Historic preservation and cultural resource management at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia

• Main Author: Simms, La Tanya E.
• Language: en_US
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/8475

CIVINS === Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), established in 1767, is the oldest of the United States Navy's shipyards and predates the Department of the Navy by 31 years. It is located on the western shore of the Elizabeth River's southern branch in Portsmouth, Virginia. Andrew Sprowle, under the British flag, established it as Gosport Shipyard and it flourished as a naval and merchant shipyard. He vacated the 16 acre site at the onset of the American Revolution in 1775 and Gosport was seized by the colony of Virginia (NNSY 1999). The shipyard was burned by opposing forces three times, first by the British during the Revolution and once by both Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. "The Navy assumed title to Gosport Shipyard on 15 June 1801" (Goodwin & Associates 1998, p. 18) after the Federal Government recognized the value of operating its own yards. "This former colonial shipyard became the Navy's nucleus in the Hampton Roads area where the largest naval base Norfolk Naval Basel in the world has developed" (NNSY 1999). Throughout its storied history, which includes operating during nine major wars, NNSY has facilitated invaluable service to the nation. Among notable accomplishments at the yard, the first dry dock in the Western Hemisphere, Dry Dock No. 1, began operating in 1833 and continues to operate today. Over one hundred United States and allied ships were built or converted at NNSY. USS Merrimack was converted in Dry Dock 1 into the Confederate Navy's ironclad CSS Virginia, which fought the Union's USS Monitor in Hampton Roads Bay during the Civil War