Crete Naval Base

Crete Naval Base Ναύσταθμος Κρήτης
Souda Bay, Crete, Greece
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) arrives at Souda Bay, Greece.
Logo of the Hellenic Navy's Crete Naval Base
Crete NB Location of Crete Naval Base, Greece
Coordinates	35°29′46.5″N 24°08′51.5″E / 35.496250°N 24.147639°E / 35.496250; 24.147639 (Crete Naval Base)
Site information
Owner	Greece
Controlled by	Hellenic Navy Allied Maritime Command (NATO)
Site history
Built	1951
Built by	Greek Government
In use	1951 – present
Garrison information
Current commander	Commodore John Sarigiannis
Garrison	2nd Branch - DDΜΝ - Hellenic Navy General Staff

Crete Naval Base (Greek: Ναύσταθμος Κρήτης, Nafstathmos Kritis) is a major naval base of the Hellenic Navy and NATO at Souda Bay in Crete, Greece.

Formally known in NATO as Naval Support Activity, Souda Bay (NSA-Souda Bay),^[1] and more commonly in Greece as the Souda Naval Base (Greek: Ναυτική Βάση Σούδας, Naftiki Vasi Soudas), it serves as the second largest (in numbers of warships harboured) naval base of the Hellenic Navy and the largest and most prominent naval base for NATO in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.^[2][3][4][5] Additionally, it features the only deep water port in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea that is suitable and capable of maintaining the largest aircraft carriers (class "supercarriers"). The only other such options available for the US Navy are Norfolk Naval Station and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in the United States and the Port of Jebel Ali, Emirate of Dubai in the Persian Gulf.^[6]