I think there is some wiggle room here if you want to add some detail or play with the background a little.
Now
Howling Wilderness says Norfolk/Portsmouth took a 1 Mt. hit. I think that "/Portsmouth" part is interesting. If you play with
NUKEMAP some to adjust ground zero, you can make the facts be just about whatever you like.
* With a 1 Mt. hit, I can get Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Norfolk Naval Station, Little Creek Amphibious Base, Craney Naval Fuel Terminal, the Coast Guard Station all within the thermal radiation radius.
* Ground Zero on Little Creek leaves Portsmouth and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard intact. Most of the Naval Station is within the thermal radiation radius, but not the docks/piers.
* Ground Zero on Norfolk Naval shipyard leaves Little Creek intact, and most of the Naval Station.
Anyhow, you get the idea. Depending on just where Ground Zero is/was, the location where the European vets disembark can easily be what Olefin describes. Not destroyed, but not a nice place either. I like it.
Now what all of this makes me wonder, is what is going on across Hampton Roads on the Virginia Peninsula. Over there, you've got Newport News Shipbuilding, Langley AFB, Fort Eustis, Fort Monroe, and the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. At first glance that strikes me as a better place to set up a cantonment if the south side of Hampton Roads took a 1 Mt. nuke.
GlobalSecurity has a good listing of
military facilities in the Hampton Roads area for anyone wanting to add some texture.