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Norfolk Visitor > Norfolk Naval Base

Naval Station Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia, is the proud home of the largest naval base in the world. No matter what your reason is for visiting Norfolk, you shouldn't miss the opportunity to tour Naval Station Norfolk .

Naval Station Norfolk's mission is to support and improve the personnel and logistics readiness of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The Norfolk naval base provides seaport, airport, and squadron facilities, quality of life, and personnel management services.

Don't miss the tours of the Naval Base . The 45-minute tour departs from the Naval Tour and Information Center located at 9079 Hampton Blvd, next to Gate 5. Bus tours conducted by Navy personnel ride past aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious assault ships and the busy airfield. The tour also drives by historic homes from the 1907 Jamestown Exposition. There is a charge for the tour. A picture ID is required for all adults.

Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest Naval Station, occupies about 4,300 acres on a peninsula known as Sewells Point. Port facilities extend more than four miles along the waterfront and include some seven miles of pier and wharf space.

75 ships and 134 aircraft are home-ported here, and when they are not at sea they're along side one of the 13 piers or inside one of the 11 aircraft hangars for repair, refit, training and to provide the ship's or squadron's crew an opportunity to be with their families. Naval Station Norfolk is homeport to aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, large amphibious ships, submarines, supply ships, airplanes and helicopters.

Air Operations conducts over 100,000 flight operations each year, an average of 275 flights per day or one every six minutes. Over 150,000 passengers and 264,000 tons of mail and cargo depart annually on Air Mobility Command aircraft and other chartered flights from the NSN airfield. It is the hub for Navy logistics going to the European and Central Command theaters of operations, and to the Caribbean.

The land on which Naval Station is located was originally the site of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition , a mammoth 300th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the first permanent English settlement in America in 1607. 21 states constructed buildings that celebrated their history and industry. Pennsylvania House, a 2/3rds replica of Independence Hall, is one of several state houses that are still standing at the Naval Station.

During the Jamestown Exposition, high-ranking naval officers agreed that this site was ideal for naval activity. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the Secretary of the Navy was persuaded to buy the property.

Victory Rover Naval Base Cruise

The Victory Rover makes 2-hour narrated cruises past Naval Station Norfolk. It departs from Nauticus on the downtown waterfront. Enjoy a fascinating and entertaining commentary along the way aboard this Navy-themed vessel. See aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, guided missile cruisers and all of the other ships that form the world's most powerful fleet. On board, guests will enjoy plenty of comfortable seating, clean restrooms, air-conditioned enclosed deck, open-air upper deck, snack bar and souvenir shop.

Reservations are available. Bring a camera and binoculars.

Hampton Roads Naval Museum at Nauticus & the Battleship Wisconsin

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum presents 225 years of naval history in the Hampton Roads region. The museum is also responsible for the historic interpretation and day-to-day operations of the Battleship Wisconsin.

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum and the entrance to the Battleship Wisconsin are located on the second floor of Nauticus : The National Maritime Center in downtown Norfolk (at One Waterside Drive). There is no on-site parking, but there are several city operated parking garages within walking distance.

In California, you can tour these military bases for free

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California is home to some two dozen military bases, including storied installations such as Edwards Air Force Base , where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and little-known facilities such as the Marines Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in the Eastern Sierra.

But what goes on behind those heavily guarded gates? Without proper identification, you can’t pop in for a look-see, so many of us have only a vague idea.

The good news is that several California bases offer public tours that give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at how the armed forces are working to meet the nation’s complex security challenges.

Some tours fill up far in advance — Edwards is booked through 2020 — so be sure to contact the installation you’d like to visit as soon as possible. You may need to fill out a registration form and undergo a security check, but you don’t need to pull out your credit card: Base tours are free.

National Training Center and Ft. Irwin

If you’re looking for a kick-ass tour with things that go boom and rat-a-tat-tat, you can’t do better than the six-hour experience at Ft. Irwin , the Army’s massive pre-deployment center northwest of Barstow.

Your tour bus will rumble through miles of creosote-studded desert before depositing you at a 1,200-square-mile training area called “the box” (short for sandbox). It’s brutal terrain and — except for a faux village with mock mud-brick houses — wide open, making it ideal for brigade-on-brigade war games that can involve as many as 5,000 fighters on each side.

You won’t be able to watch a real training exercise, but you’ll get a taste of the action during a mock battle that features soldiers exchanging rifle fire, a fake IED explosion, a helicopter buzzing low and lots of smoke.

If you’re game, you can crawl inside a personnel carrier or get down on your belly and fire a tripod-mounted machine gun. (The gun shoots blanks but it’s still loud as heck, so take advantage of the free earplugs.)

Your day at Ft. Irwin will involve lots of make-believe, but there’s nothing fake about lunch: a genuine, military-issue MRE (meal, ready to eat).

Info: National Training Center, Ft Irwin , bit.ly/fortirwintour . Eight tours per year. No children younger than 12. Reservations accepted 30 days before the tour date; upcoming tours are Feb. 7, March 6 and April 3.

Vandenberg Air Force Base

The (mostly) windshield tour of California’s preeminent launch port and test range should be on every space nerd’s bucket list. Vandenberg , in coastal Santa Barbara County near Lompoc, offers a 90-minute bus excursion that will get you about as close to an active rocket-and-missile launch pad as you will get anywhere.

As a space port, Vandenberg is ideally positioned on California’s “elbow,” which allows rockets to head south without flying over a large land mass.

All sorts of government, military and commercial payloads launch from this 99,000-acre installation, some of them crucial to national security. Vandenberg was the launch site for the ground-based interceptor that recently shot down a simulated, incoming warhead from the central Pacific.

Test firings of the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile, the nation’s nuclear deterrent, go up from Vandenberg. NASA’s latest Mars explorer blasted off from Vandenberg. The base’s launch pads are also used by United Launch Alliance, whose Delta IV heavy rocket can thrust a payload the size of a 44-seat passenger bus.

A lot of what goes on here is hush-hush (think spy satellites), so photography is tightly controlled. Our group was permitted photos only at ULA’s Space Launch Complex 6, from which the Delta IV hurtles into the wild blue yonder.

Someone on our bus joked that the sale of Vandenberg’s 42 miles of protected coastline could retire the national debt in 24 hours. That sounds like a stretch, but the Vandenberg tour is a rare opportunity to soak in the heart-stopping beauty of a stretch of Central Coast that is off limits to pretty much everyone except those with base access.

You can also schedule a separate visit to the base’s Space and Missile Heritage Center , which displays launch complex models, rocket engines, re-entry vehicles and more.

Info: Vandenberg Air Force Base , 747 Nebraska Ave., (805) 606-3595, vandenberg.af.mil/Public-Tours . Tours offered at 1 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month; upcoming tour dates are April 21, May 19, June 16 and July 21. Space and Missile Heritage Center offers tours four times a year; the next available date is Jan. 26, 2021, vandenberg.af.mil/Public-Tours

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms

Mock villages have sprung up at numerous bases but none is quite like the Marines’ urban warfare training center at Twentynine Palms, 150 miles east of Los Angeles.

On a six- to eight-hour visit to the country’s largest Marine base, you’ll ride a bus deep into the desert until a fake city comes into view, complete with hundreds of buildings fitted out to look like homes, shops and hotels.

This is where Marines, sailors and U.S. coalition partners prepare to fight in an urban environment. You won’t be able to watch a real exercise but you’ll still have an action-packed experience.

You can fire a .50-caliber machine gun (modified with compressed air) at virtual-reality enemies that are projected on a wraparound screen in an octagonal-shaped room.

Or you can put on a helmet and flak jacket and strap yourself into the back of a mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) troop carrier that is attached to a special frame and rotates 360 degrees on its axis.

Our group screamed when we turned upside down, but this equipment is no carnival ride. In the field, MRAP rollovers are not uncommon and can be fatal, so the exercise helps service members learn how to find a hatch and get out of the vehicle — fast.

Info: Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center , (760) 830-3735, bit.ly/29palmstour . No tours in June, July and August. Must be 16. Visitors must be able to walk through deep sand and on rugged terrain. Water provided.

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

The Marine Corps Mechanized Museum at Camp Pendleton , 38 miles north of downtown San Diego, will bring back memories for anybody who has ever driven, ridden, crashed or cussed at a military vehicle.

