CRANE — The Navy has renamed Naval Support Activity Crane, Indiana’s largest naval installation, as Naval Weapons Station Crane in a move intended to reflect the installation’s central role in weapons development, testing and munitions storage.
The change took effect Monday, Dec. 1 at the 62,000-acre installation, located about 35 miles south of Bloomington.
Considered the world’s third-largest naval installation, the site houses roughly one-quarter of the Department of War’s joint conventional munitions and serves as a hub for research, development, testing and evaluation of advanced weapons, sensors and related technology. Naval Weapons Station Crane operates under Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, which manages shore-based Navy personnel and installations across 20 states and 13 bases, spanning from Maine to Virginia and west to Illinois…