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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.

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.

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.