The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former
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 ...
and
ordnance plant of the
United States Navy in
Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy.
The Yard currently serves as a ceremonial and administrative center for the U.S. Navy, home to the
Chief of Naval Operations
The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...
, and is headquarters for the
Naval Sea Systems Command
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, c ...
,
Naval Reactors,
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command,
Naval History and Heritage Command
The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. ...
, the
National Museum of the United States Navy, the
U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps,
Marine Corps Institute
The Marine Corps Institute, commonly referred to as MCI, developed and maintained a curriculum of Marine Corps education. Subjects included infantry strategy/tactics, leadership skills, MOS qualifications, personal finance, and mathematics. Compl ...
, the
United States Navy Band
The United States Navy Band, based at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., has served as the official musical organization of the U.S. Navy since 1925. The U.S. Navy Band serves the ceremonial needs at the seat of government, performin ...
, and other more classified facilities.
In 1998, the yard was listed as a
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site due to
environmental contamination
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
.
History
The history of the yard can be divided into its military history and cultural and scientific history.
Military
The land was purchased under an
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...
on July 23, 1799. The Washington Navy Yard was established on October 2, 1799, the date the property was transferred to the Navy. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy. The Yard was built under the direction of
Benjamin Stoddert, the first
Secretary of the Navy, under the supervision of the Yard's first commandant,
Commodore Thomas Tingey, who served in that capacity for 29 years.
The original boundaries that were established in 1800, along 9th and
M Street SE, are still marked by a white brick wall that surrounds the Yard on the north and east sides. The following year, two additional lots were purchased. The north wall of the Yard was built in 1809 along with a
guardhouse, now known as the
Latrobe Gate. After the
Burning of Washington in 1814, Tingey recommended that the height of the eastern wall be increased to ten feet (3 m) because of the fire and subsequent
looting
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
.
The southern boundary of the Yard was formed by the
Anacostia River (then called the "Eastern Branch" of the
Potomac River). The west side was undeveloped
marsh. The land located along the Anacostia was added to by
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
over the years as it became necessary to increase the size of the Yard.
From its first years, the Washington Navy Yard became the navy's largest shipbuilding and shipfitting facility, with 22 vessels constructed there, ranging from small 70-foot (21 m)
gunboats to the 246-foot (75 m) steam
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 and ...
USS ''Minnesota''. The
USS ''Constitution'' came to the Yard in 1812 to refit and prepare for combat action.
During the
War of 1812, the Navy Yard was important not only as a support facility but also as a vital strategic link in defense of the capital city. Sailors of Navy Yard were part of the hastily assembled American army, which, at
Bladensburg, Maryland, opposed the British forces marching on Washington.
An independent volunteer militia rifle company of civilian workers in the Washington Navy Yard was organized by the
United States naval architect William Doughty in 1813, and they regularly drilled after working hours. In 1814, Captain Doughty's volunteers were designated the
Navy Yard Rifles
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...
and assigned to serve under the overall command of Major
Robert Brent
Robert Brent (1764 – September 7, 1819) was the first mayor of Washington City, the future Washington D.C., federal capital of the United States of America. Brent was born into a prominent Catholic family, members of which emigrated to the ...
of the
2nd Regiment of the
District of Columbia Militia
The District of Columbia Army National Guard is the United States Army, Army component of the District of Columbia National Guard. As the District of Columbia is a federal district and not a state, the guard is placed under the authority of the Pr ...
who was the first mayor of Washington, D.C. In late August, they were ordered to assemble at
Bladensburg, Maryland to form the first line of defense in protecting the United States' capital city along with the majority of the American forces was ordered to retreat. The
Chesapeake Bay Flotilla of
Joshua Barney
Joshua Barney (6 July 1759 – 1 December 1818) was an American Navy officer who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and as a captain in the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. He later achieved the rank ...
joined the combined forces of Navy Yard sailors, and the
U.S. Marines of the nearby Marine Barracks of Washington, D.C., and were positioned to be the third and final line of the American defenses. Together, they effectively used devastating artillery and fought in hand-to-hand combat with
cutlasses and
pikes against the British regulars before being overwhelmed. Benjamin King (1764-1840), a navy yard civilian master blacksmith, fought at Bladensburg. King accompanied Captain Miller's Marines into battle. King took charge of a disabled gun and was instrumental in bringing that gun into action. Captain Miller remembered King's gun "cut down sixteen of the enemy."
