Rodman Naval Station
Built in 1943, the 600-acre U.S. Naval
Station Panama Canal (Rodman Naval Station) provided fuel, provisions and other support to military ships passing through
the Panama Canal. Until its March 11, 1999 handover to Panama, over 200 military and civilian personnel staffed Rodman. The
naval station included a port facility with three docks, 87 housing units, warehouses, industrial areas, an office building,
and other facilities.1
Rodman hosted the Southern Detachment
of the Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT Detachment South), the naval component of the U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom). CINCLANTFLT
takes the lead in SouthCom naval exercises, such as UNITAS. With the closure of Rodman, naval activities in the hemisphere
are now coordinated from Atlantic Fleet headquarters at Norfolk, Virginia.
Rodman also hosted the Navy Small Craft
Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS), which offer Spanish-language training to naval and coast guard personnel
from throughout the region. The NAVSCIATTS has moved north, and now offers courses at two U.S. locations: Camp LeJeune Marine
Corps Base, North Carolina, and the Naval Special Warfare Command at Stennis Space Center in Gulfport, Mississippi.2
The Mobil oil company reportedly invested
$25 million to convert Rodman and the nearby Arrijan tank farm into a fuel-bunkering terminal. Part of the naval station may
also become a third lane of locks for the Panama Canal.