2021), set the then-record (9) for most Hot 100 top-ten hits from one album; its lead single, "Way 2 Sexy" (featuring Future and Young Thug) peaked atop the chart. In 2022, he released the house-inspired album Honestly, Nevermind and his collaborative album with 21 Savage, Her Loss. The former album, as well as his eighth, For All the Dogs (2023), yielded the number-one singles "Jimmy Cooks" (featuring 21 Savage), "Slime You Out" (featuring SZA), and "First Person Shooter" (featuring J. Cole).

As an entrepreneur, Drake founded the OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator 40 in 2012. In 2013, he became the "global ambassador" of the Toronto Raptors, joining their executive committee and later obtaining naming rights to their practice facility OVO Athletic Centre. In 2016, he began collaborating with Brent Hocking on the bourbon whiskey Virginia Black.[8] Drake heads the OVO fashion label and the Nocta collaboration with Nike, Inc., and founded the production company DreamCrew and the fragrance house Better World. In 2018, he was reportedly responsible for 5 percent (CAD$440 million) of Toronto's CAD$8.8 billion annual tourism income.[9]

Among the world's best-selling music artists, with over 170 million records sold, Drake is ranked as the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[10] He has won five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards. He has achieved 13 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, a joint-record for the most number-one singles by a male solo artist (tied with Michael Jackson).[11] Drake holds further Hot 100 records, including the most top 10 singles (78), and the most charted songs (331).[12] From 2018 to 2023, Drake held the record for the most simultaneously charted songs in one week (27), the most Hot 100 debuts in one week (22);[13] and held the most continuous time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks).[a] He additionally has the most number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Songs, and Rhythmic Airplay charts.

Early life

For high school, Drake attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute (left) and Vaughan Road Academy (right) Aubrey Drake Graham[14] was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Dennis Graham, is an African-American drummer from Memphis who once performed with musician Jerry Lee Lewis.[15][16] His mother, Sandra "Sandi" Graham (née Sher), is a Canadian Ashkenazi Jew, who worked as an English teacher and florist.[17][18][19][20][21] Graham performed at Club Bluenote in Toronto, where he met Sandra, who was in attendance.[16] Drake is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, the former derived from Graham.[22][23][24] In his youth, he attended a Jewish day school and became a bar mitzvah.[25][26]

Drake's parents divorced when he was five years old. After the divorce, he and his mother remained in Toronto; his father returned to Memphis, where he was incarcerated for a number of years on drug-related charges.[27] Graham's limited finances and legal issues caused him to remain in the U.S. until Drake's early adulthood. Prior to his arrest, Graham would travel to Toronto and bring Drake to Memphis every summer.[28][29][30] Graham claimed in an interview that Drake's assertions of him being an absent father were embellishments used to sell music,[31] which Drake vehemently denies.[32]

Drake was raised in two neighbourhoods. He lived on Weston Road in Toronto's working-class west end until grade six and attended Weston Memorial Junior Public School until grade four, playing minor hockey with the Weston Red Wings.[29][33] Drake was a promising right winger, reaching the Upper Canada College hockey camp, but left at the behest of his mother following a vicious cross-check to his neck during a game by an opposing player.[34] He moved to one of the city's affluent neighbourhoods, Forest Hill, in 2000.[35][36] When asked about the move, Drake replied, "[We had] a half of a house we could live in. The other people had the top half, we had the bottom half. I lived in the basement, my mom lived on the first floor. It was not big, it was not luxurious. It was what we could afford."[37] At age 10, Drake appeared in a comedic sketch which aired during the 1997 NHL Awards, featuring a riff of Martin Brodeur and Ron Hextall and their record as being the only goalies to have scored multiple goals.[38]

