Acting Navy Secretary Says Iran 'Blew the Hell Out of' Fifth Fleet Base in Bahrain

The acting US Secretary of the Navy said that Iranian strikes "blew the hell out of" Naval Support Activity Bahrain, headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, in an interview with The Epoch Times published on 9 September 2026 and reported by Al Jazeera on 11 September. Asked about the base's future, the acting Secretary said "I have a task force that's looking at that", referring to whether to repair the facility, according to Al Jazeera.

The command center and at least a dozen other buildings were hit hard, Al Jazeera reported. Iranian forces targeted the base in Bahrain repeatedly between February and June 2026, according to the same report.

The acting Secretary said the damage left the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class ship, with "no place for them to pull in". Navy Times reported on 1 September that the carrier went more than seven months without an official port call; according to Al Jazeera, it finally docked at Laem Chabang, Thailand, earlier in September.

The remarks follow an assessment by the Chief of Naval Operations reported by Navy Times on 1 September: "We're not getting back in there anytime soon. I just want to be completely honest with that." Navy Times reported that the 28 February 2026 Iranian missile and one-way attack drone strike damaged the Fifth Fleet headquarters, barracks, warehouses and communication towers, and that the Iranian strikes followed US and Israeli air strikes on Iran in late February 2026.

Fifth Fleet logistics functions have shifted to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean atoll more than 2,000 miles from the carrier strike groups operating in the Middle East, Navy Times reported. The same report said an Independence-class littoral combat ship ran into difficulties resupplying with food. A Wall Street Journal investigation, as reported by Navy Times on 1 September, put the cost of rebuilding the Fifth Fleet headquarters, barracks, warehouses and communication infrastructure at roughly $400 million, a figure that covers reconstruction rather than the equipment inside the buildings.

Al Jazeera also reported damage at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, where one A-10 Thunderbolt II lost a wing in Iranian strikes overnight on 8-9 September, and where eight F-15s sustained light damage and have returned to service, according to the outlet. GMN's event record for the damaged A-10 carries the details.

GMN's database records Naval Support Activity Bahrain as an active fleet headquarters operated by the US Navy, hosting three resident commands: US Naval Forces Central Command, the US Fifth Fleet, and Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. The UK Naval Support Facility Bahrain sits alongside it at the same port, home to the UK Maritime Component Command. GMN's 2026 Iran Conflict tracker has logged 113 air force events and 32 navy events since the war began on 28 February 2026.

The base had already lost part of its mine warfare role before the war. The US decommissioned its four Bahrain-based Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships in September 2025 and shipped the hulls home in January 2026. When Iran began mining the Strait of Hormuz two months later, the Navy had to sail minesweepers from Japan, as GMN reported in an earlier article.

The decision on whether to repair the base now rests with the task force the acting Secretary described to The Epoch Times. Until then, the Chief of Naval Operations' statement to Navy Times stands: the fleet is not returning to Bahrain anytime soon, and its logistics remain routed through Diego Garcia.