From its early days, prior to
World War I, 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 drew to a close, a number of budget cuts, two
RIFs and several
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) actions caused Keyport's parent command in
Newport, Rhode Island, 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==