He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute for high school,[39] and attended Vaughan Road Academy in Toronto's multicultural Oakwood–Vaughan neighbourhood; Drake described Vaughan Road Academy as "not by any means the easiest school to go to."[29] During his teenage years, Drake worked at a now-closed Toronto furniture factory owned by his maternal grandfather, Reuben Sher.[40] Drake said he was bullied at school for his racial and religious background,[41] and upon determining that his class schedule was detrimental to his burgeoning acting career, he dropped out of school.[42] Drake received his high school diploma in October 2012.[43]

Career 2001–2009: Career beginnings At 15, Drake was introduced to a high school friend's father, an acting agent. He found Drake a role on the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation, in which Drake portrayed Jimmy Brooks,[44] a basketball star who became physically disabled after he was shot by a classmate. When asked about his early acting career, Drake replied, "My mother was very sick. We were very poor, like broke. The only money I had coming in was [from] Canadian TV."[29] According to showrunners Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn, Drake regularly arrived late on set after spending nights recording music. To prevent this, Schuyler claimed Drake struck an agreement with the set's security guards to gain entry to the set after recording to be allowed to sleep in a dressing room.[45] Drake's first recorded song, "Do What You Do", appeared on The N Soundtrack, which was released by The N (the night-time block for Noggin), as it was the network that Degrassi was airing on in the United States.[46]

Lil Wayne, the founder of Young Money Entertainment, signed Drake to the label in 2009.[47] Being musically inspired by Jay-Z and Clipse, Drake self-released his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement featuring Trey Songz and Lupe Fiasco, in 2006. Drake described the project as "pretty straightforward, radio friendly, [and] not much content to it." Room for Improvement was released for sale only and sold roughly 6,000 copies,[44] for which Drake received $304.04 in royalties.[48] He performed his first concert on August 19, 2006, at the Kool Haus nightclub as an opening act for Ice Cube, performing for half an hour and earning $100.[49] In 2007, Drake released his second mixtape Comeback Season. Released from his recently founded October's Very Own label, it spawned the single "Replacement Girl" featuring Trey Songz.[50] The song sampled "Man of the Year" by Brisco, Flo Rida and Lil Wayne, retaining Lil Wayne's verse; the rapper invited Drake to Houston to join his Tha Carter III tour.[51] On tour, Drake and Lil Wayne recorded multiple songs together, including "Ransom", "Forever", and a remix to "Brand New".[51]

In 2009, Drake released his third mixtape So Far Gone. It was made available for free download through his OVO blog website, and featured Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Omarion, Lloyd, and Bun B. It received over 2,000 downloads in the first 2 hours of release, finding mainstream commercial success from the singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful", both gaining Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with the former also peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.[52] This prompted the mixtape's re-release as an EP, featuring four songs from the original, as well as the additions of the songs "I'm Goin' In" and "Fear". It debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, and won the Rap Recording of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards.[53]

Due to the success of the mixtape,[54] Drake was the subject of a bidding war from various labels, often reported as "one of the biggest bidding wars ever".[55] He had secured a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment on June 29, 2009.[56] Drake joined the rest of the label's roster on the America's Most Wanted Tour in July 2009.[57] However, during a performance of "Best I Ever Had" in Camden, New Jersey, Drake fell on stage and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.[58]

2010–2012: Musical breakthrough with Thank Me Later and Take Care Main articles: Thank Me Later and Take Care (album)

Drake at Bumbershoot in 2010 Drake planned to release his debut album, Thank Me Later, in late 2008, but the album's release date was thrice postponed up to June 15, 2010.[59][60]

On March 9, 2010, Drake released the lead single "Over",[61] which peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping the Rap Songs chart. It received a nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards.[62] His second single, "Find Your Love", became a bigger success. It peaked at number five on the Hot 100, and was certified 3× Multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[63] The music video for the single was shot in Kingston, Jamaica, and was criticized by Jamaica's minister of tourism Edmund Bartlett.[64] The third single and fourth singles, "Miss Me" and "Fancy" respectively,[65] attained moderate commercial success; however, the latter garnered Drake his second nomination at the 53rd Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.[66]

