Originally commissioned as a Naval Mine Depot, the site of Naval Weapons Station Yorktown was acquired for the Navy by a Presidential proclamation on August 7, 1918, and was at the time the largest naval installation in the world, its land area covering about twenty square miles. Over the years, the growth and expansion of the Navy’s technical requirements and responsibilities have been reflected
by corresponding developments at the station to support the Atlantic Fleet. As part of the Navy’s Mid-Atlantic installation claimant consolidation, Cheatham Annex, formerly an annex of the Fleet Industrial Supply Center Norfolk, was incorporated with the station on October 1, 1998. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown hosts 40 tenant commands, including the Naval Munitions Command; the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity; the Marine Corps Second Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team; Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group; Naval Expeditionary Medical Support Command; Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One; and 19 departments.
