America (CV 66) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 19 text:

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Page 18 text:

In March of 1827, Congress, re- alizing that the Navy was taking too long to repair and outfit ships. authorized the construction of two dry docks, one of which was built at the Gosport Naval Yard. The construction of the dock began in November of 1827 and was com- pleted in March of 1854. Now over 150 years old, this dry dock is still in use today. By August of 1846, additional land had been added to the yard for storage and repair of ordnance. The Gosport Navy Yard was one of the most valuable maritime assets this country owned. This fact was emphasized by its location in the South. Tension ran high enough in the Spring of 1861 for Gedron Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, to send to the comman- dant of the shipyard, Commodore Charles S. McCauley, a confidential letter urging him to exercise due care and vigilance in guarding and protecting the shipyard. Commo- dore McCauley had become in- creasingly alarmed by what ap- peared to be the steady arrival of Virginia militia forces into Norfolk and Portsmouth. On April 20, 1861, McCauley issued the order to de- stroy the yard rather than fight. He ordered guns in the yard spiked and the ships to be scuttled where 9 Portsmouth Shipyard. Interstate 64. they lay. One of the most interesting his- torical sidelights of this period was the battle of the first ironclads: the Monitor and the Merrimack. It was in the Gosport Navy Yard that the Confederates transformed the burned-out remains of the steam frigate Merrimack into the Iron- clad Confederate States Ship Vir- ginia. The Union countered with an ironclad, the USS Monitor. On March 9, 1862, the Virginia left Crany Island under the com- mand of Lt. jones. At approxi- mately 8:30 A.M., the Virginia en- countered the Monitor. The two ships battled it out for nearly four hours. The battle ended in a draw, but its importance lay in its herald- ing the end of the sail-driven, wooden-ship navy. By March 11, 1862, with the Northern armies marching into Ocean View and into Norfolk, the Confederate forces again put fire to the Gosport Navy Yard, and Com- modore joseph Tallfall ordered the ironclad Virginia blown up at Crany Island to prevent her from being captured by the approaching Union naval forces. When Union forces gained control of the yard, it was designated as the United States Naval Yard, Norfolk, Virginia. l--f-u---e--f---f---V--A - ----- - --.--YY i ....-.... ..ns........,...,.st . - ,V '- -v 'isa -V in ' W ' ' ' '-' . . ' . 5 . , 1,1 .. V u - 'Ig 41 -,ap :!...i,:g,f':-2' .y Y E. ,ir 11 J

Page 20 text:

The work of the shipyard continues through the night. The Navy was slow to rebuild after the Civil War. Congress began rebuilding the navy in 1883, but it was not until 1892 that the Norfolk Naval Yard became involved in new construction. During that year it launched the first two ships of the modern navy - protected cruiser Raleigh and the battleship Texas, the United States' first all- steam vessels. Interest in the Norfolk Naval Yard was heightened the next year by the arrival at Hampton Roads of approximately thirty American and foreign naval ships commem- orating the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christo- pher Columbus. Vessels participat- ing were from Spain, Great Britain, Brazil, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, and Holland. Serenity. Fleet repair - an ongoing job l li The workhorse of any port - the tugboat,