Naval Support Activity Panama City

Naval Support Activity Panama City
Part of Navy Region Southeast
Bay County, near Panama City, Florida
Naval Support Activity Panama City in 1980
Coordinates	30°10′24″N 85°45′00″W / 30.17333°N 85.75000°W / 30.17333; -85.75000Coordinates: 30°10′24″N 85°45′00″W / 30.17333°N 85.75000°W / 30.17333; -85.75000
Site information
Controlled by	United States Navy
Site history
In use	20 July 1945 - present
Garrison information
Past commanders	CDR Jessica M. Pfefferkorn, USN
Occupants	Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Navy Experimental Diving Unit, Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center, United States Coast Guard

The United States Naval Support Activity Panama City (NSA PC), is located just outside Panama City, Florida and is a United States Navy military base. It is located within Bay County. Among other commands, it houses Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) and the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU).

The NSA PC was founded as the U.S. Navy Mine Countermeasures Station on 20 July 1945, as a result of the transfer of the test station from Solomons, Maryland, but was renamed ca. 1955 to the U.S. Navy Mine Defense Laboratory. In 1972, it was renamed the Naval Coastal Systems Laboratory which changed to Naval Coastal Systems Center in 1981. The base has been a subsidiary of several other commands in the past including Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, and Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, under which it was designated Naval Surface Warfare Center: Coastal Systems Station. It obtained its current name in 2007 after changing from the prior command structure to the tenant command structure used by the Navy today in its command of research and development centers.

In addition to waterfront port facilities, the installation also contains a hangar and a paved heliport facility approximately 300 feet by 400 feet in size to accommodate naval helicopters up to and including the MH-53E Sea Dragon. The Navy airfield identifier is NBV.

NSAPC consists of several tenant command organizations:

NSWC PCD conducts research on littoral warfare and its disciplines include optics, acoustics, mine warfare and robotics. NSWC PCD employs approximately 1,100 scientists and engineers within NSWC PCD. The newest facility on the base is the Littoral Warfare Research Facility, a $10 million research and development facility dedicated to littoral warfare research; it was completed in 2006.