Thank Me Later was released on June 15, 2010,[67] debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of over 447,000 copies in its first week.[68] Upon the album's release, 25,000 fans gathered at New York City's South Street Seaport for a free concert hosted by Drake and Hanson, which was later cancelled by the police after a near-riot ensued due to overflowing crowds.[69] The album became the top selling debut album for any artist in 2010 and had the highest sales week for any debut album in the 2010s[70] and featured Lil Wayne, Kanye West,[71] and Jay Z.[72] Drake began his Away from Home Tour on September 20, 2010, in Miami, Florida, performing at 78 shows over four different legs.[73] It concluded in Las Vegas in November 2010.[74] Due to the tour's success, Drake hosted the first OVO Festival in 2010. Drake had an eco-friendly college tour to support the album.[75]

Drake announced his intentions to allow Noah "40" Shebib to record a more cohesive sound on his next album than on Thank Me Later.[76] In November 2010, Drake revealed the title of his next studio album would be Take Care.[77] He sought to expand on the low-tempo, sensuous, and dark sonic esthetic of Thank Me Later.[78][79] Primarily a hip hop album, Drake also attempted to incorporate R&B and pop to create a languid, grandiose sound.[80]

Drake performing with Bun B in 2011 In January 2011, Drake was in negotiations to join Eva Green and Susan Sarandon as a member of the cast in Nicholas Jarecki's Arbitrage,[81] before ultimately deciding against starring in the movie to focus on the album. "Dreams Money Can Buy"[82] and "Marvins Room"[78] were released on Drake's October's Very Own Blog, on May 20 and June 9, respectively. Acting as promotional singles for Take Care, the former was eventually unincluded on the album's final track listing, while "Marvins Room" gained 3× Multi-Platinum certification by the RIAA,[83] as well as peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.[84] "Headlines" was released on August 9 as the album's lead single. It met with positive critical and commercial response, reaching number thirteen on the Hot 100, as well as becoming Drake's tenth single to reach the summit of the Billboard Hot Rap Songs.[85] It was eventually certified 4× Multi-Platinum in the United States and Platinum in Canada.[86] The music video for the single was released on October 2.[87]

Take Care was released on November 15, 2011, and received generally positive reviews from music critics.[88][89][90][91][92] It also won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, and achieved great commercial success, eventually being certified six times platinum by the RIAA in 2019, with sales for the album marking 2.6 million in the U.S.[93] The album's third and fourth singles, "The Motto" and Take Care", were released on November 29, 2011[94] and February 21, 2012, respectively.[95] Each song achieved commercial success, and "The Motto" was later credited for popularizing the phrase "YOLO" in the United States.[96][97] The music video for "Take Care" met with widespread acclaim,[98] receiving four nominations at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, including for Video of the Year.[99] "HYFR" was the final single to be released from the album, and became certified 2× Multi-Platinum.[100][101]

Drake during a performance in Toronto in 2011 On August 5, 2012, Drake released "Enough Said", performed by Aaliyah and himself.[102] Originally recorded prior to Aaliyah's 2001 death, Drake later finished the track with producer "40".[103] In promotion of his second album, Drake embarked on the worldwide Club Paradise Tour. It became the most successful hip hop tour of 2012, grossing over $42 million.[104] He then returned to acting, starring in Ice Age: Continental Drift as Ethan.[105]

2013–2015: Nothing Was the Same and If You're Reading This It's Too Late Main articles: Nothing Was the Same and If You're Reading This It's Too Late By the Club Paradise Tour's European leg, Drake had begun working on his third studio album, which he said would retain 40 as the album's executive producer, include the influence of British producer Jamie xx,[106] and stylistically differ from Take Care, departing from the ambient production and despondent lyrics previously prevalent.[107] After he won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards on 10 February 2013, Drake announced his third album, Nothing Was the Same, and released its first single.[108] The album's second single, "Hold On, We're Going Home", was released in August, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[109] Nothing Was the Same was released on September 24, 2013, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200, with 658,000 copies sold in its first week of release.[110] The album debuted atop the charts in Canada, Denmark, Australia and the United Kingdom. The album also enjoyed generally favourable reviews by contemporary music critics, commending the musical shift in terms of the tone and subject matter, comparing it to Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak.[111]