The museum is in an old railroad terminal and offers docent-led tours of about 150 items, focused on engine-powered vehicles. Among the earliest is a Ford Model T ambulance from World War I (it still runs); the newer pieces include a light tactical vehicle from the Iraq war. The “movie star” here is an amphibious landing craft that director Clint Eastwood borrowed for the film “Flags of Our Fathers.”

Your museum visit can be combined with a docent-led tour of one of Camp Pendleton’s historical assets, a circa 1840 ranch house that was home to Pío Pico, the last governor of Mexican California, and later housed families of Marine generals.

Info: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton , (760) 725-5758, pendleton.marines.mil . Mechanized Museum tours Mondays-Fridays and weekends by appointment. Ranch house tours first Tuesday and Thursday and second Thursday of every month; weekends by appointment .

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NOTICE: The Pentagon Tour Reservation Portal is temporarily unavailable to submit new tour reservations or to check the status of existing tour reservations. However, all existing tour reservations will continue as normal. Thank you for your patience.

Pentagon Tours

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About the Tour

The Pentagon, one of the world's largest office buildings, is the headquarters of the Department of Defense. Located in the Washington, D.C., area, the five-sided building has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building. Each year, about 100,000 visitors explore displays and memorials in the Pentagon's halls with the help of tour guides, all of whom are active U.S. military service members.

Tour Details

You must follow important details and security guidelines to reserve a Pentagon tour and be cleared to enter the Pentagon for your tour. Tours fill up quickly, and reservations are required at least 14 days in advance through -->this website -->.

We want you to enjoy your time exploring military history at the Pentagon, and that can only happen if you are aware of and follow these security guidelines. There are no exceptions, and noncompliance will result in the tour being terminated.

Wondering about parking, checking in or what to bring on the tour? Get answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about Pentagon tours.

Reserve Tour

To take a guided tour of the Pentagon, you must make a reservation using the Pentagon Tour Reservation Portal. Each adult member of your tour group must then register as a Pentagon Visitor and be cleared by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency to visit the Pentagon for your tour. Tours can fill up quickly, so booking your tour well before your visit is advisable. Reservations may be booked from 14 to 90 days in advance.

Check Existing Reservation

You can manage your existing tour reservation and monitor the visitor registration and security review status of your adult tour group members by logging into your My Tours Account on the Pentagon Tour Reservation Portal.

Getting Here

The use of public transportation or taxis is strongly recommended in the Washington, D.C., region because parking is very limited and traffic is often heavy.

Download Pentagon Information Map

By Metrorail: Take either the Yellow or Blue Line to the Pentagon Metro Station .

After arriving at the Pentagon Station, exit the platform through the turnstile and take the left escalator to the top. Once off the escalator, veer left around the barrier and turn right into the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

By Bus: Several public bus lines service the Pentagon Transit Center including buses operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Arlington Transit (ART).

After arriving at the Pentagon Transit Center, exit the bus and follow the signs to the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

Trip Planners: Convenient public transportation trip planners for both Metrorail and Bus are available on the WMATA and ART websites.

Driving is not recommended because there is no public parking for tours on the Pentagon Reservation.

The nearest public pay-for-parking facility is located adjacent to Macy's at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City .

Once parked, walk across Army Navy Drive, and proceed through the Hayes Street Pentagon Pedestrian Tunnel to the Pentagon South parking lot.

Walk through the Pentagon South parking lot and cross North Rotary Road to the sidewalk between the two big staircases ahead. Turn right along the North Rotary Road sidewalk and follow the signs to the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

Taxis and Ride Share drivers can drop off and pick up passengers on the sidewalk at the right side of North Rotary Road between the large stairwells for Corridors 2 and 3.

After drop-off, walk counterclockwise around the Pentagon building and follow signs to the Pentagon Visitor Entrance.

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Pentagon History

Construction begins.

Congress authorizes construction of the Pentagon, and ground is broken Sept. 11. The land belonged to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee before it was confiscated during the Civil War.

First Occupants Move In

While the Pentagon's construction is not complete, the first employees begin working inside the building.

Construction Complete

The Pentagon officially opens. The 16-month project required the skill of 1,000 architects and the labor of 14,000 tradesmen working three shifts, 24 hours a day. At the height of World War II, the Pentagon housed more than 33,000 occupants.

Pentagon Tours Established

The Pentagon tours program is established to support the nation's bicentennial celebration. Initially, the program was to last through the 4th of July and then be disbanded; however, internal support and public demand were so great that the program has continued ever since.

Historic Place

The Pentagon is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Designated as Historic Landmark

The Pentagon is designated a National Historic Landmark, with emphasis on these elements: The five outer facades of the building; The Central Courtyard and its surrounding façade; The terrace fronting the Mall Entrance; The terrace fronting the River Entrance; The building's distinctive five-sided shape.

Renovations Begin

Pentagon renovations begin, one wedge at a time. Building systems are modernized, and a new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified Metro entrance, delivery facility and fitness center are created.

9/11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon

American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. Fifty-nine people on the plane and 125 people inside the building perished.

9/11 Memorial Dedicated

The Defense Department honors those killed in the 9/11 attack with the opening of the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.

Renovation Complete

The Pentagon renovation project is complete. With about 4 million square feet of space, renovations included the removal of all hazardous materials, replacement of all building systems, addition of new elevators and escalators to improve vertical circulation, and installation of new security and telecommunications systems.

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The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security.

Fort Stewart - Hunter Army Airfield

• Take a Tour
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Welcome Visitors

Welcome to Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield. Experience the legendary Fort Stewart, one of the Army’s premier installations and Hunter Army Airfield, that has 11,375 feet long runway and an aircraft parking area that is more than 350 acres.

Watch and learn more about life at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield. Get a glimpse of various facilities, activities and programs for military, their Families and civilians.

Soldiers w/ families, watch videos, single soldiers, da civilians, new to the area just pcs’d, get to know your installation with the digital garrison app on your smartphone or tablet..

CRUISING TODAY AT 11AM AND 2PM - SEE YOU ON BOARD!

Victory Rover Naval Base Cruises

Naval base harbor cruises & tours in norfolk, va, narrated norfolk naval base tour.

The Norfolk Harbor cruise aboard the Victory Rover is your front row seat to the naval fleet! See destroyers, submarines, and other vessels while taking in the sights of the harbor.

• Hour Glass 2 hours

Discover the Sights of the Elizabeth River, Port of Virginia and the World's Largest Naval Base

The Victory Rover has cruised from Nauticus, Home of the Battleship Wisconsin, on the Downtown Norfolk waterfront since 2001. Guests enjoy plenty of comfortable seating, an air-conditioned enclosed deck, an open-air shaded upper deck, snack bar, and souvenir shop our our naval base cruise . Our Captain’s expert commentary is a big reason we are the #1 tour in Norfolk on TripAdvisor.

While cruising the smooth waters of the Elizabeth River, you will tour one of the world’s busiest seaports including the world’s largest naval base, home of the Atlantic Fleet: destroyers, submarines, guided missile cruisers, aircraft carriers and more.

Experience the #1 Tour in Norfolk per TripAdvisor

From the very first we were impressed with the professional and courteous crew members of the Victory Rover. Every one of them was extremely nice and very helpful during the tour. The boat was very clean and almost continuously throughout our time on the boat we observed at least one crew member wiping down railings and door knobs, etc. The tour narrator (docent?), was extremely knowledgeable. The boat was set up and managed to keep passengers at social distance at all times.

Loved this cruise! Makes you appreciate the might of the American Navy! Being from landlocked Ohio I never get to see anything from the Navy so this was amazing. Loved the narrative and the obvious pride in what the American Navy stands for. Saw some dolphins which were a bonus! Spent time in the museum afterward. The cruise ship has a little snack bar and a few gift items. Buy a t-shirt and support them. Totally recommend this cruise!

An old Navy friend visited me and we decided to take this cruise.it was a great decision. The guide was unbelievably knowledgable, not only of the area but about all the ships we passed by as well. The surprising part for me was the fact that, even though I have lived here for many years, I was amazed by how much I learned about our area. I would recommend it to residents of this area and visitors alike.

