The Newport News Shipyard was founded by Collis P. Huntington in 1886 in Newport News, Virginia. The very first boat built by the Newport News Shipyard was a tugboat named Dorothy.

By the year 1897, the Newport News Shipyard had built three warships for the United States Navy - The Helena, Nashville, and Wilmington.

The revolutionary HMS Dreadnought launched a world wide naval race in 1906. The Newport News Shipyard built six of the 22 dreadnought's the US Navy owned between 1907 and 1923. The Newport News Shipyard built the:

Delaware dreadnought
Texas dreadnought
Pennsylvania dreadnought
Mississippi dreadnought
Maryland dreadnought
West Virginia dreadnought

All except the Delaware dreadnought were still in active service when World War II struck.

The Newport News Shipyard distributed 25 destroyers between 1918 and 1920. After World War I, the Newport News Shipyard began to construct aircraft carriers. The aircraft carrier, Ranger, was delivered to the US Navy in 1934. The Newport News Shipyard then built the aircraft carriers Yorktown and Enterprise.

In 1940, the United States Navy ordered seven more aircraft carriers and four cruisers. The Newport News Shipyard built ships as part of the governments Emergency Shipbuilding Program during World War II and filled many requests for "Liberty ships" that were necessary for the war.

Newport News Shipyard founded the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, which was an emergency shipyard on the banks of the Cape Fear River. The first Liberty Ship was launched from the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company before the end of 41, and built 243 ships in all, including 186 Liberty's. The Newport News Shipyard company was awarded the "E pennant" from the United States Navy for excellent ship construction and all of its efforts during World War II.

After the Second World War, the Newport News Shipyard built the well-known passenger ship the SS United States. The SS United States set a trans-Atlantic speed record that has not yet been broken.

1954 saw the Newport News Shipyard, together with Westinghouse and the United States Navy, construct and develop a first of its kind nuclear reactor for a carrier propulsion system. The Newport News Shipyard launched the first nuclear powered submarine in 1959, called Shark as well as a ballistic missile submarine, the Robert E. Lee. The Newport News Shipyard designed the Enterprise in 1960.

The Newport News Shipyard launched two of the largest built tankers in the western hemisphere in the 70s and also three liquefied natural gas carriers - the largest ever built in the United States. Through the 80s, the Newport News Shipyard manufactured a variety of Naval Ships for the United States Navy, including the Nimitz class nuclear air craft carriers and the Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarines. The USS Nimitz was well under construction in the early 70s and was built at a dry dock in downtown Newport News, Virginia, which was seen by most of the downtown area.

Here is a list of the ships that were manufactured at the Newport News Shipyard:

1891 - Tugboat Dorothy
1904 - USS Virginia - lead battleship of its class
1908 - SS Georgia - crude oil tanker
1912 - USS Texas - battleship of the New York class, the only surviving dreadnought ship.
1914 - SS Medina
1918 - Wickes class destroyer Breese
1918 - Wickes class destroyer Gamble
1918 - Wickes class destroyer Lamberton
1918 - Wickes class destroyer Montgomery
1918 - Wickes class destroyer Radford
1918 - Wickes class destroyer Ramsay
1933 - USS Ranger - aircraft carrier for the United States Navy
1936 - USS Enterprise - Yorktown class aircraft carrier
1936 - USS Yorktown - Yorktown class aircraft carrier
1940 - USS Hornet - Yorktown class aircraft carrier
1942 - USS Essex - Essex class aircraft carrier
1943 - USS Franklin - Essex class aircraft carrier
1943 - USS Hornet - Essex class aircraft carrier
1943 - USS Yorktown - Essex class aircraft carrier
1944 - USS Bennington - Essex class aircraft carrier
1944 - USS Boxer - Essex class aircraft carrier
1944 - USS Randolph- Essex class aircraft carrier
1944 - USS Ticonderoga - Essex class aircraft carrier
1945 - USS Leyte - Essex class aircraft carrier
1945 - USS Midway - Midway class aircraft carrier
1946 - USS Coral Sea - Midway class aircraft carrier
1952 - USS United States - ocean liner and holder of the trans-Atlantic speed record to date
1954 - USS Forrestal - Forrestal class aircraft carrier
1956 - USS Ranger - Forrestal class aircraft carrier
1959 - Ballistic missile submarine Robert E. Lee
1959 - USS Shark - nuclear powered submarine
1960 - USS Enterprise - first nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1964 - USS America
1967 - USS John F. Kennedy
1972 - USS Nimitz - Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1975 - USS Dwight D. Eisenhower - Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1980 - USS Arkansas - Virginia Class nuclear powered cruiser
1980 - USS Carl Vinson- Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1984 - USS Theodore Roosevelt- Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1988 - USS Abraham Lincoln- Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1990 - USS George Washington- Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1993 - USS John C. Stennis - Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
1996 - USS Harry S. Truman - Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
2001 - USS Ronald Regan- Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier
2006 - USS George W. Bush - Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier (set to be delivered in 2008)

As well as:

Los Angeles Class nuclear powered submarines
Virginia class nuclear powered submarines
Liberty ship transports during World War II

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