Newport News Shipyard, aerial view, Oct 1994

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of

U.S. 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 o ...

submarines. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Co. in 1886, Newport News Shipbuilding has built more than 800 ships, including both naval and commercial ships. Located in the city of

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

, its facilities span more than , strategically positioned in one of the great harbors of the East Coast. The shipyard is a major employer, not only for the lower

Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the n ...

, but also portions of Hampton Roads south of the James River and the harbor, portions of the

Middle Peninsula The Middle Peninsula is the second of three large peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the Middle Peninsula was home to 92,886 people. It lies between the Northern Neck and ...

region, and even some northeastern counties of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. The shipyard is building the s and . In 2013, Newport News Shipbuilding began the deactivation of the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, , which it also built. Newport News Shipbuilding also performs refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) work on s. This is a four-year vessel renewal program that not only involves refueling of the vessel's nuclear reactors but also includes modernization work. The yard has completed RCOH for five ''Nimitz''-class carriers (, , , and ). As of November 2017 this work was underway for the sixth ''Nimitz''-class vessel, .

History

Industrialist Collis P. Huntington (1821–1900) provided crucial funding to complete the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

(C&O) from Richmond, Virginia to the Ohio River in the early 1870s. Although originally built for general commerce, this C&O rail link to the midwest was soon also being used to transport bituminous coal from the previously isolated coalfields, adjacent to the New River and the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the st ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

. In 1881, the Peninsula Extension of the C&O was built from Richmond down the

to reach a new coal pier on Hampton Roads in Warwick County near the small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Newport News Point. However, building the railroad and coal pier was only the first part of Huntington's dreams for Newport News.

The shipyard's early years

Northrop Grumman Newport News 032007 001

In 1886, Huntington built a shipyard to repair ships servicing this transportation hub. In 1891 Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company delivered its first ship, the

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Dorothy''. By 1897 NNS had built three warships 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 ...

: , and . When Collis died in 1900, his nephew Henry E. Huntington inherited much of his uncle's fortune. He also married Collis' widow

Arabella Huntington Arabella Duval Huntington (née Yarrington; 1850/1851 – September 16, 1924) was an American philanthropist and once known as the richest woman in the country. She was the force behind the art collection that is housed at the Huntington Librar ...

, and assumed Collis' leadership role with Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Under Henry Huntington's leadership, growth continued. In 1906 the revolutionary launched a great naval race worldwide. Between 1907 and 1923, Newport News built six of the US Navy's total of 22

dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

s – , , , , and . All but the first were in active service in

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1907 President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

sent the Great White Fleet on its round-the-world voyage. NNS had built seven of its 16 battleships. In 1914 NNS built SS ''Medina'' for the

Mallory Steamship Company Mallory is an Irish surname derived from the Goidelic languages, Gaelic ''Ó Mallairígh''. Spelling variants include Mallary, Mallery, Malorie, Mallorie, Mallerie and Mallorey. Mallory and Mallerie are also given names derived from the surname. ...

; as she was until 2009 the world's oldest active

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

-faring passenger ship.

Newport News and the shipyard

In the early years, leaders of the Newport News community and those of the shipyard were virtually interchangeable. Shipyard president

Walter A. Post Walter A. Post (died February 12, 1912) was the first mayor of Newport News, Virginia. He was born in Kingston, New York on the 7th of January, 1857, and studied as a civil engineer. He was sent to Newport News by his brother-in-law, Eugene Whi ...

served from March 9, 1911 to February 12, 1912, when he died. Earlier, he had come to the area as one of the builders of the C&O Railway's terminals, and had served as the first mayor of Newport News after it became an

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

in 1896. It was on March 14, 1914 that Albert Lloyd Hopkins, a young New Yorker trained in engineering, succeeded Post as president of the company. In May 1915 while traveling to England on shipyard business aboard , Albert L. Hopkins tenure and life ended prematurely when that ship was

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

ed and sunk by a German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

off Queenstown on the Irish coast. His assistant, Frederic Gauntlett, was also on board, but was able to swim to safety. Homer Lenoir Ferguson was company vice president when Hopkins died, and assumed the presidency the following August. He saw the company through both world wars, became a noted community leader, and was a co-founder of the

Mariners' Museum The Mariners' Museum and Park is located in Newport News, Virginia, United States. Designated as America’s ''National Maritime Museum'' by Congress, it is one of the largest maritime museums in North America. The Mariners' Museum Library, cont ...

with Archer Huntington. He served until July 31, 1946, after

had ended on both the European and Pacific fronts. Just northwest of the shipyard, Hilton Village, one of the first planned communities in the country, was built by the federal government to house shipyard workers in 1918. The planners met with the wives of shipyard workers. Based on their input 14 house plans were designed for the projected 500 English-village-style homes. After the war, in 1922, Henry Huntington acquired it from the government, and helped facilitate the sale of the homes to shipyard employees and other local residents. Three streets there were named after Post, Hopkins, and Ferguson.

Navy orders during and after World War I

The ''Lusitania'' incident was among the events that brought the United States into World War I. Between 1918 and 1920 NNS delivered 25 destroyers, and after the war it began building aircraft carriers. was delivered in 1934, and NNS went on to build and .

Ocean liners

After World War I NNS completed a major reconditioning and refurbishment of the ocean liner . Before the war she had been the German liner ''Vaterland'', but the start of hostilities found her laid up in New York Harbor and she had been seized by the US Government in 1917 and converted into a

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

. War duty and age meant that all wiring, plumbing, and interior layouts were stripped and redesigned while her hull was strengthened and her boilers converted from coal to oil while being refurbished. Virtually a new ship emerged from NNS in 1923, and SS ''Leviathan'' became the flagship of

United States Lines United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and al ...

