Acting US Navy Secretary Hong Kao acknowledged the extensive damage inflicted on the main US naval facility in Bahrain by Iranian attacks, saying that Iranian forces “massively destroyed the Bahrain base.”
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Kao’s remarks came referring to U.S. naval support activity in Bahrain, which houses the headquarters of U.S. naval forces in Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and is a major logistics hub for U.S. naval operations in the Middle East.
Kao said the Iranian attacks caused significant damage to the facility, and that their effects extended to U.S. naval operations, including those of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which remained in the area for an extended period without being able to return to base.
Kao explained that the US Navy is currently studying the future of the facility, including the possibility of repairing and reusing it, and said: "I have a task force looking into this matter."
The US naval support base in Bahrain was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones on February 28, following strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran.
After the base was damaged, the US Navy was forced to rely on a logistics hub on Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean, more than 2,000 miles away from US aircraft carrier groups in the Middle East, which led to significant complications in supply operations.
In late August, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Darrell Cowdle said the Navy would not be returning to the Bahrain base "anytime soon," in response to a question from a displaced service member about when they would be able to retrieve their personal belongings from the base.
"We're not going back there anytime soon," Cowdle said at a meeting with Navy personnel on August 31, adding, "I want to be completely clear about that."
Estimates cited in previous reports indicate that the damage to the Fifth Fleet headquarters, barracks, warehouses, and communications towers at the base may require reconstruction costs approaching $400 million.
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