Naval Station Everett (NAVSTA Everett) is a military installation located in the city of Everett, Washington, north of Seattle. The naval station, located on the city's waterfront on the northeastern end of Puget Sound, was designed as a homeport for a US Navy carrier strike group and opened in 1994. A separate Navy Support Complex is located in Smokey Point, north of Everett near Marysville, and houses a commissary, Navy Exchange, a college and other services. NAVSTA Everett is home to seven guided-missile Destroyers, a Coast Guard Keeper-class cutter , and a USCG Marine Protector-class patrol boat, . There are about 6,000 sailors and civil service persons assigned to commands located at Naval Station Everett. The Naval Station itself has about 350 sailors and civilians assigned. History Background Although a Naval Reservation existed previously at the site, the history of Naval Station Everett began in 1983 when Secretary of the Navy John Lehman first proposed a new Puget Sound-area naval base as part of the Strategic Homeport concept. In the early 1980s, Congress approved the strategic homeporting initiative to build additional bases and disperse the fleet from the main concentration areas. The strategic homeport program enjoyed the support of not only of the House and Senate but of the Reagan Administration and the Department of Defense. It was decided in 1985 that the strategic homeport program was the best method for implementing the militarily-sound principles of dispersal, battlegroup integrity, and increasing the naval presence in the geographic flanks. Planning and construction On April 17, 1984, Everett was selected from among 13 ports as the ideal location for the new homeport, ahead of a site near the Port of Seattle. The decision to build the base in Everett was opposed by local residents and the longshoreman's union, and an advisory ballot measure on whether to accept the base was held in the city on November 6, 1984. Voters approved the construction of the naval base by a margin of more than 2 to 1. Congress approved $43.5 million in funds for construction of the homeport on October 2, 1986, amid the removal of the homeport program from the federal budget and increases in the base's estimated cost. The Port of Everett Commission approved the sale of to build the base on May 5, 1987, and the official ground breaking ceremony was November 9, 1987. Despite the groundbreaking, the Navy was unable