The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the

Pennsport Pennsport is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Pennsport is home to a large working-class Irish American population, many of them descendants of immigrants from the mid to late 19th c ...

section of the city, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. It was replaced by a new, much larger yard developed around facilities begun in 1871 on

League Island League Island was an island in the Delaware River, part of the city of Philadelphia, just upstream from the mouth of the Schuylkill River. The island was developed as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Since the late 20th century, it has been ...

, at the confluence of the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

and Schuylkill rivers. The Navy Yard expansion stimulated the development over time of residential and businesses in South Philadelphia, where many shipyard workers lived. During World War II, some 40,000 workers operated on shifts around the clock to produce and repair ships at the yard for the war effort. 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 ...

ended most of its activities there in the 1990s, closing its base after recommendations by the

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end ...

commission. In 2000, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, on behalf of the city of Philadelphia, acquired and began to redevelop the land. First called Philadelphia Naval Business Center, it is now known as The Navy Yard. It is a large mixed-use campus where nearly 15,000 people are employed by more than 120 companies representing a mix of industries. These include cutting-edge cell therapy production facilities, global fashion companies, and a commercial shipyard. The Navy still operates a Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility and a few engineering activities at the site.

History

League Island Crane Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 1923

The yard has its origins in a commercial shipyard founded in 1776 on

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

's Front Street on the Delaware River; it was designated in 1801 as an official

site in 1801. From 1812 until 1865 it was a big ship production center. The first ship launched to the water was the USS ''Franklin''. This event was watched by more than 50,000 spectators. The rapid development of other shipbuilding companies pledged Philadelphia to improve production processes. This was the first shipyard in the world to use floating dry docks in the building process to improve an operating time of the ships. After the advent of ironclad warships made the site obsolete, new facilities were built in 1871 on

at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. From early in the nineteenth century, many Philadelphia workers agitated for a reduction in the arduous twelve-hour workday. Prior to 1835, the workday in the Philadelphia Navy Yard was sunrise to sunset, with time off for breakfast. In the summer of 1835 Philadelphia Navy Yard shipwrights, joiners and other workers led the effort to reduce the workday by combining the direct action of a strike, with political pressure to the executive branch. After first seeking workday reduction by a request to the Secretary of the Navy via shipyard Commandant Commodore James Barron, on 29 August 1835 they appealed directly to President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

. Commodore Barron endorsed his workers' request with the following acknowledgment "I would respectfully observe – Seems to be inevitable, sooner or later, for as the working man are seconded by all the Master workmen, city councils etc. there is no probability they will secede from their demands." Their petition was granted and on 31 August 1835 the president ordered the Secretary of the Navy to grant the ten-hour work day, effective 3 September 1835. However, the change was applicable only to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. On 29 August 1836, a committee of Philadelphia Navy Yard mechanics appealed to President Andrew Jackson to extend the law,

"The Committee are sure that if the example is set in Philadelphia it will be llegiblerequired in other places and they will not attempt to disguise the pleasure it would give them as Citizens and as Workingmen to see a reformation taking place under the auspices of the Government."

It was 5 years before the ten-hour day was extended to all government employees engaged in manual labor; this was accomplished via an executive order by 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 ...

on 31 March 1840. Navy Yard Philadelphia, 1874

The Naval Aircraft Factory was established at the League Island site in 1917. Just after of the end

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, a 350-ton capacity hammerhead crane was ordered for the yard. Manufactured in 1919 by the

McMyler-Interstate Company The McMyler-Interstate Company, a pioneer in the design, development, and manufacturing of ore- and coal-handling equipment as well as a manufacturer of heavy industrial equipment, was established in 1910 as the result of a consolidation of four ...

Bedford, Ohio Bedford is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States located to the east of Cleveland. The population was 13,074 at the 2010 census. It is an eastern first ring suburb of Cleveland. Geography Bedford is located at . It is a first ring sub ...

, the crane was called the League Island Crane by its builder. Weighing 3,500 tons, the crane was shipped to the yard in sections. At the time, it was the world's largest crane."McMyler-Interstate Co.." Bedford Historical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2010. . For many years, the "League Island Crane" was the Navy's largest crane. Mustin Field opened at the Naval Aircraft Factory in 1926 and operated until 1963. The shipyard's greatest period came 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 ...

, when the yard employed 40,000 people who built 53 ships and repaired 574. During this period, the yard built the famed battleship ''New Jersey'' and its 45,000-ton sister ship, ''Wisconsin''. In the Naval Laboratory,

Philip Abelson Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

developed the liquid thermal diffusion technique for separating

uranium-235 Uranium-235 (235U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exi ...

for the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. The memorial chapel to the

Four Chaplains The Four Chaplains, also referred to as the Immortal Chaplains or the ''Dorchester'' Chaplains, were four World War II chaplains who died rescuing civilian and military personnel as the American troop ship sank on February 3, 1943, in what has ...

is located on the grounds. After the war, the workforce dropped to 12,000, as the Navy stabilized its fleet. In the 1960s, the Navy began to contract with private companies to construct new ships. The yard built its last new ship, the command ship ''Blue Ridge'', in 1970. Scrapping Battleships 1923

Because of foreign competition and reduced needs due to the end of the Cold War, the defense

Commission recommended closure of the yard in 1991. The city and state struggled to keep the facility operational, and the planned closing was unsuccessfully litigated to the US Supreme Court in '' Dalton v. Specter''. When the yard finally closed in 1995, it cost the region 7,000 jobs. This followed years in which the region had lost industrial jobs to restructuring and movement of manufacturing overseas. US Senator

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

charged that the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

did not disclose the official report on the closing. This resulted in a controversy that led to further legal disputes, to no avail. Since its transfer from the government to the City of Philadelphia, the west end of property has been leased to Aker Kværner, a tanker and commercial shipbuilding firm. See more about the redevelopment of The Navy Yard as a private commercial complex below.