I had been on one of their cruises two years ago so when I found out that they would be open on my next trip to Norfolk I booked a cruise. The cruise was excellent like before, the captain is knowledgable and does a good job of pointing out everything you see and some of the history of the area. I had no health concerns as the boat was clean and common touch areas were cleaned during the cruise. I highly recommend this cruise.

This was an awesome tour. My husband and I took our five year old son with us and all enjoyed the experience. The captain was extremely knowledgeable and the crew was very helpful. A crew member took time to answer all my son's questions about the naval ships he saw. All crew members wore masks and social distancing was taking place. We felt very safe even in this Covid environment. If you're in the Norfolk area, we would highly recommend this experience...even with kids!

The tour was information and entertainment nonstop from boarding to disembarking. As we traveled through the harbor the captain told us about history, ship building, commerce, and more about the US Naval fleet than I can describe. Clearly, the captain has a deep and comprehensive knowledge and is not reading from a script. Worth every penny.

Check Out Our Other Cruise Options In Norfolk And Virginia Beach!

Atlantic Explorer Whale and Dolphin Watching

American Rover Sailing Cruises

Atlantic Scout Dolphin Watching

Mariner IV Custom Charters

Brooklyn Army Terminal Tours

Step inside an engineering marvel that is today a center of manufacturing and innovation on Brooklyn’s Sunset Park waterfront.

Tour Highlights

• 2-hour guided walking tour
• Step inside the breathtaking atrium and learn about this architectural and engineering wonder
• Enjoy sweeping views of New York Harbor as we discuss the past and present of the working waterfront
• Learn about the 100+ companies that call this city-owned industrial park home today
• Offered select weekend days at 11am
• Walking tour
• Brooklyn Army Terminal, Sunset Park
• Private Group Tours available
• Tours support Brooklyn Army Terminal-based non-profits

Built to supply American forces in World War I, this enormous  Cass Gilbert-designed  complex served as a supply base for the American military for nearly 50 years, employing more than 20,000 people during World War II. Today, this thriving industrial park is home to over  100 companies  in a wide array of industries, from precision manufacturers to biotech researchers, online retailers to chocolatiers.

On this  2-hour walking tour , we will explore how millions of tons of war supplies and personnel were shipped through this teeming transportation hub, hear the stories of soldiers, longshoremen, and merchant mariners who worked these piers, rail yards, and warehouses, and learn how these facilities are put to use today. Looking at the broader context, this tour will discuss what made the Port of New York the envy of the world in the mid-20th century, why it went into decline, and how Brooklyn’s working waterfront is being revitalized today. Along the way, we will enjoy sweeping views of the harbor, closely examine the  architecture and infrastructure , and step inside the Terminal’s architectural gem – the breathtaking  atrium of Building B , where freight trains once rumbled through to be loaded from the innovative cantilevered balconies. Join us to explore the sights and stories of a century of work at the Brooklyn Army Terminal!

Tour Information

Public Tours

• General Admission: $25 per person
• Seniors (65+):  $22.50
• Students and Veterans:  $22.50
• Children (5-12):  $12.50
• Children under 5 are welcome to attend free
• Advance ticket purchase is required

Private tours are available seven days a week, depending on availability. Pricing for private tours is based on a minimum occupancy of 12 guests, and a gratuity of 8.5% is added to all private tour bookings.

Know Before You Go

• Dress appropriately for the weather and wear comfortable shoes.
• We will walk approximately 1 mile on this tour.
• This tour will be partially indoors and outdoors.
• Tours proceed rain or shine and will not be cancelled or rescheduled due to inclement weather unless such weather constitutes a dangerous situation, in which case Turnstile Tours will contact all tour attendees.
• Cancellations: We cannot reschedule or refund tickets that are canceled within 24 hours of the tour start time. If you cancel more than 24 hours before the tour, we can offer you a credit to reschedule for a future tour.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal entrance is located at the  junction of 1st Ave and 58th St  in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn.  Tours meet in front of Building A , which is the building on the right when you enter the gate (closer to the water), in the large patio area with benches. The exact street address is  140 58th St, Brooklyn, NY 11220.   Click here for Google Maps directions  or view our  neighborhood map .

• SUBWAY :  The nearest station is  59 St (N,R) , located about a 10-minute walk from the meeting location. This is a wheelchair-accessible station. Please note that these trains run on a more limited schedule on weekends, so allow for additional travel time. After exiting the station, walk in the direction of traffic along 59th St for two blocks until you reach 2nd Ave, then take a right onto 2nd Ave. After one block, turn left onto 58th St and continue walking straight until you reach the junction of 1st Avenue. The main gate of the Terminal will be on your left. When you enter the gate, you will be facing two large buildings – Building A is the one on the right. Visit  mta.info  for  maps  and  service alerts .
• FERRY:   NYC Ferry  serves the Brooklyn Army Terminal on the  Rockaway  and  South Brooklyn  routes. To reach the tour meeting location, just walk up the hill and turn right underneath the arches. NYC Ferry does not accept MetroCards or OMNY. All ferries are wheelchair accessible. Visit  ferry.nyc  for schedules and info and  download the NYC Ferry app .
• BUS :  The  B11  stops directly in front of the Brooklyn Army Terminal on 58th St and 1st Ave. All NYC MTA buses are wheelchair accessible, and all accept  OMNY  with a contactless bank card or smartphone.
• Driving directions from I-278W (and I-495, East River bridges, Battery Tunnel, Prospect Expressway):  Take exit 23 for 39th St. At the end of the off-ramp, take a left onto 2nd Ave. Drive on 2nd Ave until you reach 58th St. Turn right onto 58th St and continue straight. Head straight through the gate to reach the parking lot.
• From I-278E (Verrazano Bridge):  Take exit 21 for 3rd Ave. Continue straight on 3rd Ave until you reach 58th St. Take a left on 58th St and continue straight. The entrance to the parking lot will be straight ahead.
• From the Belt Parkway W:  Take exit 1 towards 65 St/67 St. Stay left and follow signs for Ridge Boulevard. Turn left onto Ridge Boulevard. Ridge Boulevard becomes 2nd Ave. Take 2nd Ave to 58th St and take a left, continue straight on 58th St. Head straight through the gate to reach the parking lot.
• PARKING  is available for tour participants in the free municipal parking lot on Pier 4. Follow signs at the intersection of 1st Ave and 58th St to the ferry stop to reach the lot.
• BICYCLE :  Bicycle parking is available at the Brooklyn Army Terminal near the entrance to Building A. Sunset Park and the Brooklyn Army Terminal are served by  Citi Bike .

Accessibility

We strive to lead the tour over a physically accessible route, but due to construction, weather, or other unforeseen circumstances, we may encounter uneven paths, obstructions, or steep inclines along the tour route. If you do use a wheelchair or have any other accessibility need, please  contact us directly  and/or include this information when booking, so that we can offer a fully accessible experience.

Please visit our  Accessibility Page  for the most up-to-date information on all access accommodations.

Private Tours

Please  contact us  for more details on booking a private tour or visit our  Group Tours page . Private tours can be offered seven days a week, subject to availability.

About the Brooklyn Army Terminal

The  Brooklyn Army Terminal  was constructed in 1918-19 as a supply base for the US Army during World War I. Designed by architect Cass Gilbert (Woolworth Building, Custom House), it served as an intermodal shipping port that could bring in troops and supplies by rail and move them onto ships. During its peak of operations in World War II, the Terminal served as the headquarters of the New York Port of Embarkation and employed more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel. It continued to serve as a major military supply depot until its decommissioning in 1966, including shipping off Pvt. Elvis Presley in 1958. Since 1981, the Army Terminal has been owned by the City of New York, and it is operated by the  New York City Economic Development Corporation . Today, it is a bustling industrial park, and  more than 100 companies  occupy space in the Terminal, employing more than 4,000 people in industries including manufacturing, technology, and life sciences.

Where do the tours start?

Is there a lot of walking? And is the tour mostly inside or outside?

Each tour covers approximately  one mile of walking  over the course of two hours, and the tour may involve climbing stairs, walking over uneven ground, and across dirt and mud, so we recommend wearing a good pair of walking shoes. Our guides strive to make everyone as comfortable as possible, so we try to provide places to sit or stand in the shade during the tour stops.

