Naval Support Facility (NSF) Anacostia was a United States Naval Base in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, close to where the

Anacostia River The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. ...

joins the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

. On 1 October 2010 the base was conjoined with the adjacent

Bolling Air Force Base Bolling Air Force Base or Bolling AFB was a United States Air Force base in Washington, D.C. In 2010, it was merged with Naval Support Facility Anacostia to form Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. From its beginning, the installation has hosted elem ...

to form the

Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling (JBAB) is a 905-acre (366 ha) military installation, located in Southeast, Washington, D.C., established on 1 October 2010 in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the ...

in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the

2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission preliminary list was released by the United States Department of Defense on May 13, 2005. It was the fifth Base Realignment and Closure ("BRAC") proposal generated since the process was created in ...

.CNIC Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling
/ref> NSF Anacostia fell under the command of Naval Support Activity Washington.

History

Prior to

European colonization The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs. Colonialism in the modern sense began ...

, the area where the Naval Support Facility Anacostia was located was inhabited by the

Nacotchtank The Nacotchtank were an indigenous Algonquian people who lived in the area of what is now Washington, D.C. during the 17th century. The Nacotchtank village was within the modern borders of the District of Columbia along the intersection of the P ...

, an Algonquian people. The largest village of the Nacotchtank was located just north of Bolling Air Force Base, south of

Anacostia Park Anacostia Park is operated by the United States National Park Service. It is one of Washington, D.C.'s largest and most important recreation areas, with over 1200 acres (4.9 km2) at multiple sites. Included in Anacostia Park is Kenilworth ...

. Two

ossuaries An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

(burial grounds) have been discovered at Bolling Air Force Base. Other Nacotchtank archaeological sites have been found at Giesboro Point on the Potomac River, close to where the Naval Support Facility was once located. The two burial mounds, which included Nacotchtank bones and skulls, were discovered in 1936 by crews working at Bolling Air Force Base. The burial site was also likely once a Nacotchtank village. The Navy began testing

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s at this facility in 1918, and eventually it became a naval air station, supporting conventional

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

. Located immediately north of

, NAS Anacostia remained in service as an active naval air station until 1962, when its runways were deactivated along with Bolling's due to traffic pattern conflicts with the nearby

Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...

. Redesignated as a naval support facility, NSF Anacostia served as the headquarters for Commander, Naval Installations, Navy Office of the Chief of Information and continued to maintain a large heliport facility, primarily used by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (

HMX-1 Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) is a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron responsible for the transportation of the president and vice president of the United States, heads of state, Department of Defense officials, and other VIPs ...

) in support of "

Marine One Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president of the United States. It usually denotes a helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One ( HMX-1) "Nighthawks", consisting of either the larg ...

" presidential transport operations with

VH-3D The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (company designation S-61) is an American twin-engined anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter designed and built by Sikorsky Aircraft. A landmark design, it was one of the first ASW rotorcraft to use turboshaft engin ...

and

VH-60N The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ( ...

aircraft.United States Navy
"NSF Anacostia"
Naval District Washington website. Retrieved on November 18, 2007. These activities remained when the base was incorporated into the larger

Tenant commands

*Commander, Naval Installations *

Construction Battalion , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philippine ...

Unit 422 *

District of Columbia Army National Guard The District of Columbia Army National Guard is the Army component of the District of Columbia National Guard. As the District of Columbia is a federal district and not a state, the guard is placed under the authority of the President of the Unite ...

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

Inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...

* Marine Helicopter Squadron (HMX-1) *NEXCOM BEM Gary Elliott *

Marine Forces Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

Center *Navy Operational Support Center *Office of Chief of Information *

White House Communications Agency The White House Communications Agency (WHCA), originally known as the White House Signal Corps (WHSC) and then the White House Signal Detachment (WHSD), was officially formed by the United States Department of War on 25 March 1942 under President ...

Naval Photographic Science Laboratory The United States Naval Photographic Science Laboratory (NPSL) was opened in the midst of the Second World War, on 24 February 1943, at the Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D. C. It was established under the military command of the Chief ...

References

External links

NSF Anacostia
(official webpage from Naval District Washington website) {{DCMB Defunct airports in the United States Military facilities in Washington, D.C.

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is nam ...

Military installations closed in 2010 Closed installations of the United States Navy