Dry docks and slipways

Notable ships

* ''Franklin'', a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1815, the first vessel laid down at the shipyard. It was started as part of the United States massive construction program of ships for the War of 1812 (twelve ships were completed at

Sackets Harbor, New York Sackets Harbor (earlier spelled Sacketts Harbor) is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, on Lake Ontario. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who ...

for use on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

) * ''New Jersey'', an used in World War II and later * ''Wisconsin'', the last keel laid for a completed battleship of the United States Navy, 25 January 1941 * ''Blue Ridge'', an amphibious command ship. This was the last vessel built at the shipyard. It now flies the

First Navy Jack The First Navy Jack was the naval jack of the United States from 1975 to 1976 and again from 2002 to 2019. It was authorized by the U.S. Navy and was flown from the jackstaff of commissioned vessels of the U.S. Navy while moored pierside or at an ...

as the oldest actively deployed vessel in the Navy. * Aircraft Carriers ** 3 of 24 *** *** *** * Battleships ** 1 of 2 *** ** 2 of 4 *** *** * Heavy cruisers ** 1 of 7 *** ** ** 2 of 14 *** *** * Light cruisers ** 1 of 9 *** * Destroyers ** 2 of 18 *** *** ** 1 of 10 *** ** 1 of 12 *** ** 2 of 66 *** *** * Destroyer escorts ** 5 of 65 ** 1 of 32 ''Evarts'' converted to s *** ** 10 of 148 ** 2 of 22 ** 4 of 50 ''Rudderow''-class destroyer escorts completed as * APD conversions -> ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia

Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia opened at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 1946 to store the many surplus ships after World War II. As part of the

United States Navy reserve fleets The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...

, the fleet "mothballed" ships and submarines. Many of the ships in the fleet were reactivated for the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and some for the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by 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 Vietnam a ...

. The control of the reserve fleet was later transferred to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF). The was used as a

barracks ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for s ...

for the crew at the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia. **Notable Reserve Fleet ships * guided-missile cruiser.

League Island after the naval shipyard

The City of Philadelphia became the landlord and owner of the League Island site in March 2000, when the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) took title to roughly 1,000 acres from the Navy. Today, the site is operated as a mixed-use industrial park under the name "The Navy Yard". The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) manages the planning, operation, and development of The Navy Yard on behalf of PAID and the City of Philadelphia; its offices are now located at The Navy Yard. A comprehensive master plan was completed in 2004 to redeveloped the former industrial yard to a mixed-use campus. It proposed adaptive reuse of some Navy buildings as office space; maintenance of buildings and campus elements with strong historic interest, such as the Navy Yard Marine Parade Grounds; and construction of new buildings for offices and other purposes as needed for new tenants. This construction has been in the section called the Corporate Center. As of 2010, US Navy activities include Naval Support Activity Philadelphia, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Ship Systems Engineering Station, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic Public Works Department Pennsylvania (NAVFAC MIDLANT PWD PA), and the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF). This last stores decommissioned and mothballed warships and auxiliary naval vessels. The Navy Yard is now the site of 120 companies with 10,000 employees. New businesses continue to be attracted to the campus, and existing ones expand. Clothing retailer and manufacturer

Urban Outfitters Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland the United Arab Emirates, K ...

consolidated its Philadelphia headquarters on the site. Tasty Baking Company, makers of

Tastykake Tastykake is a line of snack foods manufactured by the Tasty Baking Company, headquartered at the Philadelphia Navy Yard (formerly the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in 1914 by Philip J. Baur and Herbert ...

s, has moved their bakery to the 26th Street side of The Yard. Other occupants include Rittenhouse Ventures, GlaxoSmithKline,

Iroko Iroko (also known as in Igbo language, '' in the Urhobo language of Southern Nigeria, and as odum in the Kwa languages of Ghana) is a large hardwood tree from the west coast of tropical Africa that can live up to 500 years. This is the common n ...

Pharmaceuticals, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Rhoads Industries Inc. in Navy Building 57, Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub), RevZilla.com, and Mark Group, Inc. In January 2013, PIDC announced its intention to increase the number of apartments on site for employees (near 1,000) and additional infrastructure development. This is made possible by the public financing of shipyards and investments of private companies. According to the plan for 2013, the number of employees at the shipyard amount to around 30,000 people. In March 2013, the Canadian Pacific – Bulkmatic Transport transload site on Langley Ave was closed. In April 2013, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline opened a 205,000-square-foot building in The Navy Yard's Corporate Center. The Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia hosts the annual Philadelphia Base Ball Fair & Exhibition at the Navy Yard Marine Parade Grounds.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* * * {{Authority control United States Navy shipyards National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia 1995 disestablishments in the United States Delaware River Port Authority Historic American Engineering Record in Philadelphia Infrastructure completed in 1903 Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania South Philadelphia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Shipyards on the National Register of Historic Places Military installations closed in 1995 Closed installations of the United States Navy Shipyards building World War II warships