The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. . , The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was established in 1801 at the foot of Federal Street in the Southwark section of the city. When Civil War naval combat conclusively demonstrated the superiority of ironclad vessels, the Federal Street yard was rendered obsolete. In 1868 the federal government acquired title to League Island as the site of a new shipyard for construction of iron warships., League Island then consisted of low, marshy land, the greater portion of which was covered by the water at high tide. Initial improvements included dredging the channel that separated the island from the mainland, filling in marshy areas, and constructing embankments along the waterfront. The first permanent building in the new yard, the Yard and Docks building (Building No. 1) was completed in 1875. Development proceeded slowly at first, and for a time, survival of the yard appeared in doubt., In 1880, the climate for League Island improved when Congress appropriated funds for a dry dock to help meet growing needs for shipbuilding and repair. Throughout the rest of the nineteenth century and during the early years of the twentieth century, extensive improvements were made, including construction of a second dry dock, officers' quarters, and several large shop buildings., The yard laid the keel of its first ship, the 10,000-ton Henderson, on Shipway No. 1 in 1915, The Navy's first hospital ship, the Relief, and its first destroyer tender, the Dobbin, were built on the yard's ways during World War I. Shortly after the war, four minesweeper were built at the yard., With the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, ship construction temporarily ceased, and the shipyard became a major center for ship scrapping. Shipbuilding resumed during the 1930s. Construction of the New Orleans class cruiser Minneapolis began in June of 1931, and the ship was launched in 1933. Other vessels followed, culminating in the shipyard's first battleship, the 35,000-ton Washington., When the United States entered World War II, Philadelphia became one of the Navy's major shipbuilding yards. At the peak of wartime activity, the yard employed 47,596 full-time workers. During the war, the yard constructed 53 vessels and repaired, converted, and overhauled 1,218 others, ranging from small patrol craft to the battleship South Dakota., In August of 1945 the Pentagon announced its first postwar naval cutbacks, on the work for these ships was discontinued. By the end of 1946, the number of shipyard employees had decreased to 7,500. During the postwar years, the shipyard specialized in the overhaul and modernization of naval vessels. the reserve basing served as home port for the Reserve Inactive Fleet. By the early 1960s, this fleet was nearly as large as the entire U.S. fleet at the time of the attack at Pearl Harbor., During the 1960s, shipbuilding resumed on a small scale as workers built guided missile frigates, tank landing ships, and helicopter carriers. The last vessel built at the yard was the amphibious armored ship Blue Ridge, launched on January 4, 1969., In the late 1970s, the yard began to refurbish aircraft carriers for continued service under the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). The first carrier to be overhauled at the yard was the Saratoga. Four other ships followed: the Forrestal, the Independence, the Kitty Hawk, and the Constellation. In recognition of its excellent work during SLEP, the yard was awarded a final overhaul contract, upgrading of the camer John F. Kennedy. This ship left the shipyard in September of 1996., During post-Cold War defense reductions, the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was placed on base closure lists. This closure decision was confirmed by Congress in April of 1991, and the shipyard was officially closed on September 27, 1996.