The tour route is about half indoors, half outdoors, and we run the tour rain, snow, or shine (see our policies on weather and cancellations above).

Are the tours accessible to people with disabilities?

The Brooklyn Army Terminal Tour is fully accessible to people who use wheelchairs. We strive to lead the tours over a physically accessible route, but due to construction, weather, or other unforeseen circumstances, we may encounter uneven paths, obstructions, or steep inclines along the tour route. If you do use a wheelchair or have any other accessibility need, please  contact us directly  and/or include this information when booking, so that we can offer a fully accessible experience.

What is the Brooklyn Army Terminal?

Is the brooklyn army terminal open to the public.

Yes, the campus of the Brooklyn Army Terminal is open to pedestrians and cyclists during daylight hours, and parking is available in the municipal lot on Pier 4. Visitors are welcome to explore the esplanade along 58th Street and the first floors of Buildings A, B, and the Annex. On weekdays, grab a bite to eat at  Pete’s Brooklyn Eats  (Building B) and  Momo Test Kitchen  (Annex), and step inside the dramatic railroad atrium of Building B.  BioBAT Art Space  is a public gallery of science-inspired art (hours may vary based on the current show), and there are frequently  events, festivals, and public art shows at BAT . Many tenant businesses are open by appointment or for special events, including fabric recycler  FABSCRAP , where you can volunteer to sort fabric or come to their public fabric sales, and  MakerSpace NYC .

Is there anywhere to eat near the Brooklyn Army Terminal?

On weekdays,  Pete’s Brooklyn Eats  (Building B) and  Momo Test Kitchen  (Annex) offer great lunch options on site. Located on the border of Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, there are many great eateries nearby. Heading up 58th St from the Army Terminal, 4th and 5th avenues are the center of Brooklyn’s Mexican community, and 8th Ave is home to Brooklyn’s Chinatown.  Industry City’s food hall  is also a short walk north, and heading south down 3rd Ave in Bay Ridge has many great places. A few that we recommend are:

• Rosas Bakery , 5824 4th Ave (Mexican)
• Ricos Tacos , 505 51st St (Mexican)
• Lucky Eight , 5204 8th Ave (Chinese)
• East Harbor Seafood Palace , 714 65th St (Chinese dim sum)

Is the Brooklyn Army Terminal different from Bush Terminal and Industry City?

Yes, the Sunset Park waterfront is lined with industrial properties that are historically linked but separate. The oldest of these is the Bush Terminal, which was the world’s first intermodal shipping port when it was built by industrialist Irving T. Bush at the turn of the twentieth century. Spanning from 29th St to 51st St, it was a massive complex of warehouses, piers, rail yards, and factories that Bush leased to other companies. Following the success of his terminal, Bush was appointed head of the War Board of the Port of New York during World War I, where he authorized the construction nearby of a separate but similarly-designed intermodal facility just for the US Army, the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

As the working waterfront went into decline, the City of New York acquired the southern portion of Bush Terminal (south of 41st St) in 1970, while the northern portion remained in private hands. The city later acquired other waterfront sites in the neighborhood, including the Brooklyn Army Terminal in 1981. Today, the publicly-owned portion of the historic Bush Terminal is called the  Bush Terminal Industrial Park ; it is managed by NYCEDC and is being renovated manufacturing space and a film and television production and training center. The historic piers of Bush Terminal are now Bush Terminal Park , which has public entrances at 43rd St and 51st St along 1st Ave. Other city-owned properties along the Sunset Park waterfront include the  Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market  and the  South Brooklyn Marine Terminal . The northern portion of the historic Bush Terminal is known as  Industry City and is an industrial, office, and retail park owned by a consortium led by Jamestown Properties.

Are these tours good for kids?

We encourage people of all ages to visit the Brooklyn Army Terminal, but any activity that lasts two hours can be a bit much for younger children. Many children have joined the tour and enjoyed it so far. Tickets for children ages 5–12 are half price, and children under 5 are welcome to join the tour for free.

Still have any questions? Please don’t hesitate to reach out. Contact us today

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Museum information, visitor tips, getting to the museum, general museum information.

Open Friday through Monday, 10AM – 5PM

(Last entry at 4PM)

Closed New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Days

707 W Hornet Ave, Pier 3, Alameda CA 94501

Through Museums for All , those receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) can gain reduced admission of $2.00 per visitor to the Hornet Museum simply by presenting their EBT card at the Admissions Desk.

Note: Unaccompanied Youths must be at least 16 years of age. Identification as proof of age may be required.

Group Discounted Admission rates are available for 15 or more people with advance reservation. To make a reservation, please visit our Specialty Tours page.

Current Weather on the Hornet

Docent daily tours.

Tour Length: 1 Hour

Price: $10 per person (50% discount for Museum Members ) in addition to General Admission

Departure Times: 11AM, 1PM, 3PM*

Tour Options

Engine Room

Tour Highlights: Engine Room & Fire Room

Tour Highlights: Navigation, Pilot House, Captain’s Bridge

Sailor Life

Tour Highlights: Ge-Dunk, Galley & Mess Decks, Athletic Locker, Cobbler Shop, Laundry, Sickbay

*Tour times are dependent on docent availability .

*Due to safety concerns, all visitors on Daily Tours must be at least 48 inches in height.

Tips and guidelines to fully enjoy your visit to the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum!

Allow at least 2 to 3 hours for your visit

Allow at least 2 to 3 hours for your visit — there is a lot to see on the ship and more spaces are opened every month. Some areas of the ship start closing by 3 PM, so we recommend arriving no later than 2 PM for the engine room and other docent-led tours.

Please do not bring permanent markers, aerosol cans, or oversize bags

Please do not bring permanent markers or aerosol cans aboard the Museum.

Additionally, our hatches between decks can be narrow at times. For your safety and the security of the Museum, upon arrival Security will ask that all bags larger than 12” x 8” x 12” are either returned to your car or kept in a rentable locker by Admissions for a small rental fee. This includes backpacks, camera bags, tote bags, diaper bags, ladies purses, etc.

Please note: for safety reasons, backpack-style infant carriers are also not permitted.

The ship is mostly self-guided

The ship is mostly self-guided. A museum map is available at Admissions and you can inquire about docent-led tours at Orientation. We also invite visitors to download our Museum’s app. You can find it in your app store by searching “USSHornet.”

We have free parking

There is plenty of free parking across the street. Spaces are available for buses and RVs. Please, no vehicles on the pier (exceptions are made for those with valid disability placards).

Children must be with an adult at all times

For their safety, children must be supervised by an adult at all times.

Service animals are welcome. Pets and other animals are not allowed on the ship.

Service animals are welcome. Pets and other animals are not allowed on the ship. See service animal policy on our Accessibility Information  page.

Wheelchair and stroller accessibility is extremely limited

Due to the historic nature of the ship, wheelchair and stroller accessibility is extremely limited. A virtual tour is available for viewing on the Hangar Deck; ask the orientation docent for assistance. For more information, please see our Accessibility Information page.

Size & Height Restrictions

To ensure the safety of our visitors and crew, Engine Room, Fire Room, and Primary Flight Control tours are limited in group size and by visitor height. Our guideline is to allow adults and children taller than 48 inches to go on those tours to special locations. This policy is due to having to traverse very steep ladders and stairs, narrow walkways, and significantly raised thresholds that can prove extremely challenging.

Our Flight Simulator also has a height restriction of 38″.

Cameras are Welcome

Cameras are welcome, but we ask that photographs are taken for personal use only. Keep you and your camera safe by using the neck strap or wrist strap while exploring the ship.

For commercial or professional photographs, photoshoots, or filming, please contact Private Events .

Talk to Volunteers on Ship

Talk to the many volunteers aboard the ship! They are great about sharing information about the ship, the restoration process, and their own experiences in the service. Many of our volunteers are veterans.

Docent Availability

Our Docents are unpaid volunteers. They tend to leave the ship early on weekdays. We can not guarantee that there will always be Docents available to take you on a tour. Audio tour devices are always available at Admissions.

Public Transportation

Public Transportation via BART & Bus: In Oakland, disembark at Fruitvale Station and then take the Line 78 bus out to USS Hornet.  Please visit the AC Transit website, here , to see a detailed schedule of times and bus stop options.

