Naval Base Kitsap Naval Base Kitsap is a U . S . Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state . It was created in 2004 by merging the former Naval Station Bremerton with Naval Submarine Base Bangor . The Mission of Naval Base Kitsap is to serve as the home base for the Navy ’ s fleet throughout West Puget Sound and to provide base operating services , including support for both surface ships and Fleet Ballistic Missile and other nuclear submarine s having their home ports at Bremerton and Bangor . Naval Base Kitsap also provides service , programs , and facilities to meet the needs of their hosted combat commands , tenant activities , ships ' crews , and civilian employees . Naval Base Kitsap is the largest naval organization in Navy Region Northwest , and it is composed of installations at Bremerton , Bangor , and Keyport , Washington . Naval Base Kitsap was the recipient of the 2005 Commander in Chief ' s Award for Installation Excellence - the Best Base in the U . S . Navy . Naval Base Kitsap is the third - largest Navy base in the U . S . It features one of the U . S . Navy ' s " four nuclear shipyards , one of two nuclear - weapons facilities , the only West Coast dry dock capable of handling a Nimitz - class aircraft carrier and the Navy ' s largest fuel depot . " History . Bangor . The Naval Support Base Bangor ' s naval history began in 1942 when it became a site for shipping ammunition to the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II . For an expansion and to establish a permanent naval base , the U . S . Navy purchased 7 , 676 acres ( 3100 hectares ) of land on the Hood Canal near the town of Bangor for approximately $ 18 . 7 million . The U . S . Naval ammunition magazine was established on June 5 , 1944 , for its construction , and it began operations in January 1945 . Beginning in World War II , and through the Korean War and the Vietnam War , until January 1973 , the Bangor Annex continued its service as a U . S . Navy Ammunition Depot responsible for shipping conventional weapons abroad . In 1973 , the Navy announced the selection of the Bangor base as the home port for the first squadron of Trident Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine s . On February 1 , 1977 , the Trident Submarine Base was officially activated . Naval Base Kitsap includes the Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific which provides maintenance , spare parts , and spare nuclear warhead storage the Trident ballistic missiles that are carried by the nuclear submarines . This Trident submarine base is the sole one for the U . S . Pacific Fleet , with the Trident submarine base at Kings Bay , Georgia , for the U . S . Atlantic Fleet being the only other one . Recent history . In 2010 , after purchasing the base ' s first hybrid bus on April 29 , 2010 , Naval Base Kitsap purchased two additional hybrid buses , with five others to be delivered by the end of July . The diesel - electric vehicles are the Navy ' s first hybrids and were funded through the GSA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( ARRA ) Replacement / Exchange Program and are overseen by NAVFAC , the Navy ' s non - tactical vehicle program manager . On Nov . 2 , 2009 , five protesters , including 82 year - old priest William J . Bichsel , S . J . , cut through two fences to reach an area near where nuclear warheads are stored in bunkers . The protesters put up banners , sprinkled blood on the ground , scattered sunflower seeds and prayed until they were arrested ; all faced prison sentences . Bichsel was released from federal prison on February 9 , 2012 .