South Boston Naval Annex and South Boston Army Base, circa 1958

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...

facilities in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of the new

U.S. Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary of ...

in 1798. After 175 years of military service, it was decommissioned as a naval installation on 1 July 1974. The property is administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

, becoming part of Boston National Historical Park. Enough of the yard remains in operation to support the moored USS ''Constitution'' ("Old Ironsides") of 1797, built as one of the original six heavy frigates for the revived American navy, and the oldest warship still commissioned in the

and afloat in the world. , a 1943

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

-era ''Fletcher''-class

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

serving as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

, is also berthed here. The museum area includes a dock which is a stop on the MBTA Boat water transport system. Among local people in the area and the National Park Service, it is still known as the Charlestown Navy Yard. The

South Boston Naval Annex The South Boston Naval Annex was a United States Navy shipyard annex located in South Boston. It was the annex of the Boston Navy Yard, and was operational from the 1920 to 1974, when it was closed along with the main shipyard. The annex is also ...

was located along the waterfront in

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...

, an annex of the Navy Yard from 1920 to 1974. Other annexes of the Navy Yard during World War II were the Chelsea Naval Annex (formerly the Green Shipyard, now the Fitzgerald Shipyard), East Boston Naval Annex, and Boston Naval Yard Fuel Depot Annex.

History

The earliest naval shipbuilding activities in

Charlestown, Massachusetts Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett tribe, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins ...

across the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles bac ...

and

Boston harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History ...

to the north from the city of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, began during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

(1775–1783). The Charlestown Arsenal of

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

was established in 1794. Shortly thereafter, in 1800, the land for the Charlestown Navy Yard was purchased by the United States government and the yard itself was established. The yard built the first U.S.

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

, in 1814, and at least twelve small vessels for the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, but was primarily a repair and storage facility until the 1890s, when it started to build steel ships for the "New Navy". By then, it was called the Boston Navy Yard. On 24 June 1833, the staff and dignitaries including then Vice President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

, Secretary of War

Lewis Cass Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He w ...

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

Levi Woodbury, and many Massachusetts officials, witnessed "one of the great events of American naval history": the early United States

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

was inaugurating the first naval drydock in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

designed by prominent civil engineer Loammi Baldwin, Jr.Historic Naval Ships Association
The ropewalk supplied cordage used in the Navy from the time it opened in 1837 until the Yard closed in 1975. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

(1861–1865), the Yard was downgraded to an Equipment and Recruit Facility. In the late 1880s and 1890s, the Navy began expanding again bringing into service new modern steel-hulled steam-powered warships and that brought new life to the Yard. In the first years of the 20th century, a second drydock was added. During

(1939/1941–1945), it worked to fix British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

warships and merchant transports damaged by the Nazi Germans when crossing the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. On 27 September 1941— Liberty Fleet Day—Boston launched two

s, USS ''Cowie'' and the USS ''Knight''. Even before the U.S. entered the Second World War after the

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

attack on 7 December 1941, a month before in November, Boston was one of four United States naval shipyards selected to build s under the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

military assistance program for the Royal Navy. Since the United States was at war when these ships were finally completed, some were later requisitioned and used by the United States Navy as destroyer escorts. In the post war period, the shipyard modified World War II ships for

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

(1945–1991) service through Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM). The

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

(1950–1953), and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

(1964–1975) did not bring much work to the yard since it was so far from the fighting. The Yard closed after the Vietnam War. It was also the location of the Marine Barracks Boston.

Dry Docks and Slipways

Ships built at Boston Navy Yard

Current use

When ideas were floated for redevelopment of the yard, one of the people's popular idea was to have the yard turned into a construction yard for

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined ...

s. Ultimately, these plans fell through, and the site became part of the Boston National Historical Park. Its mission is, "to interpret the art and history of naval shipbuilding".Charlestown Navy Yard: The Shipyard on the Charles
The Boston Navy Yard hosts many attractions, including Charlestown Naval Shipyard Park. The fully commissioned and the

are tied up at Pier 1 and open to the public. The Navy Yard also hosts the USS ''Constitution'' Museum. Dry Dock No. 1 is still used for ship maintenance for ''Constitution'' and ''Cassin Young''. In May 2015, ''Constitution'' entered the dry dock for three years of repairs. The Yard is toward the north end of the Freedom Trail. The MBTA Boat stops at nearby Pier 4, providing easy visitor access to the Yard. The campus of the MGH Institute of Health Professions occupies seven buildings in the Yard, including classroom, office, and clinical space. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and multiple Massachusetts General Hospital research laboratories occupy the perimeter.

Gallery

Image:USS Cassin Young 2007.jpg, USS ''Cassin Young'' berthed at the Boston Navy Yard File:Dry Dock 1.JPG, A view of the dry dock without water File:Boston Dry Dock.JPG, ''Cassin Young'' in drydock File:USS Cassin Young in Dry Dock.JPG, ''Cassin Young'' in dry dock at night

References

External links

Charlestown Navy Yard – Boston National Historical Park

{{Authority control Navy Yards of the United States Navy Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Navy Yard, Boston National Historic Landmarks in Boston Navy Yard, Boston Manufacturing companies based in Boston Navy Yard, Boston Maritime museums in Massachusetts Military and war museums in Massachusetts Naval museums in the United States Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Boston National Historical Park 1800 establishments in Massachusetts Shipyards on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Boston Military installations established in 1800 Military installations closed in 1974 Closed installations of the United States Navy Shipyards building World War II warships