Public Transportation via Ferry: A much more scenic option is to take a ferry from the SF Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street and a 20 minute ride will get you to either the Seaplane Lagoon Terminal , a 10 minute walk from the ship, or the Alameda Main Street Terminal , a short  cab or rideshare or a 2.1 mile walk.

Parking is free and plentiful adjacent to the Museum’s pier.

From San Francisco and the Bay Bridge

Cross the Bay Bridge towards Oakland and follow the signs for I-880 South/San Jose/Alameda. Take the Broadway/Alameda exit and turn right at the bottom of the ramp onto 5th Street. Continue straight on 5th Street, remaining on street level. At the Broadway intersection, veer to your left to enter the Webster Street Tube (the Alameda entrance to the tunnel is under the freeway).

Alameda from the Webster Street Tube: After emerging from the Tube, follow the sign for Webster Street. At the corner of Webster and Ralph Appezzato Memorial Pkwy (directly after College of Alameda), turn right onto Ralph Appezzato Memorial Pkwy and drive approximately one mile. Turn left onto Ferry Point and keep driving past the Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal to a cluster of large ships. USS Hornet is at the final pier, Pier 3, with the aircraft on her Flight Deck.

From San Jose and I-880 Northbound

Proceed toward downtown Oakland and take the Broadway exit. At the end of the ramp, follow the signs to Alameda, turning right on Broadway and then immediately turning right on 7th Street. Go two blocks to Webster Street and turn right again, entering the Webster Tube (tunnel) to Alameda. (Alternate: Turn left on Broadway and left again to enter Tube under the freeway overpass.)

From Sacramento and I-80 Westbound

Take I-880 south and take the Broadway/Alameda exit. At the end of the ramp turn right onto 5th Street. Stay in the right lane. Continue on 5th Street, remaining on street level. At the Broadway intersection, veer to your left to enter the Webster Street Tube (the Alameda entrance to the tunnel is under the freeway).

From Walnut Creek and 24 Westbound

Take Highway 24 to I-980 to downtown Oakland. Take the 11th/12th Street exit onto Brush Street. Proceed to 5th Street and turn left. Make a slight left on Broadway which will take you into the Webster Tube (tunnel) to Alameda.

From Oakland Airport

Follow Airport Drive out of the Airport and turn left on Doolittle Drive. This will lead over a bridge into Alameda and become Otis Drive. Proceed on Otis to Westline Drive/8th Street (end of road before park entrance) and turn right. Turn left on Central Avenue and follow the road approximately one mile and past Encinal High School. Central Ave will merge into Main Street. Turn left onto W Oriskany Ave to enter the former naval air station. Turn left when it ends at Ferry Point St. and continue to the end of the road, past the the cluster of large ships. Parking is located across the street from the pier.

Detour for Tube Closures:

From I-880, take the 23rd Street exit. Follow the signs to Alameda and go over the Park Street Bridge. Turn right at Lincoln Avenue and proceed approximately 3.5 miles. Lincoln Ave will merge into Pacific Ave. Cross Main Street to enter the former naval air station. At the intersection of Skyhawk St, turn left and drive to the end of the street. Turn right onto W Hornet Ave and proceed towards the cluster of large ships. Parking is located across the street from the pier.

To find Alameda hotels nearby, visit HotelsCombined

© Copyright USS Hornet 2024. All Rights Reserved.

Muted Reactions to Israeli Strikes on Iran Hint at De-Escalation

Israel had vowed retaliation for Iran’s attack last weekend, but the strikes reported overnight were limited, and Iran downplayed them.

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Farnaz Fassihi ,  Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley

Here are the latest developments.

The Israeli military struck Iran early on Friday, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials, in what appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend but one whose scope, at least initially, appeared to be limited.

The Iranian officials said that a strike had hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran. Initial reaction in both Israel and Iran was muted , which analysts said was a sign that the rivals were seeking to lower the temperature of their conflict. World leaders, who for nearly a week have urged Israel and Iran to avoid starting a broader war in the region, called for both sides to de-escalate tensions on Friday.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the strike. A senior U.S. official said that Israel had notified the United States through multiple channels shortly before the attack. All the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The explosions came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel — nearly all of which were shot down — in response to an April 1 strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian officials. That attack brought the decades-long shadow war between Israel and Iran — waged on land, at sea, in air and in cyberspace — more clearly into the open.

Here’s what else to know:

A Western official and two Iranian officials said that Israel used both missiles fired from warplanes and drones in the strike , suggesting that the attack included more advanced firepower than initial reports indicated. Iranian officials initially told The New York Times that the attack had been carried out only by small drones, possibly launched from inside Iran, and that radar systems had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace. They said that a separate group of small drones was shot down in the region of Tabriz, roughly 500 miles north of Isfahan.

In public, Iranian officials sought to downplay the strike. Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said explosions heard early Friday in Isfahan “were from our air defense firing at a suspicious object,” and that there had been “no damage.” Iranian news agencies appeared keen to show that things were “back to normal” in the city.

President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran had warned that “the tiniest act of aggression” on his country’s soil would draw a response. But in the hours after Israel’s strike, there have been no public calls for retribution by Iranian officials. One lawmaker, Seyed Nezamedin Mousavi, called the strike “ridiculous,” saying it showed Israel “is content with these ineffective actions.”

Isfahan is one of Iran’s most famous and historic cities . The area also hosts a number of Iranian military sites. Iranian media reported that nuclear facilities in Isfahan had not been hit.

Israeli leaders came close to ordering widespread strikes in Iran on the night Iran attacked, officials said, but the war cabinet postponed a decision. Mr. Biden and other world leaders urged Israel for days not to retaliate in a way that would inflame a wider Middle East war while it fights Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both allies of Iran.

Alissa J. Rubin

An explosion damages a military base in Iraq used by an Iran-backed armed group.

Iraq’s joint military command says one person was killed and eight were injured in an explosion early Saturday at a base used by an Iranian-backed armed group, Harakat al Nujaba, in Iraq’s Babylon Province.

In a carefully worded statement, Iraq’s military did not attribute the explosion to an air attack with a missile or a drone. “Air Defense Command confirmed that there was no drone or jet fighter in the airspace of Babylon Province before and during the explosion,” the statement said.

Privately, however, military officials say it appears that at least one projectile hit inside the Kalsu base’s perimeter. A video taken shortly after the event and posted on social media showed damaged buildings and a large rubble-filled crater. A second video showed several parts of the base on fire.

According to Iraq’s joint command, the base is used by several elements of the Iraqi security forces including the Iraqi Army and police as well as the Popular Mobilization Forces , or P.M.F., an umbrella organization.

The P.M.F. includes some brigades that are backed by Iran. The one stationed at this base, Harakat al Nujaba, has participated in attacks on U.S. installations in Iraq and Syria. More recently it has joined with other Iranian-backed forces in Syria and Lebanon to attack Israeli territory.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike.

The U.S. military, which has carried out strikes on Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq in the past, said in a statement released shortly after the attack that it had not participated in strikes on locations in Iraq. The Israeli military declined to comment.

The explosion came a day after Israel attacked a military air base near the city of Isfahan in central Iran, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. That attack, on Friday, appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s huge drone and missile attack on Israeli soil nearly a week ago.

Falih Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad.

Farnaz Fassihi

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who is in New York attending U.N. meetings, told Iran’s state news agency that the small quadcopter targeting a military base in Isfahan did not have casualties or damage. “Israel is determined to portray its defeat as a victory,” Mr. Amir Abdollahian said, the most senior official to comment on the attacks and draw a link to Israel publicly.

Christoph Koettl and Christiaan Triebert

Satellite imagery shows that a precision attack damaged an air defense system at an Iranian base.

The Israeli attack on an Iranian air base in Isfahan hit a crucial part of an air defense system, a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery found.

Images showed that the precision attack at the Eighth Shekari Air Base damaged or destroyed the “flap-lid” radar , which is used in S-300 air defense systems to track incoming targets.

The Times used several satellite images in its analysis; the location of the damaged area was first pointed out on the social media platform X by Aurora Intel , and the findings have also been confirmed by a former U.S. government imagery analyst, Chris Biggers.

