Hitchcock Naval Air Station was a Naval Air Station built by the United States Navy during World War II to accommodate lighter-than-air aircraft, more commonly known as blimps. It was located in the small town of Hitchcock, Texas, about fifteen miles (24 km) northwest of Galveston. Construction began in 1942 and the base was commissioned on May 22, 1943. The most prominent feature of the base was the 1,000-foot (300 m) long, 200-foot (61 m) tall largely wooden blimp hangar. The blimp hangar, which held six aircraft was built at a cost of $10 million. The purpose of the base and its aircraft was to search for Axis power submarines in the Gulf of Mexico. Beside the hangar there were auxiliary buildings including barracks, warehouses, a mess hall, gymnasium, auditorium and an Olympic-size swimming pool which was used to teach swimming and water-rescue.