Part 1 The Making of a Navy
In 1803, U.S.S. Constitution was careened at a Boston wharf for recoppering before sailing for the Mediterranean to confront the Barbary States.
U.S. Naval Shipyards
Puget Sound Washington 1891-present Rebuilt five battleships damaged during 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Mare Island California 1853-1996 Established for naval expansion into Pacific. Hunter’s Point California 1939-1974 Repaired 600 ships during WW II. Long Beach California 1935-50; 1951-98 Reactivated for Korean War. In 1982, modernized battleship New Jersey for missiles. Pearl Harbor Hawaii 1900-present Serviced growing Pacific fleet after Spanish-American War. Damaged by Japanese air attack in 1941. Mound City Illinois 1862-74 Repair facility for Union’s Mississippi Squadron during Civil War. Pensacola Florida 1825-1911 Burned by Confederates during Civil War. Has served as air training facility since yard closing. Charleston South Carolina 1901-96 Specialized in the construction of destroyer escorts and LSTs in WW II. Strategically located Great Lakes shipyards built gunboats and sloops during the War of 1812. Presque Isle Pennsylvania 1812-25 Sackets Harbor New York 1812-1870s Washington District of Columbia 1800-83 Brooklyn New York 1800-1966 Portsmouth New Hampshire 1800-present Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1801-1995 Charlestown Massachusetts 1800-1974 Norfolk Virginia 1801-present Of the six original navy yards, only Norfolk and Portsmouth still service naval vessels. New London Connecticut 1868-83 During WW I was developed as major submarine base.
Prologue
The U.S. government established Charlestown Navy Yard as the newly-formed republic was meeting early challenges to its merchant shipping. In the decade after gaining independence, the young nation kept no standing navy. But continuing raids on U.S. commerce by Barbary pirates and French privateers in the 1790s spurred Congress to authorize the construction of new warships.
Realizing that existing private shipyards were inadequate for the increasingly ambitious shipbuilding program, the Secretary of the Navy established in 1800-1801 six federal yards to build, outfit, repair, and supply naval vessels. These facilities at Portsmouth, N.H.; Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and Norfolk, Va., were the nucleus of the naval shipyard system. Except during the Civil War, they launched most of the Navy’s vessels until the advent of steel hulls in the 1880s, when private yards began building them in greater numbers.
As with the first six, later naval shipyards were sometimes created to fill an immediate military need. The War of 1812, for instance, prompted the building of the two Great Lakes yards. The Mound City yard was established during the Civil War, strategically located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to build and repair Union gunboats. Although U.S. naval vessels are today built in private shipyards, four navy yards still actively serve the fleet.