National Naval Medical Center

The original Medical Center was comprised of the Naval Hospital, designed to hold 1,200 beds, and the Naval Medical School, the Naval Dental School and the Naval Medical Research Institute. In August of 1960, a $5.6 million dollar expansion project was initiated and consisted of two five-story wings attached to the main building's east side. Completed in the summer of 1963, Buildings 7 and 8 provided space for 258 beds and replaced the World War II temporary ward buildings. January of 1973, established the National Naval Medical Center Region and placed all naval health care facilities within the Naval District Washington under the authority of the commanding officer of the Medical Center. The original Naval Medical Center tower has since been deemed a historical landmark and entered into the Registry of Historical Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Bethesda, MD

Bethesda is an urbanized, but unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, near Washington, DC. It takes its name from a church once located there, the Bethesda Presbyterian Church (built 1820), which in turn was named from a passage in the Christian New Testament.

As an unincorporated area, Bethesda has no official boundaries. As of 2000, the Census-defined community had a total population of 55,277.

Important institutions located in Bethesda include the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. Bethesda is also home to the National Naval Medical Center, commonly referred to as Bethesda Naval Hospital, where many famous Americans such as Joseph McCarthy passed away and the infamous John F. Kennedy autopsy was performed. Adjoining the hosptial to the east is the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

The headquarters of defense conglomerate Lockheed Martin Corporation and hotel and resort chain Marriott are located in Bethesda. Software company Bethesda Softworks was previously located in Bethesda, but recently moved to Rockville, Maryland. Bethesda is reknowned for its extensive collection of resturants - 180 were listed at the end of 2004 - offering cuisine ranging from Afgan to Vietnamese. Bethesda is also home to two vibrant farmers markets, the Montgomery Farm Woman's Cooperative Market and the Bethesda Farmer's Market, as well as numerous cinemas and art galleries. The main commercial corridor is Maryland Route 355, which in its northern reaches connects Bethesda with the communities of North Bethesda and Rockville and is known as Rockville Pike. Rockville Pike becomes Wisconsin Avenue near the NIH and continues beyond Bethesda through Chevy Chase and Friendship Village, Maryland and into Washington, DC. The area commonly known as downtown Bethesda is centered at the intersection of Wisconsin with Maryland Route 187, Old Georgetown Road, and Maryland Route 410, East-West Highway. Much of the dense construction in that area followed the opening of the Bethesda station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro, also located at this intersection and the centerpiece of the Bethesda Metro Center development. The downtown, which includes the restaurant districts of Bethesda Row and Woodmont Triangle, lies about 0.7 miles south of Bethesda's other Red Line stop, Medical Center, which serves the NIH and Bethesda Naval Hospital.

National Naval Medical Center Hotel Map

Bases by Service

• Air Force Bases
• Army Bases
• Marine Corps Bases
• Navy Bases

Basic Training Bases

• Lackland AFB
• Fort Benning
• Fort Jackson
• Fort Knox
• Fort Leonard Wood
• Fort Sill
• MCRD Parris Island
• MCRD San Diego
• Great Lakes NTC

Popular Bases

• Eglin Air Force Base
• Wright Patterson AFB
• Aberdeen Proving Ground
• Fort Hood
• Camp Lejeune
• Camp Pendleton
• Norfolk Naval Station
• Pearl Harbor Naval Station