National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, commonly referred to as NASSCO, is an American shipbuilding company with three
shipyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
s located in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
and
Mayport. It is a division of
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...
. The San Diego shipyard specializes in constructing commercial cargo ships and auxiliary vessels for the
US 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 of ...
and
Military Sealift Command; it is the only new-construction shipyard on the
West Coast of the United States
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
. The Virginia shipyard primarily performs ship repairs and conversions for 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 ...
.
History
The origin of NASSCO traces to 1905 and a small machine shop and foundry known as California Iron Works.
In 1922 California Iron Works was taken over by U.S. National Bank and renamed National Iron Works.
In 1944 National Iron Works moved to its present location at 28th Street and Harbor Drive on
San Diego Bay
San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of c ...
, and in 1949 the company was renamed National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. to reflect its expansion into ship construction. In 1959 the company was acquired by four corporations, including
Kaiser Industries
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...
and
Morrison-Knudsen. In 1979 Morrison-Knudsen bought out Kaiser's share, and in 1989 management acquired the company from Morrison-Knudsen via an
employee stock ownership plan
Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Em ...
.
In 1940 the company's
ironworkers
An ironworker is a tradesman who works in the iron-working industry. Ironworkers assemble the structural framework in accordance with engineered drawings and install the metal support pieces for new buildings. They also repair and renovate ...
organized into a
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
. By 1979 the company had 7,900 employees organized into six unions. There was a
labor strike
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the I ...
in 1988 in which employees demanded a minimal wage of $12 per hour. Another 25-day-long strike in 1992 resulted in workers returning to work without a contract. In 1996, another labor strike hit the company. Around 2,700 employees didn't show up at work while 50 marched in front of the company with picket signs.
In 1998
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...
bought NASSCO in a $415 million deal.
On October 31, 2011 General Dynamics-NASSCO acquired Metro Machine Corp, a surface-ship repair company in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
, and renamed it NASSCO-Norfolk.
The company had been conducting ship repairs and conversions for the U.S. Navy since 1972. The NASSCO-Norfolk shipyard had the newest
dry dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
in the country, with two auto-start
generator
Generator may refer to:
* Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals
* Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy.
* Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...
s, automated
ballast
Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, ...
control system and automated ship hauling and centering system.
Work done
NASSCO began building commercial cargo ships in 1959, eventually including large cargo ships and
''Alaska''-class oil tankers. Its most famous commercial ship was the ''
Exxon Valdez
''Oriental Nicety'', formerly ''Exxon Valdez'', ''Exxon Mediterranean'', ''SeaRiver Mediterranean'', ''S/R Mediterranean'', ''Mediterranean'', and ''Dong Fang Ocean'', was an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince Wi ...
'' tanker, which completed construction at NASSCO in 1986, and in 1989 returned to NASSCO for repairs after its accident and
oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
in Alaska. In December 2012 the company signed a contract to build two container ships powered by
liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...
(LNG). When completed they will be the largest LNG-powered ships of any kind in the world.
Beginning in the 1990s the company won
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
contracts to build
AOE-10 support ships, strategic sealift ships, and TOTE Orca-class trailerships. Additional Navy contracts awarded during the 2000s included maintenance of the San Diego-based
USS ''Ticonderoga'' (CG-47) and
USS ''Spruance'' (DD-963) warships. In 2001 the Navy awarded NASSCO its largest order in company history, to build the
''Lewis and Clark''-class dry cargo ships (T-AKE), a 14-ship program with a contract value of $3.7 billion. The company has a contract to build at least three
Mobile Landing Platform ships, a new class of ship for the U.S. Navy. Construction on the first vessel began in July 2011 and the keel was laid for the second in December 2012.
In 2016,
Matson, Inc
Matson, Inc. is an American shipping and navigation services company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1882, Matson, Inc.'s subsidiary Matson Navigation Company provides ocean shipping services across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska, G ...
ordered two
Kanaloa-class freighters, to be delivered near the end of the decade.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Falls Church, Virginia
General Dynamics
Manufacturing companies based in San Diego
San Diego Bay
Shipbuilding companies of California
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905
1905 establishments in California