U.S. Navy has tradition of diverse missions at Hancock County’s Stennis Space Center
March 1, 2015
A flag-raising ceremony in May 1976 marked the official move of the Naval Oceanographic program from the Washington, D.C., area to Stennis Space Center. Since then, the Unites States Navy presence has evolved and grown in Hancock County. Today, Hancock County and Stennis Space Center are home to Mississippi's only admiral and the largest concentration of oceanographers in the world thanks to the Navy's presence here.
According to the latest NASA annual economic report, Stennis Space Center is home to 1,920 Department of Defense employees and contractors, about the same number as NASA's employees and contractors within the federal city. The center had an estimated economic impact of $917 million and the Navy's portion of the total was $359 million, or 39 percent. In contrast, NASA's economic impact was $251 million, or 27 percent.
The Navy's only Mississippi-based admiral heads the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC) at Stennis Space Center , which oversees a worldwide organization of 3,000 naval officers, enlisted and civilian personnel. About one-third of the staff works at Stennis Space Center. The command's mission is to provide meteorological, oceanographic and geospatial information and services to U.S. naval forces operating around the world.
Stennis Space Center is also home to the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), which collects and processes ocean data. The command uses ships, aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, satellites and buoys to acquire the data that is used in oceanographic products and services for America's warfighters. The Major Shared Resource Center for High Performance Computing is housed at NAVOCEANO and is one of the premier supercomputing centers in the world.
Another Stennis Space Center tenant, the Naval Research Laboratory, serves as the lead Navy laboratory for research in ocean and atmospheric sciences specializing in physical oceanography, marine geosciences, ocean acoustics, marine meteorology, and remote oceanic and atmospheric sensing.
Stennis Space Center also serves as home to Special Boat Team 22, the Department of Defense's agent for conducting riverine warfare around the world. Special Boat Team 22 uses Stennis Space Center and the Pearl River basin in Hancock County as their training ground. The team is made up of special warfare combatant-craft crewmen trained extensively in small craft and weapons tactics, techniques and procedures.
The Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS), also at Stennis Space Center, provides instruction to mobile training teams in the operation of small craft, including employment, maintenance and logistical support for foreign military students.
Finally, the Navy Human Resources Service Center Southeast, based at Stennis Space Center, provides civilian personnel support to customer commands of Department of Navy Human Resources offices.
"The United States Navy has made a significant investment in Hancock County and has positioned us as one of the leading sites in the world for oceanography and marine technology," said Hancock County Port and Harbor Executive Director Ashley Edwards. "We cannot overstate the value of the diversity of naval interests in Hancock County and the ongoing significant contributions of all the Navy men and women that call the Hancock County region home."