Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a United States Navy base in York County , James City County , and Newport News in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia . It provides a weapons and ammunition storage and loading facility for ships of the US Atlantic Fleet . Location . The Naval Weapons Station ( NWS ) Complex ( including Cheatham Annex ) is 20 . 7 square miles ( 54 km ) in size , roughly 1 / 5 of the total land area of York County , in which most of it lies ; a small portion is within James City County . The station is bounded on the northwest by the Naval Supply Center Cheatham Annex , the Virginia Emergency Fuel Farm , and land owned by the Department of Interior ; on the northeast by almost of the York River and the Colonial National Historical Park ; on the southwest by Route 143 and I - 64 ; and on the southeast by Route 238 and the community of Lackey . The station borders the cities of Newport News and Williamsburg . It shares almost of the York River shoreline ( about half of York County ' s York River shoreline and wetlands ) with the National Park Service . The large Camp Peary , which also has much York River frontage on the northern side of the Virginia Peninsula , is adjacent to the Naval Station . History . The site of NWS Yorktown is rich in colonial era ] ] ( 1607 – 1776 ) history , as well as that of the American Civil War ( 1861 – 1865 ) . The station sits on the riverfront , in an area that was an early settlement of English colonists in Virginia . They displaced the Algonquian - speaking Kiskiack and other American Indian ] ] tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy , who historically inhabited the area . The colonial infantry of the American Revolutionary War and forces of the Civil War slogged along the Old Williamsburg Road . Today it runs through the station . The oldest structure at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station is " Kiskiack " , also known as the Lee House , built as a private residence around 1649 . [ [ File : US Navy 080801 - N - 3312P - 001 File photo of the Lee House , the only original plantation house still standing on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown . jpg | thumb | US Navy 080801 - N - 3312P - 001 File photo of the Lee House , the only original plantation house still standing on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Before [ [ World War I , the [ [ DuPont Company ] ] acquired a site on the banks of the York River and built a [ [ dynamite ] ] plant , that came to be known as [ [ Penniman , Virginia | Penniman ] ] . Before production started , the Navy acquired the site in August 1918 by presidential proclamation response to the outbreak of [ [ World War I ] ] in Europe . This became the largest naval installation in the world . The Navy originally created the Navy Mine Depot , Yorktown . The Navy ' s intent to lay the [ [ North Sea Mine Barrage ] ] to protect commercial shipping required an Atlantic Seaboard plant . Here the [ [ Naval mine | mines ] ] would be stored , assembled , loaded , tested and issued to the Service . It also required a station for the training of personnel to adjust and operate the mines . The Navy selected a tract of land , about of area near Yorktown , Virginia , as the best location on the East Coast for its mine activities . The [ [ Bureau of Ordnance ] ] of the Navy Department assumed possession one month later . Yorktown was near the [ [ Naval Station Norfolk | Navy Operating Base at Hampton Roads ] ] , the [ [ Norfolk Navy Yard ] ] , and the Fuel Bases of the [ [ Fifth Naval District ] ] . It had excellent transportation access , with the main lines of the [ [ Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad ] ] forming one of the boundaries of the Depot , and five miles ( 8 km ) of waterfront on the navigable York River . Ocean - going vessels of largest size and deepest draft could navigate there . To make way for the new Mine Depot , the government acquired by [ [ eminent domain ] ] the property of many landowners along the former Yorktown - Williamsburg Road in nearby Lackey . Both landowners and tenants in this area were primarily African American . ( Since the 19th century , this area had been locally known as " the Reservation " . ) Assisted by self - educated farmer [ [ John Tack Roberts ] ] ( born ca . 1860 ) , many of the displaced residents of Lackey were able to negotiate better financial compensation for their properties . Many relocated to the community of [ [ Grove , Virginia | Grove ] ] in nearby [ [ James City County , Virginia | James City County ] ] . Another small community , also named Lackey , was later developed along the Yorktown Road a few miles away . As many as 10 , 000 personnel worked at the facility during [ [ World War I ] ] . Many workers lived in the town of [ [ Penniman , Virginia | Penniman ] ] . After WWI and the Navy ' s shift away from mines , this community also vanished as workers moved away . [ [ Halstead ' s Point , Virginia | Halstead ' s Point ] ] , another community of workers on the station , also declined and disappeared . It was located near the present main gate off [ [ Route 143 ( Virginia ) | State Route 143 ] ] . Current use . 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 [ [ U . S . Atlantic Fleet | Atlantic Fleet ] ] . As part of the Navy ’ s Mid - Atlantic installation consolidation , Cheatham Annex , formerly an annex of the Fleet Industrial Supply Center , Norfolk , was incorporated with the station on October 1 , 1998 . This area of land located in the Jamestown , Williamsburg , Yorktown area known as the [ [ Historic Triangle | Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia ] ] was acquired by the Navy on June 21 , 1943 . Cheatham Annex includes the former site of the " lost town " of [ [ Penniman , Virginia ] ] . Naval Weapons Station Yorktown hosts 25 tenant commands which include the [ [ United States Fleet Forces Command | Navy Munitions Command ] ] , the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity , the [ [ United States Marine Corps | Marine Corps ] ] Second [ [ Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team ] ] , [ [ Naval Supply Systems Command | NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk ] ] detachment , Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Command , [ [ Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group ( United States ) | Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group ] ] , [ [ United States Navy Riverine Squadron | Riverine Squadron THREE ] ] , [ [ Maritime Civil Affairs and Security Training Command | Maritime Civil Affairs Squadron TWO ] ] , and 19 Storefronts . The station and tenant commands work together as a team to provide ordnance logistics , technical , supply and related services to the Atlantic Fleet . Today the station is a hub of activity . As one of the Navy ' s " explosive corridors " to the sea , supply , amphibious and combatant ships may be seen arriving and departing the station ' s two piers . External links . [ [ Category : Buildings and structures in James City County , Virginia | NWS Yorktown ] ] [ [ Category : Military facilities in Virginia ] ] [ [ Category : Military Superfund sites ] ] [ [ Category : Newport News , Virginia ] ] [ [ Category : United States Navy bases | Yorktown ] ] [ [ Category : Buildings and structures in York County , Virginia | NWS Yorktown ] ] [ [ Category : Superfund sites in Virginia ] ]