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Realizing Considering the advantages of the Pensacola harbor and the area's large timber reserves nearby for which could aid shipbuilding, in [[1825]] President [[Wikipedia:John Quincy Adams|John Quincy Adams]] charged the [[Wikipedia:Board of Navy Commissioners|Board of Navy Commissioners]] with selecting a site near Pensacola for a naval outpost. They The commissioners made their reccommendation recommendation to Secretary of the Navy [[Wikipedia:Samuel Southard|Samuel Southard]] and President Adams approved it later that year. The site was already owned by the federal government, and construction began in April [[1826]]. The '''Pensacola Navy Yard''' soon became one of the best equipped naval stations in the country. In its early years the base dealt mainly with the suppression of slave trade and piracy in the [[Gulf of Mexico]] and Caribbean Sea.
→History
===Navy Yard===
[[Image:NAS Pensacola;vt15.jpg|thumb|right|The first lighthouse built by the U.S. on the Florida coast]]
In the [[Civil War]], when New Orleans was captured by Union forces in [[1862]], Confederate troops, fearing attack from the west, retreated from the Navy Yard and reduced most of the facilities to rubble.
After the war, the ruins at the yard were cleared away and work was begun to rebuild the base. Many of the present structures on the air station were built during this period, including the stately two- and three-story houses on North Avenue. Many of these newly rebuilt structures were destroyed by the great [[hurricane of 1906]] and the resulting [[storm surge]].
=== Naval Aeronautical Station ===
Meanwhile, great strides were being made in aviation. The [[Wikipedia:Wright Brothers|Wright Brothers]] and especially [[Wikipedia:Glenn Curtiss|Glenn Curtiss]] were trying to prove to the Navy that the aircraft had a place in the fleet. The first "aircraft carrier " was built in January [[1911]], and a few weeks later, the seaplane made its first appearance. Then, civilian pilot [[Wikipedia:Eugene Ely|Eugene Ely]] landed a frail craft aboard USS ''Pennsylvania'' (ACR-4) in San Francisco Bay, and the value of the aircraft to the Navy had been demonstrated.
The Navy Dept.Department, now awakened to the possibilities of Naval Aviation through the efforts of Capt. [[Wikipedia:Washington Irving Chambers|Washington Irving Chambers]], prevailed upon Congress to include in the Naval Appropriation Act enacted in 1911–12 a provision for aeronautical development. Chambers was ordered to devote all of his time to naval aviation.
In October [[1913]], Secretary of the Navy [[Wikipedia:Josephus Daniels|Josephus Daniels]], appointed a board, with Capt. Chambers as chairman, to make a survey of aeronautical needs and to establish a policy to guide future development. One of the board's most important recommendations was the establishment of an aviation training station in Pensacola.
