| 91st | Top Brooklyn neighborhoods |
| Brooklyn Navy Yard | |
|---|---|
| Brooklyn, New York | |
| Type | Shipyard |
| Built | 1801 |
| In use | 1806 — 1966 |
| Controlled by | United States Navy |
The United States Navy Yard, New York -- better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY) -- is an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the River across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan. It is bounded by Navy Street, Flushing and Kent Avenues, and at the height of its production of U.S. Navy warships it covered over 200 acres (0.81 km2).
Contents |
Following the American Revolution, the waterfront site was used to build merchant vessels. Federal authorities purchased the old docks and 40 acres (160,000 m2) 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 United States 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 Continental Iron Works in nearby Greenpoint. 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 drydocks[1] 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 followed by the USS Missouri (BB-63) which become the site of the Surrender of Japan 2 September 1945. 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.
The US Navy took possession of PT 109 on July 10, 1942, and the boat was delivered to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for fitting. This boat was sunk in the Pacific in August 1943 and became famous years later when its young commander, Lt. John F. Kennedy, entered politics.
At its peak, during World War II, the yard employed 70,000 people, 24 hours a day. The Brooklyn Navy Yard made extensive use of asbestos in the manufacturing and repairing of its ships during the twentieth century, which caused extensive and often mortal health problems for its workers in the following years. While the federal government successfully resisted responsibility in court, thousands of retired workers have successfully sued the private businesses that supplied asbestos products to the U.S. Navy.
During World War II, the pedestrian walkways on the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges spanning the East River offered a good overhead view of the Navy yard, and were therefore encased in order to prevent espionage.
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.[2]
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 890 feet (270 m) long, with ten-foot deck height and 25 to 40 feet (7 to 12 meters) of depth alongside. Seatrain built four VLCC Tankers, eight Barges, and one Ice Breaker Barge 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 1980s. A Federal project maintains a channel depth of 35 feet (10 m) from Throggs 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 134 feet (41 m) and the Brooklyn Bridge (a suspension span with a clearance of 127 feet (39 m).
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 Register of Historic Places.
Coordinates: 40°42′10″N 73°58′24″W / 40.702765°N 73.973436°W
   | The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation - Brooklyn Navy Yard |
| | Google Maps Satellite Image - brooklyn, ny - Google Maps |
| | Ships Constructed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard - Brooklyn Navy Yard |
|
|
Wikis
Search