The album, which sold over 1,720,000 copies in the United States, was further promoted by the "Would You like a Tour?" throughout late 2013 to early 2014.[112] It became the 22nd-most successful tour of the year, grossing an estimated $46 million.[113] Drake then returned to acting in January 2014, hosting Saturday Night Live, as well as serving as the musical guest. His versatility, acting ability and comedic timing were all praised by critics, describing it as what "kept him afloat during the tough and murky SNL waters".[114][115][116]

In late 2014, Drake announced that he began recording sessions for his fourth studio album.[117] On February 12, 2015, Drake released If You're Reading This It's Too Late onto iTunes with no prior announcement. Despite debate on whether it was an album[118] or a mixtape,[119] its commercial stance quantifies it as his fourth retail project with Cash Money Records, a scheme that was rumoured to allow Drake to leave the label.[120][121] However, he eventually remained with Cash Money, and If You're Reading This It's Too Late sold over 1 million units in 2015.[93]

2015–2017: What a Time to Be Alive, Views, and More Lifeert|80|acre|m2|adj=on}} hospital and a prisoner-of-war compound which housed more than 1,500 German prisoners of war. Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francis J. Spellman dedicated the Catholic Chapel (St. Edward's) at its Birmingham Avenue location on January 17, 1943. The chapel and other buildings constructed during the war years, intended for a life of only 20 years, are still in use.

FAA Airport Diagram

During the late 1940s, the jet age was dawning and in 1948 the Navy's first jet carrier air groups and squadrons came to NAS Jacksonville. By April 1949, NAS Jacksonville was the East Coast's aircraft capital, with more naval aircraft stationed here than at any other naval base from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean – 60 percent of the Fleet's air striking force in the Atlantic area from pole to pole. Fleet Air Wing Eleven made its move to the base, bringing with it Patrol Squadron THREE (VP-3) from NAS Coco Solo, Panama and Patrol Squadron FIVE (VP-5) from NAS San Juan, Puerto Rico. The now famous U.S. Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, who had called NAS Jacksonville home but later moved to NAS Corpus Christi in the late 1940s, performed a last air show at the station on April 29, 1950, before forming the nucleus of an operational fighter squadron, VF-191 (Satan's Kittens), which was assigned to combat in Korea. The "Blues" would not return to the station for more than two years. In the early 1950s, Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) Jacksonville was also reactivated and included nine different schools.

Aerial view of NAS Jacksonville in the mid-1940s

In the mid-1950s, an air traffic control center for joint use by the Navy, Air Force, and Civil Aeronautics Administration was approved and completed at a cost of $325,000. Major changes also occurred as parking ramps were added shore-based aircraft hangars and a 1,231-foot (375 m)-long taxiway was built. With the station's continuing growth, the Navy was having a tremendous impact on the economic growth in the Jacksonville and Duval County area. The station had over 11,000 military personnel assigned, along with 5,000 civilians and an annual payroll of more than $35 million.

In March 1959, Marine Attack Squadron ONE FOUR TWO (VMA-142) of the Marine Corps Reserve relocated to NAS Jacksonville from the closing MCAS Miami, along with the associated Marine Air Reserve Training Detachment (MARTD). VMA-142 would remain at NAS Jax until its relocation to nearby NAS Cecil Field in 1978.

On July 1, 1957, The United States Air Force Air Defense Command established a Phase III Mobile Radar station at NAS Jacksonville with the 679th Aircraft Warning and Control Squadron operating AN/FPS-3, AN/FPS-8, and AN/MPS-14 radars as part of the integrated ADC radar network. It was designated as ADC site M-114. In 1962 AN/FPS-66 radar and a pair of AN/FPS-6 heightfinder radars were added. During 1962 M-114 joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, and the squadron was re-designated as the 679th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 October 1962. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-114. In addition to the site at NAS Jacksonville, the 679th operated several "Gap Filler" remote sites to extend its radar coverage at Bunnell, FL and Blythe Island, GA. In 1963 M-114 became a joint-use facility with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It performed routine general radar surveillance until 30 September 1981 when the site was inactivated.