As the
British marched into Washington, holding the Yard became impossible. Seeing the smoke from the burning
Capitol, Tingey ordered the Yard burned to prevent its capture by the enemy. Both structures are now individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On August 30, 1814, Mary Stockton Hunter, an eyewitness to the vast conflagration, wrote her sister: "No pen can describe the appalling sound that our ears heard and the sight our eyes saw. We could see everything from the upper part of our house as plainly as if we had been in the Yard. All the vessels of war on fire-the immense quantity of dry timber, together with the houses and stores in flames produced an almost meridian brightness. You never saw a drawing room so brilliantly lighted as the whole city was that night."
Among the vessels that were burned at the Yard were two warships under construction and nearing completion: the original
''Columbia'', a 44-gun frigate, and the
''Argus'', an 18-gun brig being built to replace an earlier
''Argus'', which had been captured by the British a year earlier following a fierce
engagement
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
off the coast of
Wales.
Civilian employment
From its beginning, the navy yard had one of the biggest payrolls in town, with the number of civilian mechanics and laborers and contractors expanding with the seasons and the naval Congressional appropriation. Before the passage of the
Pendleton Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act is a United States federal law passed by the 47th United States Congress and signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on January 16, 1883. The act mandates that most positions within the federal gover ...
on 16 January 1883, applications for employment at the navy yard were informal, mainly based on connections, patronage, and personal influence. On occasion, a dearth of applicants required a public announcement; the first such documented advertisement was by Commodore
Thomas Tingey on 15 May 1815 "To Blacksmiths, Eight or Ten good strikers capable of working on large anchors, and other heavy ship work, will find constant employ and liberal wages, by application at the navy yard, Washington" Following the War of 1812, the Washington Navy Yard never regained its prominence as a shipbuilding facility. The waters of the Anacostia River were too shallow to accommodate larger vessels, and the Yard was deemed too inaccessible to the open sea. Thus came a shift to what was to be the character of the yard for more than a century: ordnance and technology. During the next decade, the Navy Yard grew to become by 1819 the largest employer in Washington, D.C., with a total number of approximately 345 workers. In 1826 noted writer
Anne Royall, toured the navy yard. She wrote,
"The navy yard is a complete work-shop, where every naval article is manufactured: it contains twenty-two forges, five furnaces, and a steam-engine. The shops are large and convenient; they are built of brick and covered with copper to secure them from fire. Steel is prepared here with great facility. The numbers of hands employed vary; at present there are about 200. A ship-wright has $2,50 per day, out of which he maintains his wife and family if he have any. Generally wages are very low for all manner of work; a common laborer gets but 75 cents per day, and finds himself. The whole interior of the yard exhibits one continual thundering of hammers, axes, saws, and bellows, sending forth such a variety of sounds and smells, from the profusion of coal burnt in the furnaces, that it requires the strongest nerves to sustain the annoyance."
In 1819, Betsey Howard became the first female worker documented at the navy yard (and perhaps in the federal service), followed shortly after by Ann Spieden. Both Howard and Spieden were employed as horse cart drivers, "and like their male counterparts employed per diem, at $1.54 a day, working whole or part days as required."
In 1832 the Washington Navy Yard Hospital, hired Eleanor Cassidy O'Donnell to work as a nurse. During the Civil War the navy hired about two dozen women as seamstresses in the Ordnance Department, Laboratory Division. The Department produced naval shells and gunpowder. The women sewed canvas bags that were used to charge ordnance aboard naval vessels. They also sewed flags for naval vessels. Most of these workers were paid about $1.00 per day. Their work was dangerous, for there was always the risk of a single errant spark igniting nearby gunpowder or pyrotechnics with catastrophic results, such as the explosion and fire on 17 June 1864 that killed 21 young women working at the
U.S. Army Arsenal Washington D.C.
During World War II, the Washington Navy Yard at its peak employed over 20,000 civilian workers, including 1,400 female ordnance workers.
The Yard was also a leader in technology as it possessed one of the earliest
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
s in the United States. The steam engine was the high-tech marvel of the early District and often commented on by authors and visitors. Samuel Batley Ellis, an English immigrant, was the first steam engine operator, and in 1810 was paid the high wage of $2.00 per day. The steam engine ran the sawmill and manufactured
anchors, chain, and steam engines for vessels of war. Because of its proximity to the nation's Capitol, the Washington Navy Yard Commandant, was routinely was tasked requests from the Secretary of the Navy and the members of Congress. For example on 2 July 1811, Secretary of the Navy
Paul Hamilton (politician) ordered Commodore Tingey to provide a "4th of July 18 gun salute, commencing at Sunrise and another commencing at 12 o'clock and yet another commencing at Sunset. Hamilton then added a note that "Rockets are to be displayed on common before the North front of the President's house and could not the
USS Wasp
USS ''Wasp'' may refer to the following ships of the Continental and United States navies:
* was a merchant schooner purchased by the Continental Navy in late 1775 and destroyed in 1777
* was a sloop constructed in 1806 and captured during the Wa ...
be brought West of the bridge or near the bridge, dressed in colors!"
