Naval Base Ventura County Naval Base Ventura County ( NBVC ) is a United States Navy base located near Oxnard , California . The base was formed in 2000 through the merger of Naval Air Station ( NAS ) Point Mugu and Naval Construction Battalion Center ( CBC ) Port Hueneme . NBVC is a diverse installation comprising three main facilities — Point Mugu , Port Hueneme and San Nicolas Island — and serving as an all - in - one mobilization site , deep water port , railhead , and airfield . NBVC supports more than 100 tenant commands with a base population of more than 19 , 000 personnel , making it the largest employer in Ventura County . Facilities . At Point Mugu , NBVC operates two runways and a sea test range , anchored by San Nicolas Island . The range allows the military to test and track weapons systems in restricted air - and sea - space without encroaching on civilian air traffic or shipping lanes . The range can be expanded through interagency coordination between the U . S . Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration . Telemetry data can be tracked and recorded using technology housed at San Nicolas Island , Point Mugu and Laguna Peak , a Tier 1 facility also controlled by NBVC . At Port Hueneme ( pronounced " Why - nee - mee " ) , NBVC operates the only deep - water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco . The port also boasts of rail with dedicated access for on - and off - loading military freight for the various branches of service . The port is the west coast homeport of the U . S . Navy Seabees and supports the training and mobilization requirements for more than 2 , 600 active - duty personnel . The port facility is located on the vast agricultural Oxnard Plain , about northwest of Los Angeles , on the Southern California coast . At San Nicolas Island ( SNI ) , NBVC operates Naval Outlying Field San Nicolas Island , which has a concrete and asphalt runway capable of accommodating aircraft the size of a C - 5 Galaxy . Other facilities on the island include radar tracking instrumentation , electro optical devices , telemetry , communications equipment , missile and target launch areas , as well as personnel support . SNI serves as a launch platform for short and medium missile testing and as an observation facility for missile testing . Tenant commands . Tenant commands encompass an extremely diverse set of specialties that support both the fleet and fighter , including three warfare centers : Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division , Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division , and Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center . NBVC is also home to deployable units , including the Pacific Seabees and the west coast E - 2C Hawkeye s . The facility also shares runways with the California Air National Guard ' s 146th Airlift Wing at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station . The Naval Satellite Operations Center ( NAVSOC ) , responsible for controlling and maintaining the Navy ' s fleet of communications satellites , is located at NBVC . NBVC is also responsible for maintaining a training area used by the 31st Seabee Readiness Group at Fort Hunter Liggett , located approximately north of NBVC ' s main facilities . History . Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme . The facility at Port Hueneme was built as a temporary depot in the early days of World War II to train , stage , and supply the newly created Seabees . The base was officially established and began operating May 18 , 1942 as the Advance Base Depot . In 1945 the Advance Base Depot was renamed the Naval Construction Battalion Center . During the Korean War , almost all Navy construction equipment and supplies for the war were routed through CBC Port Hueneme . Naval Air Station Point Mugu . In 1941 , as the United States entered World War II , Point Mugu also became a training area for the Seabees . The Seabees put down a section of Marston mat runway that would become Point Mugu ’ s first airstrip . NAS Point Mugu served as an anti - aircraft training center during the war and was developed in the late 1940s into the Navy ' s major missile development and test facility . This facility was the site where most of the Navy ' s missiles were developed and tested during the 1950s and 1960s , including the AIM - 7 Sparrow family and the AIM - 54 Phoenix air - to - air , Bullpup air - to - surface , and Regulus surface - to - surface missiles . NAS Point Mugu has dominated the area since the 1940s , and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural . The base has been home to many ordnance testing programs , and the test range extends offshore to the Navy - owned San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands . In 1963 the U . S . Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean . The facility was relocated in 1967 to Point Loma in San Diego , California . NAS Point Mugu was the airfield used by former President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his Santa Barbara ranch . The airfield was used during the state funeral in 2004 , as the place where the former President ' s body was flown to Washington , D . C . to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda . The body was flown to Point Mugu aboard presidential aircraft SAM 28000 two days later . Until the late 1990s , the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX ( VXE - 6 ) , the squadron of LC - 130 s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica , to supply the science stations there . Now , the New York Air National Guard ' s 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility . Naval Base Ventura County . Naval Base Ventura County was established on October 11 , 2000 , during a ceremony held at Point Mugu . The two commands of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme were consolidated into a completely new organization . San Nicolas Island was transferred to NBVC on October 1 , 2004 , after several years under the Naval Air Warfare Center , Weapons Division . NBVC provides the Pacific Fleet with an all - in - one mobilization site , deep water port , railhead , and airfield . NBVC hosts more than 100 tenant commands and , as of 2006 , is the largest employer in Ventura County , with over 19 , 000 military and civilian personnel working for or stationed on the base . The base contributes directly or indirectly to another 8200 jobs throughout the county . In February 2013 , the U . S . Navy proposed to base four MQ - 4C Triton s beginning in 2020 ; this would require 700 personnel and dependents to move to the base , and $ 74 . 3 million in estimated construction cost . U . S . Navy Seabee Museum . Located on Naval Base Ventura County is the U . S . Navy Seabee Museum , one of fifteen official U . S . Navy museums . The museum is the principal repository for the Seabees ’ operational history . The Seabee Archive contains various operational records , battalion histories , manuscripts , oral histories , biographies , and personal papers pertaining to the Seabees .