The radar is typically surrounded by several vehicles, including four trucks carrying missiles. Before the strike, the missiles were seen positioned next to the radar. After the strike, they had been moved and did not appear visibly damaged. It was not clear why the missiles had been moved. However, the fact that they appear undamaged indicated that the attack had a very precise target, according to Mr. Biggers.

Other areas of the air base and adjacent airport also appeared to be undamaged. The precision of the strike, deep within Iran and with several sensitive sites close by, suggested Israel chose the specific and narrow target, the air defense system.

According to the Missile Defense Project of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, Iran has acquired Russian-made S-300 air defense systems to deter Israeli and other airstrikes.

Reporting from the Capitol

Liberal Democrats urge ‘no’ vote on Israel aid to pressure Biden on Gaza.

A group of left-leaning House Democrats is urging its colleagues to oppose the $26 billion aid package for Israel, hoping to maximize the number of “no” votes from the party and send a warning to President Biden about the depth of his political coalition’s discontent over his support for Israel’s tactics in Gaza.

Framing the upcoming vote as a make-or-break moral choice akin to Congress’s votes to authorize and fund the Iraq war, progressive leaders in the House are working to muster a sizable bloc of Democratic opposition to the aid measure, which is expected to pass on Saturday and become law in the coming days.

“In the wake of those votes, people came around much, much later and said, ‘We shouldn’t have allowed that to go forward,’” Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of the decades-ago debate over Iraq. “And I think that this is that moment.”

Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, called it a “defining vote,” adding, “We’re either going to participate in the carnage, or we’re not.”

There is little doubt that the bill, which would send roughly $13 billion in military assistance to Israel as it continues its offensive in Gaza, will pass the House, along with money for Ukraine, Taiwan and other American allies.

But progressive Democrats estimated that 40 to 60 members of their party may oppose it on the House floor on Saturday. That would be a striking signal from Congress, where ironclad bipartisan backing for Israel has long been the norm. And it would highlight the fraught divisions the war in Gaza has sown within the Democratic Party, even as more Democrats including Mr. Biden have begun to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the conflict and urge him to better protect civilians.

The legislation would allocate $5 billion to Israel’s defense capabilities and $9 billion for “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. But it would not place further conditions on how Israel could use American military aid, nor block future arms transfers from the United States as an increasing number of Democrats have sought to do.

Democrats who are leading the push against the Israel aid bill said they strongly supported the Jewish state and its right to defend itself, and would vote in favor of sending military aid that supports Israel’s defense capabilities, such as by replenishing the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Iron Beam defense systems. They also denounced the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that prompted the war, and said the hostages taken by Hamas must be released.

But they argued that approving more offensive weaponry without conditions was an untenable moral and political position that would amount to an endorsement of Mr. Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war, including his intention to invade Rafah over the objections of the Biden administration. More than 33,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to the health ministry there, and the population is facing a hunger crisis.

“I understand the need for defensive weapons for Israel, particularly in light of the attack by Iran,” said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who ran his first campaign on an antiwar platform and helped lead efforts to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. “But there is no justification to provide bombs and weapons to Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza that is killing thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children.”

Saturday’s vote will recall a similar situation from 2007, when the speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, split a piece of spending legislation to allow Democrats to register their opposition to funding the Iraq war while backing a domestic funding bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, similarly divided the foreign aid package to be considered on Saturday in order to get each element across the finish line in the face of distinct coalitions of resistance to different pieces of the bill.

In a critical test vote on Friday , the House agreed, 316 to 94, to bring up the package, with 39 Democrats — mostly progressives — joining 55 Republicans in opposition.

“This is a moment for members of Congress who support a safe and secure Israel to send a message that giving Netanyahu more offensive weapons is not a path for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians,” Representative Becca Balint, Democrat of Vermont and the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a cease-fire, said in an interview. “To give Netanyahu more offensive weapons at this stage, I believe, is to condone the destruction of Gaza that we’ve seen in the last six months. And it’s also a green light for an invasion of Rafah.”

Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who led the opposition to funding for the Iraq war in 2007, said the conversations among Democrats in Congress opposing continued U.S. backing for the war in Gaza were “not unlike” those that took place 17 years ago.

“We may well be casting the vote on whether a much wider war takes place, and whether American weapons go that result in the death of thousands of innocent people,” Mr. Doggett said.

The Democrats who oppose the aid package for Israel represent a minority of their caucus. But they see a “no” vote as part of a strategy to pressure Mr. Biden to condition aid and halt future offensive weapons transfers. Through many meetings, text chains and conversations with the administration, they have worked to shift the president’s approach to Israel, while underscoring the electoral risks Mr. Biden faces among voters who helped power him to the White House in 2020 and are now furious over his handling of the war.

“The only way to get a course correction is for a sizable number within the Democratic caucus to say it must shift,” Ms. Balint said.

Representative Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who has been pressing Mr. Biden to withhold offensive weapons from Israel, said a big “no” vote would strengthen the president’s hand to do so.

“It helps the administration to have some number of Democrats express ourselves in this way,” he said.

Representative Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas, said he hoped a substantial number of Democrats opposing the bill would give the Biden administration greater leverage to influence the Israeli government’s approach to the war.

“I hope this vote will show the world that there is a really significant segment of the United States that doesn’t want to see expanded and widening wars,” he said.

Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt

Israel used missiles as well as drones in its overnight strike on Iran, officials say.

Israeli warplanes fired missiles on Iran during a retaliatory strike early Friday morning, one Western official and two Iranian officials said, suggesting that the attack included more advanced firepower than initial reports indicated.

It was not immediately clear the types of missiles used, from where they were fired, whether any were intercepted by Iran’s defenses or where they landed.

The Western official and the Iranian officials requested anonymity to discuss classified information.

Previously, Iranian officials said Friday’s attack on a military base in central Iran was conducted by small aerial drones, most likely launched from inside Iranian territory. A separate group of small drones, they said soon after the attack, was shot down in the region of Tabriz, roughly 500 miles north of Isfahan.

Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack and would not comment on the use of planes or missiles.

Israel’s strike came in response to an Iranian attack last weekend in which Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. A majority of the weapons used in that salvo were fired from Iranian territory and intercepted by Israel and its allies before causing any damage.

By contrast, the Iranian officials said, Iran’s military did not detect anything entering Iran’s airspace on Friday, including drones, missiles and aircraft. Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that no missile attacks occurred and that Iran’s air defense system was not activated.

Iran’s decision to launch its strike primarily from its own soil last week was perceived by Israel as an escalation in the countries’ long-simmering shadow war. The Iranians believe the large salvo is helping with deterrence. Throughout the yearslong conflict, the two countries have traded clandestine attacks, including targeted assassinations, cyberattacks and conventional strikes conducted from and within third countries.

Iran’s attack last week was itself prompted by an Israeli strike on April 1, in which Israeli aircraft killed several Iranian armed forces commanders in Syria.

By using drones seemingly launched from inside Iran’s territory rather than its own, Israel hinted at a willingness to turn down the temperature on the conflict while also demonstrating an ability to conduct attacks that Iran could not detect.

One Iranian official, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said that even though the strike did little damage, the likelihood that drones were fired from under Iran’s nose sent a message about Israel’s capabilities.

A guided missile fired from an undetected warplane, even if it landed outside Iranian territory, would most likely deliver a similar threat.

Officials from both countries remained largely quiet about Friday’s attack, a gesture that appeared aimed at de-escalating a conflict some fear could spiral into a broader regional war. Israel’s silence on the attack, an Iranian official said, would allow Tehran to treat the strike as it had comparable previous attacks and not prompt an immediate response.

Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Iran’s Parliament speaker, said that Israel’s limited attack on Iran showed that Iran had achieved its goal of deterrence. Israel’s refusal to openly claim responsibility, he said, amounts to a victory for Iran.

Israel’s attack, he said on the messaging app Telegram, was meant to show that it had the “capability to access Iran but in practice it also showed that it has accepted that it should not repeat its miscalculation.”

Peter Baker

The White House maintained public silence about the Israeli strike on Iran. “I’m not going to speak or speculate about any of the reports that are out there,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said at her daily briefing. John Kirby, the national security spokesman who typically speaks on foreign policy issues, did not join the briefing.

Jean-Pierre did repeat the president’s standard position urging against widening the war: “We do not want to see this conflict escalate. We continue to consult with our allies and partners, including in the region, to reduce further risk of escalation in the region.”

