Strategic Homeport

Strategic Homeport was a plan developed by the then Secretary of the Navy John Lehman for building new naval bases for the U.S. Navy. It was proposed as part of the 600-ship Navy plan of the Reagan Administration. It called for the construction of new ports for existing and newly commissioned ships. The plan was based on five strategic principles:^[1]

1. force dispersal to complicate Soviet targeting
2. battlegroup integrity
3. wider industrial base utilization
4. logistics suitability
5. geographic considerations such as reduced transit times to likely operating areas

The program was devised in part to achieve a political goal: to build support for the naval expansion program though the promise of new naval bases.^[2][3]

The program enjoyed broad support both in Congress and in the Reagan Administration.

Stations

Stations opened under the program include:

• Naval Station Everett, Everett, Washington
• Naval Station Galveston, Galveston, Texas
• Naval Station Ingleside, Ingleside, Texas
• Naval Station Lake Charles, Lake Charles, Louisiana
• Naval Station Mobile, Mobile, Alabama
• Naval Station New York, Staten Island, New York
• Naval Station Pascagoula, Pascagoula, Mississippi

References

1. Lewis, Billy L. (1992). "Strategic Homeporting: National Strategy or Bureaucratic Politics?" (PDF). National War College. p. 1. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
2. "Ports and Harbors". GlobalSecurity.org. GlobalSecurity.org. 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
3. Lewis, Billy L. (1992). "Strategic Homeporting: National Strategy or Bureaucratic Politics?" (PDF). National War College. p. 3. Retrieved 10 May 2010.