Growth and Consolidation

In 1970, a major reorganization of the Naval Reserve resulted in three separate Naval Air Reserve flying squadrons, identical to their active duty Regular Navy counterparts, being activated at NAS Jacksonville. These squadrons consisted of Attack Squadron TWO ZERO THREE (VA-203), Patrol Squadron SIXTY-TWO (VP-62) and Fleet Logistics Support Squadron FIFTY-EIGHT (VR-58). VA-203 would later relocate to NAS Cecil Field in 1977, with the remaining reserve squadrons joined by Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron SEVENTY-FIVE (HS-75) in 1985 following its relocation from NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

In 1973, with the assignment of Helicopter Antisubmarine Wing One, the station's primary mission became antisubmarine warfare. Accompanying the wing were five helicopter squadrons which are still based here today. With the new wings and squadrons, opportunities grew for both sea duty and shore duty assignment to NAS Jacksonville. The station's popularity grew and it became one of the most requested duty station for sailors and officers in Naval Aviation throughout the Navy.

A piece of history and Navy and Marine Corps tradition was lost in 1986 when the last unit of Marines left NAS Jacksonville. Marine Barracks Jacksonville had been one of the first groups to arrive at the base in 1940, but left due to mission realignments and a reduction in Marines authorized for Marine Corps Security Force duties at U.S. Naval installations. Force reductions continued in the 1990s and early 2000s with the elimination of P-3 squadrons (VP-24, VP-49, VP-56) and H-60 squadrons (HS-1, HS-9, HS-75).

With the BRAC-directed closure of NAS Brunswick, Maine by mid-2011, Patrol Squadron EIGHT (VP-8), Patrol Squadron TEN (VP-10), Patrol Squadron TWENTY-SIX (VP-26), Special Projects Patrol Squadron ONE (VPU-1) and Fleet Logistics Support Squadron SIXTY-TWO (VR-62) began relocating to NAS Jacksonville in 2007 with their P-3 and C-130T aircraft, with all of these squadrons in place at NAS Jacksonville by late 2010.

Current operations

The installation is one of the central hubs for naval activity in the U.S. South, with over 50,000 civilian employees, contractors and active-duty personnel employed.

NAS Jacksonville is home to Patrol Squadron THIRTY (VP-30), the Navy's largest aviation squadron and the only P-3 Orion and P-8 Poseidon Fleet Replacement Squadron that prepares pilots, air crew and maintenance personnel for operational assignments in the P-8A, P-3C, and EP-3E Aries in the U.S. Navy, and P-3B, P-3C and similar variants in various NATO and Allied navies and air forces.

In addition, NAS Jacksonville is home to Naval Hospital Jacksonville, under Navy Medicine, which supports all medical programming across naval installations in Florida, including providing the command structure for five Base Health Clinics (BHCs) from Jacksonville to Key West.

Naval Air Reserve Training Unit hangar 113 in 1958

Finally, support facilities at NAS Jacksonville include its being an Aviation Maintenance training facility for several aviation ratings (facilitated by the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Jacksonville), an additional outlying field (OLF Whitehouse) for pilot training, a maintenance depot employing more than 150 different trade skills capable of performing maintenance as basic as changing a tire to intricate micro-electronics or total engine disassembly, a Fleet Industrial Supply Center, a Navy Family Service Center, a DeCA commissary, Navy Exchange, and recreational facilities for both single sailors and families of the Active, Reserve and Retired military communities.

NAS Jacksonville houses a facility to train pilots for the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton. In addition to that NAS Jacksonville has trained foreign aircrews including that of Royal Australian Navy's New Squadron 725.

