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Boston Navy Yard - Charlestown Navy Yard 1800-1945

Until 1945, the Boston Navy Yard was known as the Charlestown Navy Yard. It is the tradition of the U.S. Navy to name its naval yards and bases after the nearest large city, but the Charlestown Navy Yard was already well established as s shipbuilding facility, and the Navy Yard was named for the city in which it was actually located.

During the American Revolution, there were ships built at the site of the Charlestown Navy Yard, but it wasn't until 1801 that the U.S. Navy bought the site as part of an effort to establish a naval armament to protect the merchant ships of the fledgling nation. Its inaugural commission was the building of the ship of the line, USS INDEPENDENCE, a world class warship of its times. The ship was one of six commissioned by the federal government, each of them to be built at a different shipyard along the East Coast of the new United States. For more information about specific ships built at the Boston Navy Yard, please see Boston Navy Yard - Famous Ships Built.

Located on the Mystic River in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the facility was originally a repair only facility. During the War of 1812, though, the Charlestown Navy Yard began building navy ships, starting with the INDEPENDENCE, whose keel laying had been delayed by various incidents and factors. Throughout the early half of the 19th century, the Charlestown Navy Yard was known for its innovations to shipbuilding and repair. One of the first two dry docks in the Western Hemisphere was begun at the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1827 and completed in 1833. The dry dock made the Charlestown Navy Yard one of two repair yards of choice for all ANavy ships.

The start of the Civil War pressed the navy yard into full time service for ship fitting and repair, especially when the Norfolk Naval Yard, site of the other dry dock, was abandoned to the Confederacy. During the course of the war, the Charlestown Navy Yard became the primary supply and support source for the ships blockading the Southern ports, and provided repair services for all East Coast Union vessels. The shipyard also became the primary repair port and docking station for the new ironclad warships which were bringing in a new era in the world of naval warfare.

As the war wound to a close, however, the Navy reorganized and the Charlestown Navy Yard was once again relegated to the status of Equipment and Recruit Facility. The onset of the 1890s changed all that. As the merchant marine became more prominent, the entire country adopted an interest in all things naval. The Navy began to build steel ships and strong dreadnaughts to serve as protective escorts for merchant ships that would trade in international waters. Once again, the Charlestown Navy Yard retooled and rose to the occasion.

By 1900, the Charlestown Navy Yard had shifted completely from outfitting and repairing wooden ships to the manufacture and outfitting of steel ships. The Navy expanded the yard to add needed space. It was also in the early years of the twentieth century that a second dry dock was built at the Charlestown Navy Yard, doubling its capacity for repairs and storage.

During the Spanish-American War and World War I, the Charlestown yard continued to expand. Its strategic location made the shipyard an ideal repair port for ships damaged on the Atlantic, and a steady stream of repairs kept workers busy. In addition, the shipyard assumed responsibility for repairs and maintenance of convoy ships that accompanied merchant ships to protect them from German submarines.

After the World War, the Washington Naval Arms Limitation treaty slowed work at the shipyard, but once again the slowdown was temporary. While activity remained slow at the yard through most of the 1920s, the 1930s saw a resurgence in shipbuilding as the nation prepared for war once again. Making use of PWA and WPA funds, the shipyard started on a program of building Navy Destroyers in pairs that lasted throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s. During that time, more than two dozen destroyers were built at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard, and hundreds of others were repaired, converted and refitted to prepare for the expected war.

In November of 1939, the U.S. government traded fifty of its older battleships to Britain in return for naval bases in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. The bulk of those ships were brought to the Charlestown Navy Yard for reconditioning in addition to repairing British ships that were damaged by the Germans. As the United States entered the war, the Charlestown Navy Yard reached its peak of operation, employing over 50,000 people around the clock, seven days a week in repairing convoy ships and building world class destroyers for the naval war effort.

That level of activity lasted through 1945, when the end of the war brought the customary slowdown of work. This time, though, the Navy shifted gears. A renamed Boston Navy Yard was commissioned to modernize the active Navy fleet as the Navy shipyard entered the last thirty years of its life. For more information about the Boston Navy Yard, please see Boston Navy Yard Overview.

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