Naval Support Activity Bahrain

The first presence of the British Royal Navy in the Persian Gulf came about from the need to control pirates raiding British shipping east of Suez, especially the East India Company routes to India, when it appointed the first Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf. In the early 1820s the rulers of Bahrain, Salman and Abdullah Al Khalifa, signed an agreement to try to limit piracy in the area. HMS Juffair After the death of Sheikh Isa in 1932, having handed control of the state in 1921 under British diplomatic pressure to his son Hamad, his advisor Charles Belgrave with whom he had modernized the state systems and key infrastructure, suggested that they should come to an agreement with the British to open a permanent Royal Navy base within the state. opened on 13 April 1935, as part of the port at Mina Salman. It was bombed by the Italian Air Force during World War II, as part of an Axis Forces effort to cut off one of the three Allied Forces sources of oil in the Persian Gulf. US Navy establishment As a result of the raid, and the United States' entry into World War II beginning December 1941, the Royal Navy extended an invitation to the US Navy, allowing the USN to deploy a small detachment. Post-WW2, the posting was recognized as the U.S. Middle East Force from 1948, a small shore facility that provided logistical and communications support to Marine expeditionary vessels. ==Present==

In 1997, under the aegis of the Military Construction Program, facilities in Juffair were built up, resulting in what is known today as Naval Support Activity Bahrain. In 2003, facilities at NSA Bahrain began expanding after Operation Iraqi Freedom began. In 2006, a large food court, known as the "Freedom Souq" and an expanded Navy Exchange opened, expanding morale and welfare support to service members and tenant commands. In 2010, the Navy embarked on a five-year, $580-million project to expand the base, proposing to essentially double the size of the 62-acre facility. The first phase of construction included a new perimeter wall and security gate and several new utility buildings. The second phase expanded the port operations with a new harbor patrol facility and a small-craft basin. New barracks, a dining facility, a renovated recreation center and administrative buildings were constructed. The final phase included a flyover bridge connecting NSA Bahrain to the port facility at Mina Salman. It was the primary base in the region for the naval and marine activities in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, including when it became Operation New Dawn until the end of the Iraq War. In 2021, NSA Bahrain earned the DOD Installation Excellence Award as one of five recipients of the 2021 Commander in Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence, which recognizes the people who operate and maintain U.S. military installations. 2026 Iranian strikes On February 28, 2026, NSA Bahrain was attacked by Iran during ongoing Israeli–United States strikes on Iran. The base sustained damage to a radar facility. The attack on Bahrain was part of a broader counterattack in which Iran targeted multiple US military bases in the Persian Gulf Region. No American casualties were reported from the attack. After the initial strikes, United States Naval Forces Central Command concluded that the surrounding neighborhood of Juffair was no longer safe for American personnel. As a result, the United States embassy in Manama issued shelter-in-place orders to all American personnel remaining in Bahrain. ==See also==