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AsbestosAsbestos Industry

Job SitesShipyards

Charlestown Navy Yard

The Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, MA was established by the Secretary of the Navy along with five other federal yards located in Portsmouth, NH, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Norfolk, VA in 1800-1801. Charlestown has served as the birthplace, repair center, outfitting base, and refuge for thousands of U.S. naval vessels for almost two centuries. Today, the Charlestown Navy Yard is closely associated with the U.S.S. Constitution, a frigate that inaugurated the yard's dry dock in 1833 and was later serviced on the same dock from 1992 to 1995.

A key figure in the development of the Charlestown Navy Yard was Captain William Bainbridge. He became the captain of the first ship built in the yard, the U.S.S. Independence, a wooden, 74-gun ships-of-the-line. Under his direction, the yard underwent tremendous growth during the War of 1812.

While naval officers ran the main operations on the federal yards, civilians made up a large portion of the work force. Both skilled and unskilled laborers were employed on the Charlestown Navy Yard. Among the yard's specialized workforce were carpenters, sawyers, joiners, sparmakers, block makers, painters, gun carriage makers, armorers, sailmakers, blacksmiths, caulkers, riggers, boatbuilders, coopers, ropemakers, masons, machinists, plumbers, and coppersmiths.

In the 1830's, Charlestown earned recognition for its ropemaking facility which was the only one serving the navy at the time. In 1850, the Charlestown Navy Yard completed its first steamer combining the new technologies of steam and iron. The 1950's was a decade of modernizations for the yard. The modernizations included the lengthening of the dry dock, the installation of gas lights, the manufacturing of wire rope in 1857, and the state-of-the-art machine shop. The machine shop, in particular, equipped the yard for the new technology of ironcladding. The new steam technology brought in a new set of workers who had experience working with steam machinery. In 1858, the Charlestown Navy Yard introduced its first machinist apprenticeship and began to formalize other trades related to steam machinery and ironcladding with titles and apprenticeships. "Through the 1850s and 1860s, machinists, iron moulders, and boilermakers accounted for an increasingly large part of the workforce."

The onset of the Civil War pushed and extended the yard's level of production. Unfortunately, the high level of production could not be maintained after the war. The priorities of the government shifted away from the Navy, diverting funds needed to run the expanded yard into reconstruction efforts. Despite the general decline of the Navy and navy yards in the 1870's, the Charlestown yard remained the second most productive yard after New York. However, the 1880's marked the worst decade for the Charlestown Navy Yard when it had all but shut down completely. The yard's main work during this period was dismantling vessels, leaving many tradesmen unemployed.

In the decades following, the yard underwent a major transformation. The large shipbuilding ways and steel plate storage yards replaced old shiphouses. A new lengthened dry dock, gas and oil tanks, a locomotive shed, and a gas plant for acetylene torches replaced the outdated timber basins. With the outbreak of World War I, the yard was revived with intense activity at a level that had not been achieved ever before in the history of the yard. About 4,500 workers worked two ten-hour shifts or around the clock in three eight-hour shifts. Three-and four-stacker steel ships crowded the wharves and docks of the Charlestown Navy Yard. Charlestown's main role was in the repair of warships which included steel destroyers, armored cruisers and battleships, submarines, and wooden sub chasers.

In the 1930's, the Charlestown yard earned a new status of shipbuilder, shedding its traditional role as a repair facility. Charlestown launched steel warships for the first time in 1930's. However, it produced steel-hulled ships earlier, the tug Pentucket in 1903 and the training bark Cumberland in 1904. As the predominant building material changed from wood to steel, the fuel powering the turbines of the steel ships also switched from coal to oil. In 1934, the launch of U.S.S. MacDonough, a modern destroyer powered by geared turbines driven by steam generated in oil-burning boilers, reflected the technological advances that had been incorporated by the yard. Charlestown built 12 destroyers in all during the 1930s and 24 more by the end of World War II acquiring a reputation as a "destroyer yard."

The Charlestown yard experienced another record boom in activity with World War II. The yard's workforce increased from 5,000 in 1939 to 50,000 at Charlestown and its annexes in mid-1943. Despite the efforts of yard foreman who attempted to dissuade workers from enlisting in the war, some 13,000 workers left the yard to fight. Throughout the war, the yard was shorthanded, forcing it to extend employment to African-Americans and women. Women who had been relegated to clerical positions and phone operators were now allowed to work in the industrial shops in trades such as "machinists, riveters, painters, riggers, pipefitters, and especially as welders and ropewalk workers." The higher production rate during World War II exacerbated the existing hazardous work conditions at the shipyard prompting the implementation of a new safety program. Unfortunately, the workers often ignored safety codes and supervisors left safety violations undisciplined.

In 1941, new shipways were built to help quicken the pace of shipbuilding. By the end of that year, a destroyer could be completed in just over a year. By the end of the war, the time was cut down to three to four months from keel to launching. The new shipways accommodated the building of destroyer escorts (DEs) which were smaller, slower, and less expensive versions of destroyers, designed for escort duty and antisubmarine warfare. Charlestown built 62 DEs to meet the demands of the Lend-Lease Act of 1941 with Britain; 46 DEs were launched by 1943. In the next year, the yard focused on building LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank). "These seagoing assault vessels carried tanks and other vehicles during amphibious landings. The yard laid down 30 in 1944, taking only a month to complete one of the 328-foot vessels." In the summer of 1942, LCMs (Landing Craft, Mechanized) were built indoors for the British-American invasion of North Africa.

The role of the Charlestown Navy Yard changed upon the end of World War II. It was no longer a major shipbuilding center. Rather, it focused on converting old vessels into modern warships incorporating the new technological changes. It also became a center for sonar equipment, repairing and upgrading sonar and radar systems in destroyers and destroyer escorts. Throughout the 1950's, while the yard serviced a variety of vessels, it maintained its specialty in destroyers and destroyer escorts. "In the 1960s the yard stayed busy with outfittings, missile and ASW (Antisubmarine Warfare) conversions, and Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhauls that added five to seven years of service to aging warships."

By the 1970's, the work available to the Charlestown Navy Yard fell drastically. The marine railway and ropewalk were shut down in 1971. Meanwhile, unnecessary military bases were being closed throughout the U.S. in order to save money. The modernization and expansion of the Charlestown Navy Yard were found to be too expensive and impossible due to its small size. Furthermore, the destroyer fleet of the Navy was diminishing in size making it difficult to justify the existence of the yard. Finally, on April 16, 1973, Captain R. L. Arthur, the yard commander, announced the closing of the Charlestown yard. The formal disestablishment ceremony took place on July 1, 1974. Later the same year, a museum celebrating the yard's 174-year history was established on 30 acres of this yard. It featured the 1797 frigate U.S.S. Constitution and the 1943 destroyer U.S.S. Cassin Young.

Types of ships constructed at the Charlestown Navy Yard (1930s-1960s):

Names of Ships Constructed, Repaired, and Remodeled at the Charlestown Navy Yard:

Additional Facilities at the Charlestown Navy Yard (1930s-1960s):

If you were exposed to asbestos at Charlestown Navy Yard, please contact us.