Lumut is a small town (population 31,880) in the state of Perak, Malaysia, situated about 84 km from Ipoh, 12 km from the town of Sitiawan and it is the gateway to Pangkor Island. It is a quaint little town famous for its beautiful seashell and coral handicrafts. This once little-known fishing town has since become the home base of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
Lumut in Malay means moss, lichen, or seaweed. In its early days, the beach is said to be rich in moss, so the local people called it Lumut. Lumut jetty now is the staging-off point to various beautiful offshore islands, including Pangkor
With the royal declaration, Lumut joins the prestigious list of navy towns around the world, similar to Sweden's Karlskrona, South Africa's Simon's Town, the United Kingdom's Portsmouth, Australia's Sydney, Germany's Kiel and the United States' Norfolk and New Port.
1. Karlskrona
Karlskrona in Blekinge,a city in south-eastern Sweden, when it was founded in 1680, was one of the most modern and most efficient naval bases of the time, when the Royal Swedish Navy was relocated there. The shipyard, architecture, urban planning, and the way in which installations and defences were constructed aroused considerable attention throughout Europe in the eighteenth century. Karlskrona's naval heritage has been continued down to our own times, with over 300 years' unbroken activity in the naval base and the shipyard.
The city is an exceptionally well preserved and complete example of a European naval base, built in the period when these were being established by several major maritime powers.
2. SIMONTOWN, Cape town
Simon's Town (also widely but incorrectly referred to as Simonstown) and, in Afrikaans, Simonstad), Situated about 40 km outside of the city,is a village and a naval base in South Africa, near Cape Town. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour (first for the Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony.
3.
Portsmouth, UK
Portsmouth (en-uk-Portsmouth.ogg /ˈpɔətsməθ/ (help·info)) city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the UK's only island city and is located on Portsea Island.[2] It is commonly nicknamed Pompey.
A significant naval port for centuries, Portsmouth is home to the world's oldest dry dock still in use and home to many famous ships, including Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. Portsmouth has declined as a naval base in recent years but remains a major dockyard and base for the Royal Navy and Royal Marine Commandos whose Headquarters resides there. There is also a commercial port serving destinations on the continent for freight and passenger traffic.
4. Norfolk City, USA
"We would love to welcome you to our community, where life is celebrated daily"
Founded in 1682, Norfolk grew up on the water, and its miles of lake, river and bay front are central to many of its neighborhoods and more than 241,000 people who call these communities home. The city's popular logo -- an elegant young mermaid, which can be spotted in outdoor sites from Downtown to Ocean View -- symbolizes 300 years of maritime and naval heritage and its modern reputation as a city on the move.
They exhibit an attraction such as the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin, a salute to the city's long-standing relationship with the Navy, and Nauticus, The National Maritime Center, an interactive science and technology center -- dot Norfolk's easily-walked downtown waterfront. Here, tugboats and visiting cruise ships share the waters with sailboats and merchant ships.
5. Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island has long been considered an important naval town, due to its strategic geographic location on the Narragansett Bay. Back in the 1600s, even the English considered building a naval station there, but the plans never materialized.
During the Civil War, Newport became the chosen location for the U.S. Naval Academy as tensions heated up in the South, putting the Annapolis location in jeopardy. However, it wasn’t until the early years of World War II that an actual base was established in this coastal town. Newport quickly became one of the Navy’s largest and busiest bases of operations. By the war's end, more than 100 ships of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet were based in Newport.
6. Kiel, Hamburg
The city was founded in the early part of the 13th century by Duke Adolf IV of Schauenburg and was granted a charter in 1242. In 1865 the Prussians were formally granted Kiel as a naval base and on the 24th June that year, Admiral Jackmann brought the Prussian fleet from Danzig and established the Baltic Naval Base in Kiel. Following the Austrian-Prussian War of 1870 the North German Federation Navy became the Kaiser's Navy and Kiel was declared a State Naval Harbour.
Kiel, the chief naval port of Germany on the Baltic, was a town of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein. At Kiel were the naval technical school, an arsenal, and dry and floating docks.
7. Sydney Australia
Sydney grew up by the harbour, with the maritime history of Sydney being as old as the city itself. Australia’s first European settlement began at Sydney Cove in 1788.
Sydney is the home of the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Headquarters and the Australian Defence Force’s Joint Operations Command Headquarters. The Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Base East is just one kilometre from the Opera House along the southern shoreline of Sydney Harbour and adjacent to Australia’s largest dry dock and ship repair facility, the historic Garden Island dockyard. Sydney also hosts the Royal Australian Navy’s Heritage Centre and the Maritime Warfare Training Centre.
