Naval Station Rota

Naval Station Rota
Base Naval de Rota
Rota, Cádiz Province, Spain
U.S. Naval Station Rota logo
NAVSTA Rota
Coordinates	36°37′15″N 6°19′54″W / 36.620763°N 6.331558°W / 36.620763; -6.331558Coordinates: 36°37′15″N 6°19′54″W / 36.620763°N 6.331558°W / 36.620763; -6.331558
Type	Military base
Site information
Controlled by	Spain  United States and under several mutual aid agreements
Site history
Built	September 26, 1953
In use	1953 – present
Garrison information
Past commanders	Spanish Navy Vice Admiral and the Commander, U.S. Naval Activities, Spain

Naval Station Rota, also known as NAVSTA Rota, (IATA: ROZ, ICAO: LERT) (Spanish: Base Naval de Rota), is a Spanish naval base commanded by a Spanish Rear Admiral and fully funded by the United States of America. Located in Rota in the Province of Cádiz, near the town of El Puerto de Santa María, NAVSTA Rota is the largest American military community in Spain and houses US Navy and US Marine Corps personnel. There are also small US Army and US Air Force contingents on the base.

NAVSTA Rota has been in use since 1953 when Spanish dictator Francisco Franco strengthened relations with the United States in order to improve local economies. The installation now covers more than 6,000 acres (24 km²) on the northern shore of Cadiz, an area recognized for its strategic, maritime importance over the centuries.

The Chief of Naval Operations deployed Submarine Squadron 16 (SUBRON 16) to Rota on 28 January 1964 and embarked upon USS Proteus. USS Lafayette completed its first Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) deterrent patrol with the Polaris missile and commenced the first refit and replenishment at Rota. During the early 1970s, the submarines assigned to SUBRON 16 were completing conversion to the Poseidon missile. That transition was completed when USS Francis Scott Key returned to Rota on 14 January 1974. Treaty negotiations between Spain and the United States in 1975 resulted in a planned withdrawal of SUBRON 16 from Spain, and the Chief of Naval Operations ordered studies to select a new refit site on the East Coast of the United States. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty in June 1976; it called for the squadron's withdrawal from Spain by July 1979. In November 1976 the Secretary of the Navy announced Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia as that new refit site.