{{Short description|Military port for naval ships and assets}} {{About|the military installation|the suburb of Perth|Naval Base, Western Australia}}{{More sources|date=June 2025}} [[File:Aerial photograph of Portsmouth Dockyard taken during a Photex, taken from 2,000 feet. MOD 45144952.jpg|thumb|An aerial view of HMNB Portsmouth taken in 2005.]] [[File:Flotte-Reunion.jpg|thumb|French Navy ships at Réunion: (from left) the patrol ship ''Albatros'', frigate ''Floréal'', P400 ''La Rieuse'' and ''La Boudeuse'', Gendarmerie Navale's ''Jonquille'', BATRAL ''La Grandière'' and the ''Garonne'', behind an oiler, and the swift boat ''Vétiver'' (outside the water).]] A '''naval base''', '''navy base''', or '''military port''' is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that usually stay on ships but are undergoing maintenance while the ship is in port.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 27, 2022 |title=NAVY FACILITIES PROJECTS |url=https://www.secnav.navy.mil/doni/Directives/11000%20Facilities%20and%20Land%20Management%20Ashore/11-00%20Facilities%20and%20Activities%20Ashore%20Support/11010.20J.pdf |journal=United States Department of the Navy |pages=1-9}}</ref>
In the United States, the United States Department of the Navy's General Order No. 135 issued in 1911 as a formal guide to naval terminology described a naval station as "any establishment for building, manufacturing, docking, repair, supply, or training under control of the Navy. It may also include several establishments". A naval base, by contrast, was "a point from which naval operations may be conducted".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Strauss|first1=Michael J.|title=The leasing of Guantanamo Bay|date=2009|publisher=Praeger Security International|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=9780313377839|page=65}}</ref>
In most countries, naval bases are expressly named and identified as such.
One peculiarity of the Royal Navy and certain other navies which closely follow British naval traditions is the concept of the stone frigate: a naval base on land that is named like a ship. Certain facilities were often initially housed on hulks as a cost-saving measure and were later moved to land but kept their traditional names.
==See also== * Submarine base * Airbase
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Ports and harbors}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Naval installations Category:Military terminology
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