Crete Naval Station

Crete Naval Base Ναύσταθμος Κρήτης
Part of NATO (MARCOM)
Souda Bay, Crete, Greece
USS Truxtun (DDG 103) departs the Marathi NATO pier facility following a scheduled port visit to Souda Bay, Geece
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)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 Dimosthenis Helmis
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.

Also known as Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, and more commonly as the Souda Bay Naval Base (Greek: Ναυτική Βάση Σούδας, Naftiki Vasi Soudas), it serves as the second largest (in numbers of battleships harboured) naval base of the Hellenic Navy and the largest and most prominent naval base for the United States and NATO in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. 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 in the United States and Dubai in the Persian Gulf.

Souda is a naturally protected harbor on the northwest coast of the island of Crete, founded for the first time during the Ottoman period, in 1872.

During World War II and the Battle of Greece, the harbor was the target of an Italian raid against the Allied navy as part of the Mediterranean Campaign.