Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia is a British Ministry of Defence facility leased to the United States Navy, located on the atoll Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Camp Thunder Cove is part of the facility, and is operated by the United States Armed Forces and British Armed Forces. Mission Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia provides Base Operating Services to tenant commands located on the island. The command's mission is "To provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf AORs in support of national policy objectives." As of January 2012, the facility supported the following tenant commands: Maritime Pre-Positioning Ships Squadron TWO Branch Health Clinic Naval Computer And Telecommunications Station Far East Detachment Diego Garcia Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Detachment Naval Media Center Detachment Diego Garcia Military Sealift Command Office Diego Garcia Mission Support Facility Fleet Logistics Center Diego Garcia NAVFAC Public Works Department As of March 2015, the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) is forward deployed to Diego Garcia. History In 1971, the local population of Diego Garcia, the Chagossians, was forcibly removed from the island to make way for the base. The Navy tasked the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalions 1, 40, 62, 71, 133 and Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 with the construction of the base. On 23 January 1971 the first men of NMCB 40 arrived on site to begin what became an extended project. Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, was established as the senior United States Navy command on the island on 1 October 1977. At the time the NAVCOMMSTA was the primary tenant, but as new major facilities were completed, most notably the expanded anchorage and mooring area and the extended airfield, other tenants were commissioned. In 1980, the United States Navy established the Near-Term Prepositioned Force of 16 ships. Then NTPF became the Afloat Prepositioning Force (AFP) and eventually Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Two (MPSRON 2) consisting of 20 deep-water pre-positioned logistics ships anchored in the lagoon. In 1981, the naval air facility was commissioned. It was decommissioned in 1987 and its responsibilities returned to the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. In 1982, construction activities were transferred from the Seabees to a consortium of civilian contractors, Raymond International, and Brown and Root and Molem, a joint venture. Raymond had deep-draft wharf and waterfront skills, Brown and Root had concrete and infrastructure skills, and Molem