The
1835 Washington Navy Yard labor strike
The Washington Navy Yard labor strike of 1835 is considered the first strike of federal civilian employees. The strike began on Wednesday July 31, 1835, and ended August 15, 1835. The strike supported the movement advocating a ten-hour workday and ...
was the first labor strike of federal civilian employees. The unsuccessful strike was from 29 July to 15 August 1835. The strike was over working conditions and in support of a ten-hour day.
Enslaved Labor
For the first thirty years of the 19th century, the Navy Yard was the District's principal employer of enslaved and some free African Americans. Their numbers rose rapidly, and by 1808, the enslaved made up one-third of the workforce. The number of enslaved workers gradually declined during the next thirty years. However, free and some enslaved African Americans remained a vital presence. One such person was former slave, later freeman,
Michael Shiner
Michael G. Shiner (1805–1880) was an African-American Navy Yard worker and diarist who chronicled events in Washington D.C. for more than 60 years, first as a slave and later as a free man. His diary is the earliest-known by an African Americ ...
1805-1880 whose diary chronicled his life and work at the navy yard for over half a century There is the documentation for enslaved labor euphemistically called "servants" still working in the blacksmith shop as late as August 1861.
Civil War Era
File:Washington Navy Yard lithograph 1862.jpg, Colored lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
of Washington Navy Yard, circa 1862
File:Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. LCCN2012649140.jpg, The Washington Navy Yard during the Civil War
During the
American Civil War, the Yard once again became an integral part of the defense of Washington. Commandant
Franklin Buchanan resigned his commission to join the
Confederacy
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...
, leaving the Yard to Commander
John A. Dahlgren
John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren (November 13, 1809 – July 12, 1870) was a United States Navy officer who founded his service's Ordnance Department and launched significant advances in gunnery.
Dahlgren devised a smoothbore howitzer, adaptable ...
.
President Abraham Lincoln, who held Dahlgren in the highest esteem, was a frequent visitor. The famous
ironclad
An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
USS ''Monitor'' was repaired at the Yard after her
historic battle with the
CSS ''Virginia''. The
Lincoln assassination conspirators were brought to the Yard following their capture. The body of
John Wilkes Booth was examined and identified on the monitor
USS ''Montauk'', moored at the Yard.
Following the war, the Yard continued to be the scene of technological advances. In 1886, the Yard was designated the manufacturing center for all ordnance in the Navy. Commander
Theodore F. Jewell
Theodore Frelinghuysen Jewell (August 5, 1844 – July 26, 1932) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy.
Naval career
Jewell was appointed an acting midshipman on November 29, 1861, when he entered the United States Naval Academy. His clas ...
was Superintendent of the Naval Gun Factory from January 1893 to February 1896.
1900s
Ordnance production continued as the Yard manufactured armament for the
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the group of United States Navy battleships which completed a journey around the globe from December 16, 1907 to February 22, 1909 by order of President Theodore Roosevelt. Its mission was t ...
and the World War I navy. The naval
railway guns used in France during World War I were manufactured at the Yard.
By World War II, the Yard was the largest naval ordnance plant in the world. The weapons designed and built there were used in every war in which the United States fought until the 1960s. At its peak, the Yard consisted of 188 buildings on 126 acres (0.5 km
2) of land and employed nearly 25,000 people. Small components for optical systems, parts of
Little Boy, and enormous 16-inch (406mm) battleship guns were all manufactured here. In December 1945, the Yard was renamed the U.S. Naval Gun Factory. Ordnance work continued for some years after World War II until finally phased out in 1961. Three years later, on July 1, 1964, the activity was re-designated the Washington Navy Yard. The deserted factory buildings began to be converted to office use.
[ In 1963, ownership of 55 acres of the Washington Navy Yard Annex (western side of Yard including Building 170) was transferred to the General Services Administration. The Yards at the Southeast Federal Center are part of this former property and now includes the headquarters for the United States Department of Transportation.
The Washington Navy Yard was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and designated a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976.] It is part of the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District. It is also part of the Navy Yard, also known as Near Southeast, neighborhood. It is served by the Navy Yard – Ballpark Metro station on the Green Line
Green Line may refer to:
Places Military and political
* Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II
* Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours
** City Line ( ...
.
2000s
The Marine Corps Museum was located on the first floor of the Marine Corps Historical Society in Building 58. The museum closed on July 1, 2005, during the establishment of the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Marine Corps Base Quantico. The Yard was headquarters to the Marine Corps Historical Center. That moved in 2006 to Quantico.