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast is the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) maintenance, repair and operations depot for NAS Jacksonville.

The depot was originally founded as Naval Air Rework Facility (NARF) Jacksonville. With the growth of NAS Jacksonville into a major military aviation hub, the facility underwent a major change to keep up with the growth, thus being renamed to Naval Aviation Depot (NADEP) Jacksonville. Around the 1990s, NAVAIR underwent a major reorganization, converting all of its naval air depots into Fleet Readiness Centers, now directed under the Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC); thus, NADEP Jacksonville was renamed Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, and became the depot for all of the Southeastern United States.

Staffed at over 5,000 DoN Civilian Employees, Contractors, and Military personnel, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast is the largest employer in Northeast Florida/Southern Georgia region.

Tenant Commands

A P-3 Orion from VP-5.

Aviation Units

Patrol Squadron 30 (VP-30)

• Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11
  • VP-5 "Mad Foxes"
  • VP-8 "Fighting Tigers"
  • VP-10 "Red Lancers"
  • VP-16 "War Eagles"
  • VP-26 "Tridents"
  • VP-45 "Pelicans"
  • VUP-19 "Big Red"

• Commander, Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Detachment Jacksonville
  • HSM-46 "Grandmasters"
  • HSM-60 "Jaguars"
  • HSM-70 "Spartans"
  • HSM-72 "Proud Warriors"
  • HSM-74 "Swamp Foxes"

• Reserve Squadrons
  • VR-58 "Sunseekers" - Boeing C-40A
  • VR-62 "Nor Easters" - Lockheed C-130T
  • VP-62 - Lockheed P-3

Navy Reserve Wings

Commander, Naval Reserve Readiness Command Region Eight

Commander, Fleet Logistics Support Wing

Commander, Maritime Support Wing

Shore-based Units and Components

Commander, Naval Region Southeast

Coastal Riverine Squadron 10

Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU)

Naval Aviation Forecast Component Jacksonville

Material Commands

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)

Naval Facilities and Engineering Command (NAVFAC)

Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP)

Other Units

Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED)

• Naval Hospital Jacksonville
  • Naval Branch Clinic Jacksonville
  • Naval Branch Dental Clinic Jacksonville

Naval Air Reserve / Navy Operational Support Center Jacksonville (Navy Reserve)

Navy Entomology Center of Excellence

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14

Navy Oceanographic Anti-Submarine Warfare Detachment (NOAD), Jacksonville

Surface Rescue Swimmer School (SRSS)

Aircraft Carrier Tactical Support Center (CV-TSC)

Navy Exchange (NEXCOM) Southeast District

Transient Personnel Unit

Other Federal Agencies

Defense Logistics Agency (DoD)

• DRMO Jacksonville

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (DHS)

• Jacksonville Air and Marine Branch

Gallery

• 
  Curtiss-Wright CW-22 at NAS Jacksonville on January 8, 1942.
• 
  Martin JRM Mars moored off NAS Jacksonville in 1950.
• 
  Boeing P-8 Poseidon departing NAS Jacksonville.
• 
  George H. W. Bush greeting NAS Jacksonville sailors.
• 
  A Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 11 prepares to take off.
• 
  President Obama delivers remarks to an audience of Sailors and Marines at NAS Jacksonville.
• 
  The Blue Angels performing their annual show at NAS Jacksonville.

Accidents and incidents

• 3 May 2019: Miami Air International Flight 293, a Boeing 737-800, hydroplaned and experienced a runway excursion upon landing at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The airplane came to rest in the shallow waters of St. Johns River, sustaining substantial damage. All 143 passengers and crew on board the plane survived, although 21 people aboard had minor injuries.

See also

• List of United States Navy airfields
• Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs

References

• Naval Air Station Jacksonville GlobalSecurity.org. retrieved 2006-10-26

External links

• Official website
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective May 16, 2024
• Resources for this U.S. military airport:
  • FAA airport information for NIP
  • AirNav airport information for KNIP
  • ASN accident history for NIP
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KNIP