A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations . A military base always provides accommodations for one or more units , but it may also be used as a command center , training ground or proving ground . In most cases, military bases rely on outside help to operate. However, certain complex bases are able to endure on their own for long periods because they are able to provide food, drinking water, and other necessities for their inhabitants while under siege. Bases for military aviation are called air bases . Bases for military ships are called naval bases .
18-555: Massereene Barracks is a former military installation in Antrim , Northern Ireland . The site was acquired from Clotworthy Skeffington, 11th Viscount Massereene for a shooting range in 1893. In 1942, during the Second World War , the Admiralty commissioned a torpedo factory there such that Mark 8 torpedoes could be manufactured in the factory and then tested on Lough Neagh . After
36-553: A Main Operating Base ). Other examples of non- or semi-permanent military bases include a Forward Operating Base (FOB), a Logistics Base (Log base) and a Fire Base (FB). A military base may also contain large concentrations of military supplies in order to support military logistics . Most military bases are restricted to the public and usually only authorized personnel may enter them (be it military personnel or their relatives and authorized civilian personnel). In addition to
54-596: A hospital or clinic (dental or health clinics, as well as veterinarian clinics), lodging , movie theaters, and, in some countries, retail stores (usually a supermarket such as Commissary and a Department Store , such as AAFES ). On American military installations, Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) provides facilities such as fitness centers, libraries, golf courses, travel centers, community service centers, campgrounds, child development centers, youth centers, automotive workshops, hobby/arts and crafts centers, bowling centers, and community centers. Bases used by
72-418: A branch of service. A military base may go by any of a number of names, such as the following: Depending on the context, the term "military base" may refer to any establishment (usually permanent) that houses a nation's armed forces , or even organized paramilitary forces such as the police , constabulary , militia , or national guards . Alternatively, the term may refer solely to an establishment which
90-436: A few ANG-operated bases, such as Selfridge ANGB , Michigan. Support facilities on Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve installations tend to not be as extensive as active bases (i.e., they usually do not have on-base lodging (though Kingsley Field ANGB , Oregon, is an exception), clinics (except for drill days), or retail stores (although some have small convenience stores)). In Russian usage "military base" or "naval base"
108-495: Is not limited to denoting a specific fence described facility and usually encompasses a broad territory within which a number of discrete facilities may be located. As examples, 1) the Russian Sevastopol Naval Base comprises individual facilities located within the city of Sevastopol proper (waterfront moorings, weapons stores, a headquarters compound, and a naval infantry base) as well as an airfield at Kacha north of
126-742: Is used only by an army (or possibly other land fighting related forces, such as marines ) to the exclusion of a base used by either an air force or a navy . This is consistent with the different meanings of the word ' military '. Some examples of permanent military bases used by the navies and air forces of the world are the HMNB Portsmouth in Portsmouth, UK, the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island , Washington State, US, or Ramstein Air Base , Germany (the last two are each designated as
144-624: The Real IRA , claimed responsibility. After 38 Engineer Regiment moved to RAF Aldergrove in 2010, the barracks were demolished and the site sold to Randox Laboratories in December 2013 for use as a science park. Military installation Military bases within the United States are considered federal property and are subject to federal law . Civilians (such as family members of military officers ) living on military bases are generally subject to
162-545: The United States Air Force Reserve tend to be active USAF bases. However, there are a few Air Reserve Bases , such as Dobbins ARB , Georgia, and Grissom ARB , Indiana, both of which are former active-duty USAF bases. Facilities of the Air National Guard are often located on civil airports in a secure cantonment area not accessible to the general public, though some units are based on USAF bases, and
180-409: The civil and criminal laws of the states where the bases are located. Military bases can range from small outposts to military cities containing up to 100,000 people. A military base may belong to a different nation or state than the territory surrounding it. The name used generally refers to the type of military activity that takes place at the base, as well as the traditional nomenclature used by
198-503: The (Specialist Teams Royal Engineers (STRE)) were formed to plan and execute Works projects worldwide. Some British and Commonwealth naval bases are traditionally named, commissioned, and administered as though they were naval ships. For this reason they are sometimes called stone frigates . Forward Operating Base Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
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#1732869232112216-644: The 1840s through the 1860s barracks were constructed under supervision of the Royal Engineers in: The Cardwell Reforms (1872) ushered in another period of intensive Barrack building at Aldershot , Portsmouth , Plymouth , London , Woking , Woolwich , Dublin , Belfast , Malta , Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope . In 1959 the Corps' Work Services was transferred to the civilian War Department Works Organization (later renamed Property Services Agency (PSA)) and by 1965
234-901: The War the site became the Royal Naval Armaments Depot Antrim . 33 Independent Field Squadron Royal Engineers arrived at the barracks in July 1974 and, after 33 Independent Field Squadron was absorbed into 25 Regiment Royal Engineers, that regiment took over the barracks in 1992. The site was subsequently handed over to the Royal Marines and, from 1993, it was used as a base for the Royal Marine vessels Grey Wolf and Grey Fox which were deployed in counter terrorism and police operations on Lough Neagh and inshore waterways in Northern Ireland;
252-494: The barracks were the subject of considerable further development in 1998. The site then passed to the British Army and became the home of 38 Engineer Regiment in July 2008. On 7 March 2009, two off-duty British soldiers of the regiment were shot dead outside the barracks. Two other soldiers and two civilian delivery men were also shot and wounded during the mass shooting . A dissident Irish republican paramilitary group,
270-566: The city; 2) the Leningrad Naval Base comprises all naval facilities in the greater St. Petersburg area including training schools, commissioning institutes, the naval academy, and the Kronshtadt base on Kotlin island. An overseas military base is a military base that is geographically located outside of the territory of the country whose armed forces are the principal occupants of the base. Such bases may be established by treaties between
288-414: The governing power in the host country and another country which needs to establish the military base in the host country for various reasons, usually strategic and logistic. Furthermore, overseas military bases often serve as the source of the military brat subculture due to the children of the bases' occupant military being born or raised in the host country but raised with a remote parental knowledge of
306-445: The main military facilities on a certain installation, military bases usually (but not always) have various different facilities for military personnel. These facilities vary from country to country. Military bases can provide housing for military personnel, a post office and dining facilities ( restaurants ). They may also provide support facilities such as fast food restaurants, gas stations, chapels, schools , banks , thrift stores ,
324-750: The occupant military's home country. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Royal Engineers were largely responsible for erecting military bases in the British Isles and the British Empire. In 1792 the Chief Engineer was instructed to prepare the Barrack Construction estimates for Parliament and at the same time the Department of the Barrackmaster-General was established. During the period from
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