Everything about New York Navy Yard totally explained
The
United States Navy Yard, New York - better known as the
Brooklyn Navy Yard or the
New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY) - is located northeast of
the Battery on the
Brooklyn side of the
East River in
Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the
East River across from Corlear's Hook in
Manhattan. The area is part of
Brooklyn Community Board 2. Bounded by Navy Street, Flushing and Clinton Avenues, it covered over at the height of its production of U.S. Navy
warships.
Navy
Following the
American Revolution, the waterfront site was used to build merchant vessels. Federal authorities purchased the old docks and forty acres of land for forty thousand dollars in 1801, and the property became an active
U.S. Navy shipyard five years later, in 1806. The
offices, store-houses and
barracks were constructed of handmade
bricks, and the yard's oldest structure (located in
Vinegar Hill), the 1807
federal style commandant's house, was designed by
Charles Bulfinch,
architect of the
U.S. Capitol in
Washington, D.C.. Many officers were housed in
Admiral's Row.
Military
chain of command was strictly observed. During the Yard's construction of
Robert Fulton's steam
frigate,
Fulton, launched in 1815, the year of Fulton's death, the Navy Yard's chief officers were listed as follows:
The nation's first ironclad ship,
Monitor, was fitted with its revolutionary iron cladding at the nearby Continental Iron Works. By the
American Civil War, the yard had expanded to employ about 6000 men. In 1890, the ill-fated
Maine was
launched from the Yard's ways.
On the eve of
World War II, the yard contained more than five miles (8 km) of paved streets, four
dry docks ranging in length from 326 to 700 feet (99 to 213 meters), two steel shipways, and six pontoons and cylindrical floats for salvage work, barracks for marines, a power plant, a large radio station, and a railroad spur, as well as the expected foundries, machine shops, and warehouses. In 1937 the
battleship North Carolina was laid down. In 1938, the yard employed about ten thousand men, of whom one-third were
Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers. The battleship
Iowa was completed in 1942. On
January 12,
1953, test operations began on
Antietam, which emerged in December 1952 from the Yard as America's first angled-deck
aircraft carrier.
At its peak, during
World War II, the yard employed 70,000 people, 24 hours a day. Unfortunately for its workers, the Brooklyn Navy Yard made extensive use of
asbestos in the manufacturing and repairing of its ships during the twentieth century. While the federal government successfully resisted responsibility in court for the extensive and often mortal health problems that resulted in the following years, thousands of retired workers have successfully sued the private businesses that supplied asbestos products to the U.S. Navy.
Commercial
The Navy decommissioned the yard in 1966 and sold it to the
City of New York. It then became an area of private manufacturing and commercial activity. It now has over 200 tenants with more than 3,500 employees, and is managed and operated by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation for the City of New York.
The yard has three piers, owned by the city and operated by
Seatrain Shipbuilding and Coastal
Drydock and Repair
Corporation, and a total of 10 berths ranging from 350 to long, with ten-foot deck height and 25 to 40 feet (7 to 12 meters) of depth alongside. Seatrain built 4 VLCC Tankers, 8 Barges, 1 Ice Breaker Barge and 8 Barges from 1968 to 1980 when they went out of business. Coastal Drydock only did repairs on Naval Vessels. Coastal Drydock went out of business in the early 1980's. A Federal project maintains a channel depth of 35 feet (10 m) from
Throgs Neck to the yard, about two miles (3 km) from the western entrance, and thence 40 feet (12 m) of depth to the deep water in the Upper Bay.
Currents in the East River can be strong, and
congestion heavy. Access to the
piers requires passage under the
Manhattan Bridge (a
suspension span with a clearance of and the
Brooklyn Bridge (a suspension span with a clearance of .
Quarters A, the commander's quarters building, is a
National Historic Landmark. The Navy Yard Hospital Building (R95) and Surgeon's Residence (R1) are both designated as
NYC Landmark buildings. A
report
commissioned by the
National Guard suggests that the entirety of the
Admiral's Row property meets the eligibility criteria for inclusion on the
National Registry of Historic Places.
