Military
Hampton Roads is a major military center, particularly for the United States Navy, and Norfolk serves as the home for the most important of these regional installations, Naval Station Norfolk. Located on Sewell's Point Peninsula, in the northwest corner of the city, the installation is the current headquarters of the Atlantic Fleet, as well as being home port for the 2nd Fleet, which compromises approximately 62,000 active duty personnel, 75 ships, and 132 aircraft. The base also serves as the headquarters to the Allied Command Transformation (NATO) and the United States Joint Forces Command.
The region also plays an important role in defense contracting, with particular emphasis in the shipbuilding and ship repair businesses for the city of Norfolk. Major private shipyards located in Norfolk include: BAE Systems Ship Repair, Colonna's Shipyard, and NASSCO. Most contracts fulfilled by these shipyards are issued by the Navy, though some private commercial repair also takes place.
When combined with other important regional military installations such as Naval Air Station Oceana, Norfolk Naval Shipyard (in Portsmouth), Langley Air Force Base, and Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, and along with other important defense contractors, the military serves as the region's economic backbone and cultural focal point. In fact, it is estimated that over 35% of Gross Regional Product (which includes the entire Norfolk-Newport News-Virginia Beach MSA), is attributable to defense spending, and that 75% of all regional growth since 2001 is attributable to increases in defense spending.
Read more about this topic: Economy Of Norfolk, Virginia
Famous quotes containing the word military:
“Personal prudence, even when dictated by quite other than selfish considerations, surely is no special virtue in a military man; while an excessive love of glory, impassioning a less burning impulse, the honest sense of duty, is the first.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“In all sincerity, we offer to the loved ones of all innocent victims over the past 25 years, abject and true remorse. No words of ours will compensate for the intolerable suffering they have undergone during the conflict.”
—Combined Loyalist Military Command. New York Times, p. A12 (October 14, l994)