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PNS Jinnah / Ormara Naval Base

Ormara is the Naval base of Pakistan Navy. The base is named after the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It is situated about 240 kilometers west of Karachi by sea. However, by road it is 350 km from Karachi and 285 km from Gwadar. The work on selection of site for this naval base commenced in 1990. The contract was awarded to Turkish company STFA and Jan de Nul of Belgium for offshore and land development in December 1992.

Ormara Naval Harbour is located at Ormara East bay within Jinnah Naval Base on northern side of the eastern tip of Ormara Hammerhead. It is an artificial Harbour, designed as primary base for submarines and secondary base for PN ships. Main elements of the Harbour are its 3.5 km long approach channel and a basin, break waters, 2 x Finger piers, 2 x Wharves. The Harbour is fully operational since 1997 and provides repair and maintenance, fuel and other logistics supports to visiting PN ships/ Submarines.

Ormara is an old coastal town. Its historical routes are linked with Alexander the Great, who stayed here with his army for few days on his way back from India, in 400 BC. One of his generals “Ormoz” died here and the present day Ormara was named after him. For few centuries, Ormara remains the battle field of Baloch Sardar (local feudal) and foreign aggressors. Before independence, it was part of Lasbela state and afterward it became part of Makran Divison. Being an isolated town, it remained undeveloped, however with the naval presence around, the life has taken a positive change for the locals. It has a population of about 30 thousand people and still offers a traditional look. Livelihood of most of its resident it fishing, few of them are also working in Middle East countries.

Chief of the Naval Staff‚ Admiral Noman Bashir has said that various development projects being executed by the Pakistan Navy at Pasni‚ Gawadar and Ormara would also cater to the needs of local people. He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of state of the art PN Darman Jah Hospital at Ormara. Admiral Noman Bashir said there is a need to diversify the activities of the Pakistan Navy at Ormara and Makran on account of the operational requirements of these coastal areas. He said PN Darman Jah Hospital is fully equipped with modern equipment which would provide medical treatment to Navy personnel and civilians. Admiral Noman Bashir said a school is also being contracted by the Pakistan Navy at Ormara.

On November 27, 2006, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that the Defence Committee of the Cabinet had approved the second phase of the Jinnah Naval Base at Ormara and said that necessary funds will be provided to complete the project.

In August 2011 the Pakistan Navy kept its main warhips away from Karachi, and moved them to another port in Ormara, Balochistan, as security threats continued. The navy sent its warships away from its main base in Karachi as a “precautionary measure” after a 16-hour siege of its main naval airbase, PNS Mehran. The commando-style gun and rocket-propelled grenade attacks resulted in the destruction of two P3C Orion airplanes – which were key naval assets.