. In 1927 NNS launched the world's first significant turbo-electric ocean liner: Panama Pacific Line's . At the time she was also the largest merchant ship yet built in the United States, although she was a modest size compared with the biggest European liners of her era. NNS launched ''California''s sister ships ''

'' in 1928 and ''

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

'' in 1929. NNS followed them by launching two even larger turbo-electric liners for

Dollar Steamship Company APL, formerly called American President Lines Ltd., is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including 9 U.S. flagged container vessels. In 1938, ...

: the in 1930, followed by her sister in 1931. was launched in 1939 and entered service with United States lines shortly before World War II but soon returned to the shipyard for conversion to a troopship, USS ''West Point''.

Navy orders before and during World War II

Launch of USS Birmingham (CL-62) at Newport News Shipbuilding on 20 March 1942 (NH 75592)

By 1940 the Navy had ordered a battleship, seven more aircraft carriers and four cruisers. During

, NNS built ships as part of the U.S. Government's

Emergency Shipbuilding Program The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940 – September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime ...

, and swiftly filled requests for "

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

s" that were needed during the war. It founded the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, an emergency yard on the banks of the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

and launched its first Liberty ship before the end of 1941, building 243 ships in all, including 186 Libertys. For its contributions during the war, the Navy awarded the company its "E" pennant for excellence in shipbuilding. NNS ranked 23rd among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.

Post-war ships

In the post-war years NNS built the famous passenger liner , which set a transatlantic speed record that still stands today. In 1954 NNS, Westinghouse and the Navy developed and built a prototype

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

for a carrier propulsion system. NNS designed in 1960. In 1959 NNS launched its first nuclear-powered submarine, . In the 1970s, NNS launched two of the largest

tankers Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tank ...

ever built in the western hemisphere and also constructed three liquefied natural gas carriers – at over 390,000 deadweight tons, the largest ever built in the United States. NNS and

Westinghouse Electric Company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...

jointly form Offshore Power Systems to build floating nuclear power plants for

Public Service Electric and Gas Company The Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey and was established in 1985 with a legacy dating back to 1903. The company's largest subsidiary is Public Service Elec ...

. In the 1980s, NNS produced a variety of Navy products, including nuclear aircraft carriers and nuclear attack submarines. Since 1999 the shipyard has produced only warships for the Navy.

Submarine building problems

In 2007, the US Navy found that workers had used incorrect metal to fuse together pipes and joints on submarines under construction and this could have led to cracking and leaks. In 2009 it was found that bolts and fasteners in weapons-handling systems on four Navy submarines, , , , and , were installed incorrectly, delaying the launching of the boats while the problems were corrected.

Mergers, realignment, and spin-off

In 1968, Newport News merged with Tenneco Corporation. In 1996, Tenneco initiated a spinoff of Newport News into an independent company (Newport News Shipbuilding). The company was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001 for $2.6 billion and renamed "Northrop Grumman Newport News". This division was merged with

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) was a former sector or division of Northrop Grumman Corporation which was responsible for building small and medium shipping products. It was merged with another sector of Northrop Grumman, Northrop Grumman Ne ...

in 2008 and given the name "

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding HII (formerly Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.) is the largest military shipbuilding company in the United States as well as a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. HII, ranked No. 371 on the Fortune 500, w ...

". Three years later, the company was spun off as Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., which trades under the symbol HII on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

Presidents

Matt Mulherin Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

Jennifer Boykin Jennifer Boykin is an engineer, the first woman president of Newport News Shipbuilding, and the vice president of Huntington Ingalls Industries, which is located in Newport News, Virginia. Biography Early life Boykin's father's parents are both ...

(2017–present)

Ships built

File:Northrop Grumman Newport News 032007 tugboat dorothy.png, ''Dorothy'' File:USS Virginia LOC npcc 32728.jpg, ''Virginia'' File:Moore-McCormack-Good-Neighbor-passenger-liner.jpg, ''California'' File:USS Shark SSN 591.jpg, ''Shark'' File:USS Mississippi (CGN-40).JPG, ''Mississippi'' File:USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) underway in the Atlantic Ocean on 30 January 2019 (190130-N-PW716-1312).JPG, ''Abraham Lincoln'' Other ships built at the Newport News yard include: * nuclear-powered aircraft carriers: ** , under construction **

USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) USS ''Doris Miller'' (CVN-81) is a future of the United States Navy. ''Doris Miller'' is scheduled to be laid down January 2026, launched October 2029 and commissioned in 2032. She will be built at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of ...

, under construction *

transports for the Allies during

* nuclear-powered submarines * nuclear-powered submarines

Gallery

USS Ronald Reagan christening.jpg, Ronald Reagan Christening Northrop Grumman Newport News 032007 015.png, North Yard Crane F-A-18F Super Hornet approaches to USS Gerald R. Ford.jpg, NNSX 41809 June 10 2008.JPG, Newport News Shipbuilding Foundry & Switch Engine

Ships rebuilt

*, the first sea-going electric power plant for emergencies *, wrecked ship that was salvaged and her still-operational stern and machinery spaces rebuilt and used in the construction of a new chemical tanker, the Chemical Discoverer, later renamed Chemical Pioneer

World War II Shipbuilding Facilities

References

External links

* {{Coord, 36.99208, -76.44507, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding companies of the United States Companies based in Newport News, Virginia Maritime history of Virginia Shipyards building World War II warships