Gosport Shipyard

Gosport Shipyard. Revolutionary Naval Technology. This harbor is home to the oldest naval shipyard in the United States. First known as Gosport, today's Norfolk Naval Shipyard was already a century old when Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861. Since 1767 these waters have been home to the evolution of naval warfare, which continues even today., This shipyard was so valuable that on April 21, 1861, Capt. Charles McCauley ordered the supplies, structures, and ships here to be burned before it was captured by the Confederacy. Almost immediately after taking command of the yard, the Confederates began salvaging the vessels and materials for the war effort. Among the smoldering ruins, they found the remains of the steam-powered USS Merrimack. After a local diving company raised the hull and placed it in historic Drydock No. 1, workers set about converting the 1856 steam frigate into the ironclad CSS Virginia., On March 8, 1862, CSS Virginia steamed past this spot heading into Hampton Roads behind you. Virginia easily destroyed the wooden-hulled USS Cumberland and USS Congress, causing panic among Union officials. The following day, CSS Virginia and the ironclad USS Monitor battled for several hours, resulting in a draw. However, over those two days this battle proved to the world that the age of wooden-hulled sailing ships had given way to the age of steam and steel., (sidebar) , Gosport Shipyard's historic Drydock No. 1 received its first ship in June 1833. It was the first drydock for building and repairing ships in America. The dock, constructed of enormous hand-cut granite slabs by white and enslaved laborers, is still in use today in its near-original configuration. During the construction of the dock, the use of enslaved skilled African American stonecutters led to protests by white stonecutters who objected to the manager's use of discounted labor rather than paying white workers the going rate. Enslaved workers at the shipyard performed the duties of masons, shipwrights and blacksmiths, among other occupations., (captions) , This Dec. 1864 photograph by James Gardner shows combat artist Alfred R. Waud seated amidst the ruins of the Norfolk Navy Yard, which the Confederates had burned in 1862. - Courtesy Library of Congress, Drydock No. I looking west, ca. 1875. - Courtesy U.S. Navy