Cultural and scientific
The Washington Navy Yard was the scene of many scientific developments. In 1804 at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, navy yard blacksmith Benjamin King built the first White House water closet/toilet. For which Architect Benjamin Latrobe reminded King, " How shall I get the president of the United States into good humor with you about his Water Closet, & his side roof which you were to make? He complains bitterly of you using the privilege of a Man of Genius against him, - that is of being a little forgetful. – I so well know the goodness of your disposition, that I am determined, if possible, to want his quarreling with you at all events about so dirty a business as a Water Closet." King in 1805 again at Jefferson's behest built the first fire engine for the White House°. In December 1807 Robert Fulton approached Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy and requested that a test of his new torpedo, be authorized at the Washington Navy Yard. Fulton specifically asked that the Navy fabricate copper harpoon torpedoes and provide small boats manned with gunner’s mates and boat crews. He envisioned a limited trial on the feasibility of sinking a small sloop. The trial was never funded and a perplexed and exasperated Fulton complained to Jefferson about the naval establishment. In September 1810 the Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton (politician) agreed to test Fulton's torpedo, and Commodore Thomas Tingey was directed to transport via stage coach two torpedo harpoon guns from Washington Navy Yard to New York "for Mr. Fulton". To Fulton's chagrin, after a number of attempts the torpedo test ended in failure. In 1822, Commodore John Rodgers built the country's first marine railway for the overhaul of large vessels. John A. Dahlgren
John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren (November 13, 1809 – July 12, 1870) was a United States Navy officer who founded his service's Ordnance Department and launched significant advances in gunnery.
Dahlgren devised a smoothbore howitzer, adaptable ...
developed his distinctive bottle-shaped cannon that became the mainstay of naval ordnance before the Civil War. In 1898, David W. Taylor developed a ship model testing basin, which was used by the Navy and private shipbuilders to test the effect of water on new hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
designs. The first shipboard aircraft catapult was tested in the Anacostia River in 1912, and a wind tunnel was completed at the Yard in 1916. The giant gears for the Panama Canal locks were cast at the Yard. Navy Yard technicians applied their efforts to medical designs for prosthetic hands and molds for artificial eyes and teeth.
Navy Yard was Washington's earliest industrial neighborhood. One of the earliest industrial buildings nearby was the eight-story brick Sugar House, built in Square 744 at the foot of New Jersey Avenue, SE, as a sugar refinery in 1797–98. In 1805, it became the Washington Brewery, which produced beer until it closed in 1836. The brewery site was just west of the Washington City Canal in what is now Parking Lot H/I in the block between Nationals Park and the historic DC Water pumping station.
The Washington Navy Yard often functions as a ceremonial gateway to the nation's capital. From early on, due to its proximity to the White House, the navy yard was the site of recurrent presidential visits. The Washington Navy Yard station log confirms many of these visits, for example, those of John Tyler 5 July 1841, James K. Polk 4 March 1845, Franklin Pierce 14 December 1853, and Abraham Lincoln,18 May 1861 and 25 July 1861. There are also entries for foreign delegations and celebrities, e.g., 7 September 1825 for General Lafayette and 15 May 1860 for the visit of the first Japanese Embassy. The body of World War I's Unknown Soldier was received here. Charles A. Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
returned to the Navy Yard in 1927 after his famous transatlantic flight.
During the Civil War, a small number of women worked at the Navy Yard as flag makers and seamstresses, sewing canvas bags for gunpowder. Women again entered the workforce in the 20th century in significant numbers during WWII, where they worked at the Naval Gun Factory making munitions.[ Following the war, most were discharged. In the modern era, women working at the Yard have increased their presence in executive, managerial, administrative, technical, and clerical positions.
From 1984 to 2015, the decommissioned ]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 in ...
was 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 ...
at the Washington Navy Yard as "Display Ship ''Barry''" (DS ''Barry''). ''Barry'' was frequently used for change of command ceremonies for naval commands in the area.[ Due to declining visitors to the ship, the expensive renovations she required, and the District's plans to build a new bridge that would trap her in the Anacostia River, ''Barry'' was towed away during the winter of 2015-2016 for scrapping.] The U.S. Navy held an official departure ceremony for the ship on 17 October 2015.