Raja Abdulrahim

Israel reportedly strikes an air defense site in Syria.

The Israeli military struck a Syrian air defense site in southern Syria with missiles early Friday, causing material damage, though no casualties were reported, according to Syrian state news media.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, provided no other details and Israel did not comment on whether it was responsible for the attack, in keeping with its usual practice.

The strike happened around the same time that Israel carried out a strike on a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran.

That strike came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel — nearly all of which were shot down — in retaliation for an April 1 attack on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officers.

Friday’s strike in Syria targeted a radar system in the southern province of Dara’a, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain.

The Syrian military detected Israeli aircraft entering Syrian airspace, but its air defenses did not try to intercept the strikes, the Observatory said.

Iranian-backed armed groups throughout Syria have been on high alert since Iran’s strikes on Israel last weekend, the Observatory said. The groups obscured their positions and gave some of their leaders a week of leave.

Iran is closely allied with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, and with the Syrian government, and both Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force operate in Syria. For years, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah have launched strikes at northern Israel.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Iran and its allies with strikes in Syria, including in Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo.

Attacks across Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon have escalated since the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas on Israel.

Since the first of the year, Israel has carried out nearly three dozen attacks in Syria, destroying buildings, military headquarters and weapon and ammunition warehouses, the Observatory said. The strikes have killed 129 fighters and 12 civilians, the group said.

Adam Rasgon

Jordan will not allow its airspace to be violated by either Israel or Iran, Jordan’s foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call, the official Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported.

Jordan lies between the two enemies, and it played a key role in helping shoot down the barrage of missiles and drones Iran fired at Israel on Saturday.

Leily Nikounazar and Gaya Gupta

Residents of Isfahan describe their fears of an escalated war.

Daily life appeared to return to normal in Isfahan on Friday, according to Iranian state news media and a resident who was interviewed, hours after Israel’s attack on a nearby military base continued the cycle of strikes and counterstrikes between the two countries.

But tensions from the overnight attack reverberated through the city, and some residents described the threat of full-fledged war as crippling — despite analysts’ assessment that both nations were trying to avoid further escalation.

Mehrdad, 43, an engineer from Isfahan, said the latest retaliation left him and his pregnant wife feeling stressed and unwell. He asked that his last name not be used for fear of retribution.

“The future of this country concerns me,” he said. “I believe nothing good is expected.”

Though he said that the city had returned “back to its normal” and reactions from officials were muted — which he believed was to help make people feel at ease — many residents remain scared after a stressful night of explosions.

For the first six months of the war between Israel and Hamas, Iran’s involvement in fighting had been limited to its proxies, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi militia. But after Iran’s first direct strike on Israel last weekend, Mehrdad said, “things are coming to the surface.”

He hoped that diplomatic mediation would put an end to the threat of war, and he worried that the county’s infrastructure would be “ruined” by further Israeli attacks.

“Our economic situation is awful. We have 50 percent annual inflation,” he said. “Now guess what would happen if the war materialized. What would happen to our living conditions in this country?”

Mahsa, 34, an accountant from Isfahan who also asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution, described a tense atmosphere of fear and instability. The economy is often the main topic of conversation when people gather, she said, and many are worried about the consequences of a wider war.

“When Iran attacked, we were all worried and we really didn’t know what to expect,” she said, describing the cycle of retaliation between Israel and Iran as a “show game.”

“Of course, after this Israeli attack, the direction of the game will be determined,” she added. “Either a full-scale war, or the end of this line, or just threats.”

The distress is crushing. Mahsa said her mental health had deteriorated, describing an instance last week when she broke down sobbing in the middle of the street for seemingly no reason while on a run. Dreams seem “more impossible to achieve, day by day,” she said.

“We don’t have much mental energy left,” she added.

An earlier version of this article misstated the gender of Mahsa, an accountant from Isfahan, Iran. She is female, not male.

How we handle corrections

The seemingly small scale of Israel's attack may give both countries an exit from the cycle of escalation. “It appears we are out of the danger zone and, because Israel’s strike was limited, it has allowed both countries to back down for now,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

The few Iranian officials who have talked publicly about the attack have downplayed it, suggesting a bid to de-escalate. A lawmaker, Seyed Nezamedin Mousavi, called the strike "ridiculous,” saying it showed Israel “is content with these ineffective actions.” A former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, dismissed it as "fireworks."

Cassandra Vinograd

Here is a look at the recent history of Iran-Israel hostilities.

For decades, Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war across the Middle East , trading attacks by land, sea, air and in cyberspace. A recent round of strikes — mainly an aerial barrage by Iran against Israel last weekend — has brought the conflict more clearly into the open and raised fears of a broader war.

A retaliatory Israeli strike on an Iranian air base on Friday, however, appeared limited in scope, and analysts said it suggested an effort to pull back from the dangerous cycle and potentially move the war back into the shadows.

Here is a recent history of the conflict:

August 2019: An Israeli airstrike killed two Iranian-trained militants in Syria, a drone set off a blast near a Hezbollah office in Lebanon and an airstrike in Qaim, Iraq, killed a commander of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia. Israel accused Iran at the time of trying to establish an overland arms-supply line through Iraq and northern Syria to Lebanon, and analysts said the strikes were aimed at stopping Iran and signaling to its proxies that Israel would not tolerate a fleet of smart missiles on its borders.

January 2020: Israel greeted with satisfaction the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani , the commander of the foreign-facing arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in an American drone strike in Baghdad.

Iran hit back by attacking two bases in Iraq that housed American troops with a barrage of missiles, wounding about 100 U.S. military personnel .

2021-22: In July 2021, an oil tanker managed by an Israeli-owned shipping company was attacked off the coast of Oman, killing two crew members, according to the company and three Israeli officials. Two of the officials said that the attack appeared to have been carried out by Iranian drones.

Iran did not explicitly claim or deny responsibility, but a state-owned television channel described the episode as a response to an Israeli strike in Syria.

In November 2021, Israel killed Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh , and followed up with the assassination of a Revolutionary Guards commander, Col. Sayad Khodayee , in May 2022.

December 2023: After Israel’s bombardment of Gaza began in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assault, Iranian-backed militias stepped up their own attacks . And late last year, Iran accused Israel of killing a high-level military figure, Brig. Gen. Sayyed Razi Mousavi , in a missile strike in Syria.

A senior adviser to the Revolutionary Guards, General Mousavi was described as having been a close associate of General Suleimani and was said to have helped oversee the shipment of arms to Hezbollah. Israel, adopting its customary stance, declined to comment directly on whether it was behind General Mousavi’s death.

January 2024: An explosion in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, killed Saleh al-Arouri , a Hamas leader, along with two commanders from that group’s armed wing, the first assassination of a top Hamas official outside the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. Officials from Hamas, Lebanon and the United States ascribed the blast to Israel , which did not publicly confirm involvement.

Hezbollah, which receives major support from Iran, stepped up its assaults on Israel after Mr. al-Arouri’s death. Israel’s military hit back at Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing several of the group’s commanders .

March: An Israeli drone strike hit a car in southern Lebanon, killing at least one person. Israel’s military said it had killed the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit. Hezbollah acknowledged the death of a man, Ali Abdulhassan Naim, but did not provide further details.

The same day, airstrikes killed soldiers near Aleppo, northern Syria, in what appeared to be one of the heaviest Israeli attacks in the country in years. The strikes killed 36 Syrian soldiers, seven Hezbollah fighters and a Syrian from a pro-Iran militia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that tracks Syria’s civil war.

Israel’s military did not claim responsibility. But the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, wrote on social media, “We will pursue Hezbollah every place it operates and we will expand the pressure and the pace of the attacks.”

April: A strike on an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus on April 1 killed three top Iranian commanders and four officers. Iran blamed Israel and vowed to hit back forcefully.

Two weeks later, Tehran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, an unexpectedly large-scale attack , although nearly all the weapons were shot down by Israel and allies. Israel said for days it would respond, before a strike on Friday hit a military air base near the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

Israel has commonly used exploding drones in attacks on Iran.

Iranian officials said that the Israeli strike on Friday morning was carried out by small exploding drones, a tactic that would follow a well-established pattern in Israeli attacks on Iranian military targets.

