Norfolk Naval Shipyard
The Shipyard Norfolk Naval Shipyard (often Norfolk Navy Yard , founded as Gosport Shipyard ) is an agency of the US Navy in Portsmouth , Virginia (which is not with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is to be confused). It is located on the Elizabeth River , just before the mouth at Hampton Roads .
history
British shipyard
The shipyard was founded as Gosport Shipyard on November 1, 1767 by Andrew Sprowle on the west bank of the Elizabeth River. Ships were built there for the British crown. When the American independence movement began in 1775 , Sprowle remained loyal to the British and fled from Virginia, which then confiscated and operated the shipyard. In 1779 British soldiers burned the shipyard down.
American shipyard
In 1794, a law passed the US Congress allowing the federal government to lease the shipyard. In 1799 the keel of the USS Chesapeake , a sister ship of the well-known USS Constitution, was laid there .
In 1801 the federal government bought the Virginia shipyard. The price was $ 12,000. This means that 65,000 m² became the property of the federal government, which began building a dry dock in 1827 . This was the first in America. In 1845, land was bought on the east bank of the river.
American Civil War
In 1861, when Virginia joined the Confederate States , shipyard workers burned the facility down. A short time later, the Confederates took over the shipyard and built the CSS Virginia from the not completely burned ship USS Merrimack , which shortly afterwards took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads . When the Confederates left the shipyard in May 1862, they burned the shipyard down again.
The Unionists then named the shipyard after the largest town in the area, Norfolk .
Modern time
There were no significant expansions until World War I , but then the staff increased to 11,000. This development continued until the shipyard employed up to 43,000 workers between 1940 and 1945.
Norfolk Navy Yard has been a repair yard only since World War II . The last ships laid down there, two wooden mine sweepers, were christened on March 28, 1953.
Today the shipyard consists of 5.2 km² of discontinuous territory on either side of the river and is able to carry out overhauls and repairs on any type of warship. This also includes the modern aircraft carriers , which on the east coast can otherwise only be put into dry dock at Newport News Shipbuilding .
literature
- Christopher Miller: Norfolk Naval Shipyard (= Images of America ). 1st edition. Arcadia Publishing, Charlston, South Carolina 2018, ISBN 978-1-4671-2976-3 (English).
- Marshall W Butt: Norfolk Naval Shipyard . Public Information Office, 1951 (English).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d 250 Years of Excellence. In: www.navsea.navy.mil. Naval Sea Systems Command, accessed February 22, 2020 .
Coordinates: 36 ° 48 ′ 55 " N , 76 ° 17 ′ 50" W.