Keyport, WA

Keyport is a Kitsap County census-designated place at the eastern end of State Route 308 on the Kitsap Peninsula. The community was named for Keyport, New Jersey, in 1896, and the 2020 census counted 576 residents. Its shoreline is shared by a small residential settlement, the Port of Keyport, and the Navy's long-running undersea work at NUWC Keyport. The port's boat launch, marina slips, post office, and mercantile give the community a handful of everyday stops beside the water.

The Navy arrived in 1914, when the Pacific Coast Torpedo Station was established on the peninsula. It later became the Naval Torpedo Station, the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station, and NUWC Keyport, whose work now covers testing and maintaining undersea systems. The U.S. Naval Undersea Museum opened as a preview center in 1991 and became fully operational in 1994; its exhibits cover torpedoes, submarines, diving, salvage, and undersea vehicles. Keyport's small community scale sits next to a major military institution, and the museum and port make that connection visible to visitors and residents.