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Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Perhaps the oldest Naval Shipyard in the United States, the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, was established in 1801 and was originally located in the Southwark District of Philadelphia, about ninety miles inland from the mouth of the Delaware River. In 1876 the yard moved three miles south to the junction of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. The yard remained there until it was disestablished on September 27, 1996.
During the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia was a perfect port because of its location between the northern and southern colonies. The city emerged as a center of early American politics, commerce, and shipbuilding.
The shipyard expanded greatly during the decade preceding the Civil War. In 1851 a floating dry dock, steam saw mill, gas fixtures and housing for senior officers were built. During the war, the yard hired nearly 1700 workers in order to upgrade production.
Despite growth, the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard did not provide the Navy with adequate support during the Civil War, and it was not until the turn of the century that vast construction improved the yard's diminishing status. The League Island Navy Yard, as the Philadelphia yard was called after 1876, sold off old ships and began a program of renovation. By 1903 the yard had improved its reputation enough to become the headquarters of the new Fourth Naval District.
During World War I the yard added a large number of facilities: a chemical laboratory, barracks, Shipways 2 and 3, a 1000-foot Drydock, a 350-ton hammerhead crane, a POW camp for German ship crews, and, most important of all, the Naval Aircraft Factory.
At the its peak between 1937 and 1941, the yard employed 45,000 workers, produced 53 ships, and repaired 574 more. Ships constructed during this time included the carriers Princeton, Antietam, and Valley Forge, the battleships New Jersey and Wisconsin, and the destroyers Butler and Gherardi, both built within a record-setting five months.
After the Second World War the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard specialized in the repair and overhaul of ships having complicated electronic and combat systems. Half of the yard's work in the 1980's was devoted to the Service Life Extension Program, which focused on rebuilding outdated aircraft carriers. This program extended the life of the shipyard when, in 1991, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission allowed the yard to finish work on the USS Kennedy. The carrier was fully repaired by 1995, and the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard closed on September 27, 1996.
Almost all raw materials and supplies used at the shipyard were ordered and purchased through the Naval Supply Department (NSD) and the Naval Regional Contracting Center (NRCC), both located at the naval base.
In 1997 Kvaerner, Europe's largest shipbuilder, agreed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in renovating the shipyard. The Kvaerner's first ship is due by 2001.
Sources:
- Coletta, Paolo E., Ed. United States Navy and Marine Corps Bases, Domestic. London: Greenwood Press, 1985. Ppgs. 475-487.
- "Philadelphia Naval Shipyard"
http://sun00781.dn.net/man/company/shipyard/philadelphia.htm - "History of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard"
http://www.pipeline.com/~blmkr30/History-PhilNSYD.html