Commandants of the U.S. Navy Yard, New York: 1806–1945
Lieutenant Jonathan Thorn, 1 June 1806 – 13 July 1807
Captain Isaac Chauncey, 13 July 1807 – 16 May 1813
Captain Samuel Evans, 16 May 1813 – 2 June 1824
Commander George W. Rodgers, 2 June 1824 – 21 December 1824
Captain Isaac Chauncey, 21 December 1824 – 10 June 1833
Captain Charles G. Ridgeley, 10 June 1833 – 19 November 1839
Captain James Renshaw, 19 November 1839 – 12 June 1841
Captain Matthew C. Perry, 12 June 1841 – 15 July 1843
Captain Silas H. Stringham, 15 July 1843 – 1 October 1846
Captain Isaac McKeever, 1 October 1846 – 1 October 1849
Captain William D. Salter, 1 October 1849 – 14 October 1852
Captain Charles Boardman, 14 October 1852 – 1 October 1855
Captain Abraham Bigelow, 1 October 1855 – 8 June 1857
Captain Lawrence Kearny, 8 June 1857 – 1 November 1858
Captain Samuel L. Breese, 1 November 1858 – 25 October 1861
Captain Hiram Paulding, 25 October 1861 – 1 May 1865
Commodore Charles H. Bell, 1 May 1865 – 1 May 1868
Rear Admiral Sylvanus W. Gordon, 1 May 1868 – 15 October 1870
Rear Admiral Melancton Smith, 15 October 1870 – 1 June 1872
Vice Admiral Stephen C. Rowan, 1 June 1872 – 1 September 1876
Commodore James W. Nicholson, 1 September 1876 – 1 May 1880
Commodore George H. Cooper, 1 May 1880 – 1 April 1882
Commodore John H. Upshur, 1 April 1882 – 31 March 1884
Commodore Thomas S. Fillebrown, 31 March 1884 – 31 December 1884
Commodore Ralph Chandler, 31 December 1884 – 15 October 1886
Commodore Bancroft Gherardi, 15 October 1886 – 15 February 1889
Captain Francis M. Ramsay, 15 February 1889 – 14 November 1889
Rear Admiral Daniel L. Braine, 14 November 1889 – 20 May 1891
Commodore Henry Erben, 20 May 1891 – 1 June 1893
Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi, 1 June 1893 – 22 November 1894
Commodore Montgomery Sicard, 22 November 1894 – 1 May 1897
Commodore Francis M. Bunce, 1 May 1897 – 14 January 1899
Commodore John W. Philip, 14 January 1899 – 17 July 1900
Rear Admiral Albert S. Parker, 17 July 1900 – 1 April 1903
Rear Admiral Frederick Rodgers, 1 April 1903 – 3 October 1904
Rear Admiral Joseph B. Coghlan, 3 October 1904 – 1 June 1907
Rear Admiral Casper F. Goodrich, 1 June 1907 – 15 May 1909
Captain Joseph B. Murdock, 15 May 1909 – 21 March 1910
Rear Admiral Eugene H. C. Leutze (Ret.), 21 March 1910 – 6 June 1912
Captain Albert Gleaves, 6 June 1912 – 28 September 1914
Rear Admiral N. R. Usher, 28 September 1914 – 25 February 1918
Rear Admiral John D. McDonald, 28 September 1914 – 1 July 1921
Rear Admiral Carl T. Vogelgesang, 1 July 1921 – 27 November 1922
Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett, 27 November 1922 – 16 February 1928
Captain Frank Lyon, 16 February 1928 – 2 July 1928
Rear Admiral Louis R. de Steiguer, 2 July 1928 – 18 March 1931
Rear Admiral William W. Phelps, 18 March 1931 – 30 June 1933
Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr., 30 June 1933 – 9 March 1936
Captain Frederick L. Oliver, 9 March 1936 – 20 April 1936
Rear Admiral Harris L. Laning, 20 April 1936 – 24 September 1937
Rear Admiral Clark H. Woodward, 1 October 1937 – 1 March 1941
Rear Admiral Edward J. Marquart, 2 June 1941 – 2 June 1943
Rear Admiral Monroe R. Kelly, 2 June 1943 – 5 December 1944
Rear Admiral Freeland A. Daubin, 5 December 1944 – 25 November 1945Further Information
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