Jacksonville Military Guide: Bases, Veterans Services and Memorials

The three Jacksonville bases this hub covers are Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Naval Station Mayport and Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, all on the City of Jacksonville list of area installations (City of Jacksonville, Military Presence).

The City of Jacksonville lists six area installations when it describes the regional military presence: Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Naval Station Mayport, Kings Bay Naval Base, Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, Naval Aviation Depot Jacksonville and Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island (Military Presence).

NAS Jacksonville is the aviation base. It hosts seven active P-8A/P-3C squadrons, three reserve squadrons and five helicopter squadrons, and its tenants include Commander, Navy Region Southeast, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast and Naval Hospital Jacksonville, with some 120-plus other tenant activities on the station (Navy Region Southeast, NAS Jacksonville).

Naval Station Mayport is the ship base, with 20 naval ships among its supported commands. The Navy at Mayport covers 3,409 acres, has a harbor able to take 34 ships and an 8,000-foot runway, and supports more than 80 commands including 20 naval ships and three helicopter squadrons (Navy Region Southeast, Naval Station Mayport). The Naval Station Mayport history guide follows the base from its wartime start to the carrier basin.

Blount Island Command is the Marine Corps central command for generating, sustaining, modernizing and distributing forward-positioned equipment and supplies, backed by nine maritime prepositioning ships today (Blount Island Command). The Blount Island Command guide explains the prepositioning ships and the support facility.

Defense activity in Duval County is worth $9.1 billion in gross regional product, 17% of the local economy and 68,060 jobs, in the figures the City of Jacksonville publishes (City of Jacksonville, Military Presence).

Direct defense spending in Duval County adds up to $6.5 billion across procurement, pay and pensions (Military Presence). NAS Jacksonville on its own reports an economic impact in excess of $2 billion annually and calls itself one of the largest employers in the area (NAS Jacksonville).

Read the Jacksonville figures with their date in mind. The city page still cites the January 2024 Florida Military and Defense Economic Impact Summary, and on October 14, 2026, no newer Duval County breakdown had replaced it on that page (Military Presence).

NAS Jacksonville was established in 1940 on land the military first bought in 1907, Naval Station Mayport was commissioned in December 1942, and Blount Island Command began on September 1, 1986 (NAS Jacksonville history; Naval Station Mayport; Blount Island Command).

The NAS Jacksonville site was originally known as Black Point. Florida National Guard troops arrived in June 1909, and the U.S. Army took it over in October 1917 and renamed it Camp Joseph A. Johnston before it returned to the Florida National Guard in 1926 (Navy Region Southeast). NAS Jacksonville was originally commissioned as a pilot training base and grew into what the Navy calls a small town with a hospital, restaurants, churches, boat ramps, gyms and a golf course (NAS Jacksonville history). The NAS Jacksonville history guide covers the Black Point and Camp Johnston years in detail.

People have been drawn to the area around Naval Station Mayport for more than 400 years, and the naval station there has grown since its December 1942 commissioning into the third largest fleet concentration area in the United States (Naval Station Mayport).

On Blount Island the Marine Corps leased 262 acres from Gate Maritime Properties in 1986, acquired more than 1,100 acres in 2004, and activated Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island on November 21, 2006 (Blount Island Command). The command was named Biennial Maintenance Command at first and took the Blount Island Command name in 1989 (Blount Island Command history).

The City of Jacksonville Military Affairs and Veterans Department, in Suite 175 at 117 West Duval Street, phone (904) 255-5550, helps veterans, service members and their families at no cost (City of Jacksonville Military Affairs and Veterans Department).

The Jacksonville department handles VA benefits and claims assistance, job placement and resume help, housing and financial aid, free legal guidance and tax filing help, and support for spouses, caregivers and dependents; all services are provided at no cost, and the email address is [email protected] (Military Affairs and Veterans Department). Its director, Harrison Conyers, serves as the city's liaison to all military commands in Duval County and as the mayor's adviser on military matters (MAVD leadership).

Two dates on the October 2026 calendar show what the department runs. The NAS JAX Food Farmacy serves active-duty families with a valid military ID on the first and third Thursday of each month, 10 a.m. to noon, at 5391 Collins Road, including October 15, 2026. The Veterans Council of Duval County meets on October 20, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Centerstone, 7011 A C Skinner Parkway (MAVD events). A practical tip: the department office is inside City Hall at 117 West Duval Street, so a visit pairs easily with other city business, and a state certified veterans service officer also takes claims questions at Pablo Creek Regional Library on the third Wednesday of each month (MAVD events).

Three Jacksonville military sites publish public visiting details: the USS Orleck museum ship downtown, the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Wall by EverBank Stadium and Jacksonville National Cemetery on Lannie Road (USS Orleck Naval Museum; City of Jacksonville; National Cemetery Administration).

The USS Orleck (DD-886) is a Gearing-class destroyer that served in the Navy from 1945 to 1982, and the ship tour charges $20 for adults, with last tickets an hour before closing; the museum closes on the day of every Jaguars home game, a detail worth checking against the NFL schedule before driving downtown (Florida Historic Naval Ship Association). The USS Orleck Naval Museum guide covers the ship's record and exhibits.

Jacksonville National Cemetery opened for burials in 2009 after the National Cemetery Administration acquired the city-owned ranch land in 2008; it is the seventh national cemetery in Florida and the 128th in the national system, and its office phone is 904-766-5222 (Jacksonville National Cemetery).

The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Wall at 1145 East Adams Street is a 65-foot-long black granite monument carrying more than 1,700 Jacksonville-area service members who died from World War I through the War on Terror (City of Jacksonville, Veterans Memorial Wall).

The City of Jacksonville calls the Duval County wall the nation's second-largest veterans memorial after the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the only one honoring all seven branches, from the Army and Navy to the Space Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine; an eternal flame burns at its center (Veterans Memorial Wall). New names are added at the Memorial Day ceremony each year (City of Jacksonville).

Families nominate names through the city form. A Jacksonville nominee must have been on active duty at the time of death, must have had legal residence in Duval County or attended a Duval County high school, and must have died during a declared U.S. war (nomination criteria). The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Wall guide gives the history of the monument and its setting.

Five Jacksonville military guides go deeper than this hub, one for each base or memorial named above.

Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville, Navy Region Southeast, Blount Island Command, National Cemetery Administration and USS Orleck museum websites. Museum hours and city event dates in Jacksonville change through the year, so the linked page is the final word on the day of a visit.