Today, the Navy Yard houses a variety of activities. It serves as headquarters, Naval District Washington, and houses numerous support activities for the fleet and aviation communities. The Navy Museum
A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the militar ...
welcomes visitors to the Navy Art Collection and its displays of naval art and artifact Artifact, or artefact, may refer to:
Science and technology
* Artifact (error), misleading or confusing alteration in data or observation, commonly in experimental science, resulting from flaws in technique or equipment
** Compression artifact, a ...
s, which trace the Navy's history from the Revolutionary War to the present day. The Naval History and Heritage Command is housed in a complex of buildings known as the Dudley Knox Center for Naval History. Leutze Park is the scene of colorful ceremonies.
2013 shooting
On September 16, 2013, a shooting took place at the Yard. Shots were fired at the headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building #197. Fifteen people, including 13 civilians, one D.C. police officer, and one base officer, were shot. Twelve fatalities were confirmed by the United States Navy and D.C. Police. Officials said the gunman, Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old civilian contractor from Queens, New York, was killed during a gunfight with police.
Operations
The Yard serves as a ceremonial and administrative center for the U.S. Navy, home to the Chief of Naval Operations
The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...
. It is headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, c ...
, Naval Reactors, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Naval Historical Center, the Department of Naval History, the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, the United States Navy Band
The United States Navy Band, based at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., has served as the official musical organization of the U.S. Navy since 1925. The U.S. Navy Band serves the ceremonial needs at the seat of government, performin ...
, the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command and numerous other naval commands. Several Officers' Quarters are located at the facility.
Building 126
Building 126 is located by the Anacostia River, on the northeast corner of 11th and SE O Streets. The one-story building, built between 1925 and 1938, was recently renovated to be a net-zero energy building
A Zero Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy c ...
as part of the Washington Navy Yard Energy Demonstration Project. Features include two wind turbines, five geothermal wells, a battery energy storage
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production.
A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery.
Energy comes in ...
system, one-hundred thirty-two 235 kW solar
Solar may refer to:
Astronomy
* Of or relating to the Sun
** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun
** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels")
** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
panels, and windows of electrochromic smart glass
Smart glass or switchable glass (also called a smart window or switchable window) is a glass or glazing whose light transmission properties dynamically alter to control the passage of solar irradiation into buildings. In general, the glass chan ...
.
Although inventoried and determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, it is currently not part of an existing district. Until 1950, Building 126 functioned as the receiving station laundry. Afterward, it served as the site of the Washington Navy Yard Police Station. Currently, it acts as the Visitor Center for the Yard.
Gallery
File:Washington Navy Yard 3b06890u.tif, View of Washington Navy Yard's dock, circa 1867
File:US Experimental Model Basin - interior view, c. 1900.jpg, Experimental Model Basin, circa 1900
File:Washington Navy Yard - torpedo shop.jpg, Torpedo shop at the Washington Navy Yard, circa 1917
File:Unknown Soldier at the Washington Navy Yard.jpg, The Unknown Soldier from World War I arriving at the Washington Navy Yard, circa 1921 ( colored)
File:USS Barry (DD-933) berthed at Washington Navy Yard.jpg, An aerial view of the destroyer docked at the Washington Navy Yard, 15 April 1984
File:WashingtonNavyYardWest.jpg, Washington Navy Yard Looking West
File:WashingtonNavyYard.jpg, Washington Navy Yard
See also
* Arsenal Point
* Building 170
* List of National Historic Landmarks in the District of Columbia
The District of Columbia, capital of the United States, is home to 75 National Historic Landmarks. The National Historic Landmark program is operated under the auspices of the National Park Service, and recognizes structures, districts, objects, a ...
* 1835 Washington Navy Yard labor strike
The Washington Navy Yard labor strike of 1835 is considered the first strike of federal civilian employees. The strike began on Wednesday July 31, 1835, and ended August 15, 1835. The strike supported the movement advocating a ten-hour workday and ...
References
External links
Washington Navy Yard history
"The United States Naval Gun Factory"
by Commander Theodore F. Jewell
Theodore Frelinghuysen Jewell (August 5, 1844 – July 26, 1932) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy.
Naval career
Jewell was appointed an acting midshipman on November 29, 1861, when he entered the United States Naval Academy. His clas ...
, ''Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'', Vol. 89, Issue 530, July 1894, pp. 251–261.
Washington Navy Yard Walking Tour
C-SPAN3, Thomas Frezza, May 2017
U.S. Naval Gun Factory Washington, D.C. 1940s U.S. Navy Artillery & Gun Design Movie 26444
{{DCMilitary
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Colonial Revival architecture in Washington, D.C.
Historic districts in Washington, D.C.
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Military Superfund sites
Navy Yard
Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United States
Superfund sites in Washington, D.C.
United States Navy shipyards
Victorian architecture in Washington, D.C.
Shipyards on the National Register of Historic Places
Washington Navy Yard