Keyport is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) located in
Kitsap County
Kitsap County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard, Washington, Port Orchard; its ...
,
Washington, United States. Situated at the eastern terminus of
State Route 308 on the
Kitsap Peninsula, Keyport is known for its small population and charming coastal setting. According to the
2010 census, the Keyport CDP had a total population of 554 residents.
To its close west, Keyport and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
have maritime borders with each other.
The community of Keyport was named after
Keyport, New Jersey
Keyport is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in northern Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A waterfront community located on the Raritan Bay in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region, the borough is a ...
, in 1896. Its nickname is "Torpedo Town USA". Keyport is situated on a small peninsula named the
Keyport Peninsula, jutting into Liberty Bay a few kilometers southeast of
Poulsbo. It is the home of a small
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
depot tasked with ranging and repairing
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es for the US Navy and allies.
Keyport Bible Church, which was established in the early 1900s and incorporated in 1926, stands as the sole church in Keyport. The church's building was dedicated on May 2, 1937, and has since undergone expansions, including the addition of classrooms and a multipurpose building.
Military bases
From its early days, prior to
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the
naval station in Keyport, Washington, underwent several name changes. Initially known as the Pacific Torpedo Station and later as the Naval Torpedo Station, it eventually became the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station (NUWES) in the 1990s. The land the base sits on was originally a pig farm, which led to some interesting nicknames in the base's early years.
As the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
drew to a close, a number of budget cuts, two
RIFs and several
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) was a process by a Federal government of the United States, United States federal government commission to increase the efficiency of the United States Department of Defense by coordinating the realignment and ...
(BRAC) actions caused Keyport's parent command in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, to reserve the engineering function to itself, at least on paper, resulting in a name change to
Naval Undersea Warfare Center - Division Keyport. One of many subsequent reorganizations resulted in another name change to Naval Sea Systems Command, Keyport (NAVSEA).
Following the current trend of aligning base names with their localities, the current name of the station is
Naval Base Kitsap – Keyport, similar to the other facilities in
Bremerton and
Bangor. However, the tenant commands, NAVSEA and NUWC, have remained unchanged. Keyport survived all these threats without closing its gates, but the civilian workforce at Keyport has fallen from about 3,500 personnel in 1990 to 1,348 in 2005.
Tourism
Keyport's major tourist facility is the
Naval Undersea Museum which exhibits many displays on undersea technology, including the
bathyscaphe ''Trieste II'', which descended to . There is also a boat dock operated by the local Port Authority. Kitsap County maintains a small county park on the beach just across SR-308 from the main gate.
Within the base itself, visitors can enjoy amenities such as a boat launch, a park, a spacious picnic area situated on a lagoon, and several hiking trails on "Radio Hill," which are commonly utilized by base employees during their lunch breaks. However, recreational boaters are cautioned to maintain a minimum distance of 300 feet (91 m) from the base's production area.
Cleanup
Like many American bases, the Navy base at Keyport is designated a
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site, with four areas requiring action due to chemical contamination, including the former
landfill
A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
on the western edge of the installation with the potential to contaminate neighboring well water. The chemicals of concern are
chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbon
In chemistry, halogenation is a chemical reaction which introduces one or more halogens into a chemical compound. Halide-containing compounds are pervasive, making this type of transformation important, e.g. in the production of polymers, drugs ...
s (CAHs) and
polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organochlorine compounds with the formula Carbon, C12Hydrogen, H10−''x''Chloride, Cl''x''; they were once widely used in the manufacture of carbonless copy paper, as heat transfer fluids, and as dielectri ...
s (PCBs). Treatment for CAH hot spots in the landfill is by
phytoremediation (growing poplar trees). Other treatments are the removal of PCB-contaminated sediments, upgrading the tide gate, upgrading and maintaining the landfill cover and conducting long-term monitoring.
Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Keyport has a
warm-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
Climate Summary for Keyport, Washington
/ref>
References
External links
NUWC-Keyport
Census Data
Yahoo Maps
{{authority control
Census-designated places in Washington (state)
Census-designated places in Kitsap County, Washington