As Israel has targeted Iranian defense and military officials and infrastructure, small drones — specifically ones known as quadcopters — have been a signature of those operations. Quadcopter drones, so named because they have four rotors, have a short flight range and can explode on impact.

The drones might have been launched from inside Iran, whose radar systems had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace, Iranian officials said. If the drones were launched within the country, it demonstrates once again Israel’s ability to mount clandestine operations in Iranian territory .

Israel’s military has not commented on Friday’s strike. Though it rarely claims responsibility publicly for attacks against Iranian targets, several attacks in recent years have used drones:

August 2019: Israel sent an exploding drone into the heart of a Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, to destroy what Israeli officials described as machinery used in the production of precision missiles.

June 2021: A quadcopter exploded outside Tehran at one of Iran’s main manufacturing centers for centrifuges, which purify uranium and are used at the country’s two major uranium enrichment facilities . Western officials have closely watched activity at those facilities for signs that Iran could be moving toward producing a nuclear weapon. Iran claimed that there had been no damage to the site outside Tehran, but satellite images showed evidence of significant damage.

February 2022: Six quadcopters exploded at Kermanshah, Iran’s main manufacturing and storage plant for military drones.

May 2022: A strike targeted the highly sensitive Parchin military site outside Tehran, where Iran develops missile, nuclear and drone technology. Quadcopter drones exploded into a building, killing an engineer and injuring another person, Iranians with knowledge of the attack said at the time.

January 2023: A drone attack on an Iranian military facility in January 2023 caused a large explosion in the center of Isfahan, the city near the air base that was struck on Friday. At the time, Iran made no effort to hide the fact that an attack had happened, but said it had done little damage. Iranian state media reported that drones had targeted an ammunition manufacturing plant but had been shot down by a surface-to-air defense system.

Michael Crowley

Traveling with Secretary Blinken

Blinken says the U.S. has not been involved in ‘offensive operations’ in Iran.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Friday that the United States “has not been involved in any offensive operations” in Iran when asked about Israel’s strike on the country on Friday, but he declined to comment further.

Mr. Blinken spoke on the last day of a meeting of Group of 7 ministers in Capri, Italy, where the agenda was dominated by the conflict in the Middle East, including the exchanges of strikes in the past week between Israel and Iran. In remarks to reporters before departing the island, Mr. Blinken said the G7 was unified in urging de-escalation between Iran and Israel to avoid a wider war.

But Mr. Blinken would not even directly confirm the Israeli strike, which appeared to be the country’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend, referring instead to “reported events,” and he would not say whether the United States had been notified in advance of the Israeli action. Shortly before he spoke, Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, told reporters that the United States had been “informed at the last minute” of the Israeli strike.

“But there was no involvement on the part of the United States,” Mr. Tajani said. “It was simply information which was provided,” adding that he believed the G7’s collective efforts deserved credit for “the small scale of the event.”

Mr. Tajani did not say how he knew the United States had not been notified in advance, but he had recently come from a meeting with Mr. Blinken and other G7 ministers. A senior American official said on Friday that Israel had notified the United States through multiple channels shortly before its attack on Iran.

The G7 weighed in collectively in a statement concluding the three-day meeting, urging countries to prevent further escalation “in light of reports of strikes” on Friday. The G7 includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union.

The statement also said that the member nations “condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s direct and unprecedented attack” on Israel.

“Israel and its people have our full solidarity and support and we reaffirm our commitment toward Israel’s security,” it added.

The G7 also issued a new warning to Tehran, demanding that “Iran and its affiliated groups cease their attacks” throughout the Middle East and saying that “we stand ready to adopt further sanctions or take other measures.”

Mr. Blinken said of Iran that “degrading its missile and drone capabilities” was a key G7 goal.

Mr. Blinken also addressed the ongoing conflict in Gaza, pointing a finger at Hamas for the failure so far to reach a cease-fire deal that would include the release of Israeli prisoners.

“The only thing standing behind the Gaza people and a cease-fire is Hamas,” he said.

But he also addressed a major friction point with Israel, warning against what Israel says is its planned attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought shelter from fighting elsewhere in the enclave. Israel has said an invasion of Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas battalions in the city.

“We cannot support a major military operation in Rafah,” Mr. Blinken said. Mr. Blinken said that protecting and caring for civilians amid such an operation was “a monumental task for which we have yet to see a plan.”

Asked about the U.S. veto on Thursday of a United Nations Security Council resolution to recognize a Palestinian state, Mr. Blinken said that while the United States supports the creation of such a state, doing so requires negotiations and that the proposed resolution “will have no effect on actually moving things forward and achieving a Palestinian state.”

He added: “You can put something down on a piece of paper and wave it around. It has no effect. What does and can have an effect is actual diplomacy.”

Mr. Blinken also noted that, under U.S. law passed by Congress, U.N. acceptance of a Palestinian member state would require “cutting off all of our funding for the United Nations.”

The Iranian news media appear keen to show that things are “back to normal” in Isfahan. The official news agency, IRNA, published a gallery of photos — people strolling, shoppers at a market, a child with a soccer ball — that it said showed “normal life” in the city today. Flights at the Isfahan airport, which had been suspended for a few hours, have resumed, it said.

Joe Rennison

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Israel’s credit rating on Thursday evening, citing the confrontation with Iran. It lowered Israel’s rating to A+ from AA-. That’s still a high rating on a scale that runs from triple-A down to D.

Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said explosions heard early Friday in Isfahan “were from our air defense firing at a suspicious object. There has been no damage from the incident.” He said that experts were investigating the episode.

Reporting from Jerusalem

World leaders call for de-escalation after Israel’s strike in Iran.

World leaders on Friday urged Israel and Iran to de-escalate tensions after Israel struck an Iranian military base, the latest salvo in a cycle of retaliation that has raised fears of a broader war in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain, whose military participated in defending Israel last weekend against Iran’s missile and drone attack, told reporters, “Significant escalation is not in anyone’s interests — what we want to see is calm heads prevail across the region.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, told reporters during a visit to China, “It is absolutely essential that the region remains stable and that all sides refrain from further action.”

Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said the Group of 7 nations — which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — had changed the agenda of its meeting Friday on the resort island of Capri to “address the Iran issue and put priority attention on the Middle East.”

“The political goal of the G7 is de-escalation,” Mr. Tajani said.

The government of Jordan, which has been criticized in the Arab world for playing a role in intercepting Iran’s attack last weekend, issued an especially pointed plea.

“Israeli-Iranian retaliations must end,” Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Friday. He urged the international community to turn its attention back to Gaza, where six months of Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion have killed over 33,000 people and led to extreme hunger in parts of the territory.

“The inhumane war on Gaza must end now,” Mr. Safadi said. “The focus of the world must remain on ending the catastrophic aggression on Gaza.”

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Apache fleet returns to base after farewell tour

A rmy Air Corps attack helicopters used in Afghanistan and Libya have made their last operational flight more than 20 years after taking to the skies.

Apache Mark 1s of 656 Squadron landed at Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk on Monday after a farewell tour.

Wattisham-based units had flown the helicopter, which is being replaced by the Apache AH-64E, on operations in Afghanistan and Libya.

Prince Harry flew Apaches from Wattisham during tours in the Army.

Locations with links to the Mark 1 had featured on the farewell flight.

An Army spokesman said flypast sites included Colchester, Essex, where troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade are based.

He said the Mark 1, which entered service in 2001, had "proved itself" as a "battle-winning asset".

The Army said in October that the Apache AH-64E had passed its battlefield test after an exercise.

Manoeuvres involved 8,000 troops working out of 22 locations across south-west England, the West Midlands and Wales.

Simulated strike missions had been completed in Northumberland and Kent - and 3 Regiment Army Air Corps units based at Wattisham had tested the maintenance and operation of the AH-64E.

One senior officer called the Boeing-built AH-64E "revolutionary".

The Army spokesman added: "The AH-64E features improved flying performance and new sensors and communications systems that vastly improve its ability to find and strike the enemy on the battlefield."

BBC Radio Suffolk's aviation expert, Roger Smith, said the AH-64E looked similar to the Mark 1.

But he said the new helicopter was a "lot different" internally and had "absolutely tremendous" capability.

He told BBC Radio Suffolk: "It's like going from an Amiga 500 to the latest Apple Mac or Microsoft."

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