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Norfolk Naval Shipyard - History During the 20th Century

Norfolk Naval Shipyard entered the 20th century with a big push towards the future. In 1903, the Navy yard began construction on its third dry dock. Construction of that facility took eight years, and by the time it was completed in 1911, the shipyard had purchased an additional tract of land known as the Schmoele tract. The purchase added almost 275 acres to the shipyard's holdings. The addition of the land and the newest dry dock kept the Norfolk shipyard at the forefront of naval shipyards on the East Coast.

Naval Pomp and Circumstance

On December 16, 1907, the Great White Fleet set sail from Norfolk for a tour of the world. The publicity tour was sent on its way by Theodore Roosevelt to show off the 16 new ships of the Atlantic Fleet. The tour covered 43,000 miles and visited 20 ports of call on six different continents. It was meant to be a show of the nation's position as a naval power, and it succeeded. It also brought renewed attention to the prowess of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

World War I Brings New Activity

As the rest of the world poised for war, expansion continued at the shipyard. During World War I, three more dry docks were built. The war brought increased activity and a need for more shipyard workers, and by 1919, there were 11,234 people employed at the shipyard - an increase from the 2,718 five years earlier. There was also a steady stream of ships being outfitted, repaired, updated and converted, and four destroyers built during this time - the CRAVEN (launched in 1918) and the HULBERT, NOA, and WM. B. PRESTON (all launched in 1919). Other landmarks included the conversion of the collier JUPITER into the Navy's first aircraft carrier, the USS LANGLEY.

After the war, activity at the shipyard dropped to pre-war levels. By 1923, employment at the Norfolk Navy yard was just over 2,500, less than the 1914 levels. No new ships were built at Norfolk during the '20s and early '30s, but the naval refitting program kept operations moving. From 1925 to 1934, workers at the Norfolk shipyard updated six of the Navy's older battleships, modernizing them and making them fit for active duty. The ships included the TEXAS in 1925-26, the NEW YORK in 1926-27, the NEVADA in 1927-29, the ARIZONA in 1929-31, the MISSISSIPPI in 1931-33, and the IDAHO in 1931-34.

In 1933, with the country in the grip of the Depression, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which included a new naval construction program. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard was allotted a total of nine destroyers, all built and launched between 1934 and 1939. With the new burst of work at the shipyard, employment once again began to climb. By the beginning of World War II, there were 7,625 people employed at the shipyard.

World War II

With the onset of the Second World War, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard entered into a period of unprecedented growth and activity. From January 1, 1940 to September 2, 1945 the yard worked on a total of 6,850 naval vessels and built 101 new ships and landing craft for the fleet. The total value of the work done at the yard topped one billion dollars. By 1943, the shipyard employed nearly 43,000 people. The expansion was not confined to ships and docks, however. The yard also acquired another 350 acres of land, including more than four miles of waterfront, and built 685 new buildings, some permanent and some temporary.

Shipbuilders at the yard built 30 major ships during those years, and by the end of the war, the Norfolk shipyard had established itself as a premier naval facility. Even after the war's end, employment did not drop back to pre-war levels. At its lowest point, there were still nearly 10,000 people employed on the site. With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, the shipyard moved back to wartime activity levels. From 1950 to 1953, 1,250 ships passed through Norfolk for repairs, outfitting and other work, and two more ships were built.

Today, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard is a fully modernized facility that offers a full range of services not only to the Navy, but to private contractors as well. The yard features seven dry docks, its own police and fire departments, electricity- and steam-generating plants, and about 400 cranes. The yard has the capacity to work on every type of existing ship, repairs cryptographic equipment, performs antenna repair, and provides full technology testing facilities.

Unfortunately, the success of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard has not come without cost. Many of the materials and supplies used in building and repairing ships of the past were toxic or produce toxic wastes. The site of the Norfolk shipyard was added to the National Priority List in 1999, and is a Superfund Cleanup site. There have been 16 toxic chemicals identified on site, including asbestos, PCBs and heavy metal contaminants.

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