Boston Naval Shipyard

Aerial view of the Boston Naval Shipyards, 1958

The Boston Navy Yard , originally Charlestown Navy Yard , from 1945 Boston Naval Shipyard is a former naval shipyard in the Boston district of Charlestown . Originally founded in 1801 as a shipyard for the United States Navy , ships were built and overhauled there until 1974. After the shipyard was closed, the site was turned into a park and is now the berth for the 18th century frigate USS Constitution and the WWII destroyer USS Cassin Young .

history

The history of shipbuilding on the banks of the Mystic River began during the American Revolutionary War . Among other things, the first American ship of the line , the USS Independence, was completed in the Boston Naval Shipyard in 1814. After the Civil War , the shipyard was downgraded to a pure maintenance and recruiting point. In 1890, with the expansion of the US Navy, ships were built again in Boston, and a second dry dock was built at the beginning of the 20th century. During the First World War , mainly escort ships for convoys were built. With the beginning of the Second World War , the number of workers in the shipyard increased to up to 50,000 who repaired damaged ships around the clock, but also built many new ships, mostly escort destroyers and destroyers . With the end of the war the shipyard began to slowly decline. At the beginning of the 1950s, a few ships were still being rebuilt and modernized there during the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization program, but newbuildings were no longer laid down. In 1974 the shipyard was closed.

It is now part of the Boston National Historical Park . On November 15, 1966, Boston Naval Shipyard was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District . The shipyard had already received National Historic Landmark status two days earlier .

See also

• List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in northern Boston
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston

Web links

Commons : Boston Navy Yard  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

• Official Homepage of the Boston National Historical Park (Engl.)
• History of the Shipyard (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry Boston Naval Shipyard in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed June 23, 2016
2. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 6, 2019.

Coordinates: 42 ° 22 '23.2 "  N , 71 ° 3' 16.8"  W.