Naval Air Station Key West Naval Air Station Key West , is a naval air station and military airport located on Boca Chica Key , four miles ( 6 km ) east of the central business district of Key West , Florida , United States . Naval Air Station Key West ' s national security mission supports operational and readiness requirements for Department of Defense , Department of Homeland Security , National Guard units , federal agencies , and allied forces . The air station is also host to several tenant commands , including Fighter Squadron Composite 111 ( VFC - 111 ) , Strike Fighter Squadron 106 ( VFA - 106 ) Detachment , the U . S . Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School and Joint Interagency Task Force South ( JIATF South ) . In addition to the main air station on Boca Chica Key , NAS Key West comprises several separate annexes in the Key West area . These additional properties include : NAS Key West also hold responsibility for several other properties in the Florida Keys . Most family housing , as well as the Navy Exchange , Commissary , RV park and other Morale , Welfare and Recreation ( MWR ) activities are located at Sigsbee Park , a man - made island created from dredging of seaplane runways for the NAS Key West seaplane base at Trumbo Point in the 1940s . Family housing is also located at Trumbo Point and Truman Annex . Single service members are housed at Truman Annex . Family housing is managed by Balfour Beatty Communities , a public - private venture ( PPV ) partner . Also at Trumbo Point is the Navy Gateway Inns and Suites ( NGIS ) , formerly known as the Bachelor Officers Quarters ( BOQ ) and later the Combined Bachelor Quarters ( CBQ ) . NGIS accommodates transient government personnel . Distinguished Visitors ( DV ) quarters are also available for senior commissioned officers ( O - 6 through O - 10 ) . The CBQ is very visible from North Roosevelt Boulevard and Palm Avenue , with its " FLY NAVY " logo printed prominently on the south side of the building ( it is the tallest building on the island of Key West ) . It is approximately a mile , or twenty - five minute walk , to Duval Street downtown . Truman Annex is the remaining portion of the former Naval Station Key West that closed in 1974 and is still under military control . It has a beach and is the location of Joint Interagency Task Force South ( JIATF South ) . Upon closure of Naval Station Key West , the Fort Zachary Taylor property formerly on the base was turned over to the State of Florida as a Florida State Park and National Historic Site . Fleming Key is the site of the U . S . Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School . NAS Key West also provides a degree of support for Cudjoe Key Air Force Station , a U . S . Air Force installation located north of Key West that is home to the Cudjoe Key Tethered Aerostat Radar System History . The U . S . Navy ' s presence in Key West dates back to 1823 when a Naval Base was established to stop piracy in this area . The lower Keys were home to many wealthy shipping merchants whose fleets operated from these waters . This drew the interest of pirates such as Blackbeard and Captain William Kidd , who used the Keys as a base from which to prey on shipping lanes . The base was expanded during the Mexican - American War and the Spanish - American War . In 1898 , the battleship " Maine " sailed from Key West to Havana , Cuba , where it sank . The sinking of the Maine resulted in the United States declaring war on Spain , and the entire U . S . Atlantic Fleet moved to Key West for the duration of the war . During World War I ( 1914 – 1918 ) the base was expanded again , and in 1917 , a U . S . naval submarine base was established on what is now naval air station property . Its mission during World War I was to supply oil to the U . S . fleet and to block German ships from reaching Mexican oil supplies . The nation ' s southernmost Naval Base proved to be an ideal year - round training facility with rapid access to the open sea lanes and ideal flying conditions . The Navy ' s forces were expanded to include seaplane s , submarines and blimps . Ground was broken for construction of a small coastal air patrol station on 13 July 1917 , at what is now Trumbo Point , on land leased from the Florida East Coast Railroad Company . The project involved dredging , erection of station buildings , three seaplane ramps , a dirigible hangar , a hydrogenerator plant , and temporary barracks . On 22 September of that year , the base ' s log book recorded the first naval flight ever made from Key West – a Curtiss N - 9 seaplane flown by U . S . Coast Guard Lieutenant Stanley Parker . About three months later , on 18 December , Naval Air Base Key West was commissioned and LT Parker became the first Commanding Officer . Naval Air Base Key West pilots flew in search of German submarines resting on the surface to recharge batteries . The aircraft was armed only with a single machine gun , but gunners were supplied with hand grenade s . The slow Curtiss biplanes flew low over surfaced subs , and gunners dropped grenades into open conning towers . Naval aviation antisubmarine warfare was beginning to prove itself in combat . On January 18 , 1918 , the first class of student aviators arrived for seaplane training , which launched the station ' s reputation as a premier training site for Naval Aviator s , a reputation which continues today . The base was primarily used for antisubmarine patrol operations and as an elemental flight training station , with more than 500 aviators trained at the station during World War I . After World War I , the base was decommissioned and its personnel were transferred or released . Most of the buildings were destroyed or dismantled and moved to other locations . The remaining facilities were used only occasionally during 1920 – 1930 for seaplane training . The station remained inactive until 1939 . The seaplane base was designated as a Naval Air Station Key West on 15 December 1940 , and served as an operating and training base for fleet aircraft Squadrons . This set the stage for America ' s entry into World War II . Fortunately , the government retained the property , which proved to be a wise decision as the nation scrambled to re - arm in a state of emergency at the outbreak of the war . Naval Base Key West was reopened to support Navy destroyer s , submarines , patrol craft and PBY aircraft . Other satellite facilities were established to support other war efforts , including Meachum Field for lighter than air operations on Key West , and runways for land - based and carrier - based aircraft on Boca Chica . By 1943 , German submarines were operating so near Key West that they were sinking allied ships within sight of land . Submarine raids peaked in May of that year , when 49 ships were torpedo ed off the coast of Florida . As the war decreased , so did the torpedo raids . In March 1945 , the satellite fields were disestablished and combined into one aviation activity designated as U . S . Naval Air Station , Key West . After the war ended , NAS Key West was retained as a training facility . On 1 June 1962 the Navy AN / FPS - 37 Radar site was added to the United States Air Force ' s Air Defense Command SAGE network feeding data to DC - 09 at Gunter AFB , Alabama . The USAF 671st Radar Squadron was activated and NAS Key West was designated as NORAD ID " Z - 209 " . During the Cuban Missile Crisis , the United States Army activated Nike Hercules missiles in the Homestead and Miami area and Hawk air defense missiles in and around Key West , using the radar facilities . It designated the site as AADCP site KW - 18DC under the Homestead - Miami Defense Area . The Cudjoe Key site was also added to the SAGE network at that time ( Z - 399 ) , being operated by contractors . By 1964 , the USAF added an AN / FPS - 6 A height - finder radar which was modified to an AN / FPS - 90 set when a second radar was added . Routine general radar surveillance was performed by the USAF at NAS Key West until 1988 , upgrading the radar to an AN / FPS - 67 B in 1966 . In 1979 the 671st Radar Squadron was replaced by the 20th Air Defense Squadron , Operating Location Alpha Juliet ( OLAJ ) . By 1988 the last of the two AN / FPS - 90 sets was removed . Today , an ARSR - 4 radar is part of the Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) , designated by NORAD as Southeast Air Defense Sector ( SEADS ) Ground Equipment Facility " J - 07 " . The air station was to become a focal point during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis , which posed the first doorstep threat to America in more than a century . Reconnaissance and operational flights were begun 22 October 1962 , in support of the blockade around Cuba . During the Missile Crisis , Key West cemented its claim to the title " Gibraltar of the Gulf " , coined a hundred years earlier by Commodore David Porter . Literally built up from the swamp , all of the NAS Key West sites , including the Harry S . Truman Annex ( formerly Naval Station Key West ) , Trumbo Point , Meacham Field , and Boca Chica , were now permanently etched in military history . Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 ( VX - 1 ) was based at NAS Key West and conducted airborne antisubmarine warfare ( ASW ) systems evaluation out of Boca Chica , while Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 1 ( HS - 1 ) conducted helicopter fleet replacement training out of the former seaplane base at Trumbo Point until the late 1960s / early 1970s when these squadrons relocated to NAS Patuxent River , Maryland and NAS Jacksonville , Florida , respectively . In the 1970s , Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 ( VAQ - 33 ) relocated to NAS Key West from NAS Norfolk , Virginia with a mix of < br > NC - 121K , ERA - 3B / TA - 3B / KA - 3B Skywarrior , EA - 6A Intruder , EA - 4F Skyhawk II , EP - 3 Orion and the sole example of the EF - 4B / EF - 4J Phantom II aircraft . Reporting as an element of the Fleet Electronic Warfare Support Group ( FEWSG ) , the squadron provided " Orange Air " electronic adversary services for Fleet training until its disestablishment the early 1990s . VAQ - 33 was also the A - 3 Fleet Replacement Squadron ( FRS ) and Fleet Readiness Aviation Maintenance Personnel ( FRAMP ) school , providing training for A - 3 Skywarrior pilots , navigators , aircrewmen and maintenance personnel . In 1973 , Reconnaissance Attack Wing 1 ( RECONATKWING ONE ) began relocation from the closing NAS Albany , Georgia with its RA - 5C Vigilante , TA - 3B Skywarrior and TA - 4F / J Skyhawk II aircraft . An operational / deployable Fleet unit , the wing relocated Reconnaissance Attack Squadron THREE ( RVAH - 3 ) , the RA - 5C Fleet Replacement Squadron ( FRS ) , to NAS Key West , as well as eight other deployable Vigilante squadrons ( RVAH - 1 , RVAH - 5 , RVAH - 6 , RVAH - 7 , RVAH - 9 , RVAH - 11 , RVAH - 12 , RVAH - 13 ) that routinely embarked with Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet carrier air wings . All squadrons were in place by 1974 and all were eventually decommissioned over a six year period that coincided with the phased retirement of the RA - 5C . Following decommissioning of the last squadron , RVAH - 7 , Reconnaissance Attack Wing ONE stood down in early 1980 . Due to its superb flying weather , NAS Key West has hosted several permanent detachments of the fighter and strike fighter Fleet Replacement Squadrons at NAS Oceana , Virginia . These include the former Atlantic Fleet F - 4 Phantom II FRS , Fighter Squadron 171 ( VF - 171 ) , from the 1970s through the 1980s , and the former Atlantic Fleet F - 4 Phantom II and then F - 14 Tomcat FRS , VF - 101 , from the 1960s through 1970s in the F - 4 and the 1970s through 2005 in F - 14 . The focus of both of these detachments revolved around the Fleet Fighter Air Readiness Program ( FFARP ) . The Atlantic Fleet F / A - 18 Hornet and F / A - 18E / F Super Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron , Strike Fighter Squadron 106 ( VFA - 106 ) , also based at NAS Oceana , continues to maintain an NAS Key West detachment to this day in support of FFARP ' s successor , the Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program ( SFARP ) . During the 1980s and 1990s , Fighter Squadron 45 ( VF - 45 ) was also based at NAS Key West to provide air combat adversary services with A - 4 Skyhawk II , F - 5E / F Freedom Fighter and F - 16N Fighting Falcon aircraft . Decommissioned in the late 1990s due to budget cuts , VF - 45 ' s former mission at NAS Key West is now performed by Fighter Composite Squadron 111 ( VFC - 111 ) , an Active - Reserve integrated Navy Reserve squadron flying the F - 5N and F - 5F . In the late summer of 1994 , NAS Key West also served as a primary staging base for Operations SUPPORT DEMOCRACY and UPHOLD DEMOCRACY in Haiti . The station hosted a wide variety of military aircraft during this period , to include multiple U . S . Navy P - 3C Orion aircraft , U . S . Air Force E - 3A Sentry AWACS aircraft and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard ' s EC - 130E Hercules " Commando Solo " aircraft that were engaged in the operations . As in the past , NAS Key West continues to be frequently utilized for detachments by active and reserve U . S . Navy and U . S . Marine Corps fighter squadrons and U . S . Air Force , Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard fighter and rescue squadrons for exercises , unit level and training / continuation training . The Naval Air Training Command also uses NAS Key West for pilot and Naval Flight Officer training detachments , primarily student naval aviators in the strike pipeline during initial carrier qualifications . U . S . Navy P - 3C and E - 2C aircraft also routinely conduct detachment operations at NAS Key West , primarily counternarcotics ( CN ) reconnaissance missions in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean basin in support of both the U . S . Coast Guard and Joint Interagency Task Force South ( JIATF – SOUTH ) . On 5 October 2001 , Naval Air Station Key West was downgraded and redesignated as Naval Air Facility Key West . On 1 April 2003 , the air facility was upgraded and restored back to full air station status as Naval Air Station Key West . Facilities . NAS Key West ' s Boca Chica Field has three paved runways :