Number 12 Drydock (Newport News, Virginia)

USA / Virginia / Newport News / Newport News, Virginia
 shipyard, drydock
The number 12 drydock at Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company is the largest drydock in the Western Hemisphere and was completed in 1976. Originally designed for the construction of Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCC's), the drydock has been used instead as the sole production facility for the United States Aircraft Carrier Fleet.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   37°0'2"N   76°26'53"W

Comments

  • if an aircraft carrier only takes up half of the drydock, that thing must be a sight to see
  • It certainly is.
  • All of our carriers have been built in that drydock originally dry dock 12 with built to construct tankers and cruise ships and then the wars started the most of the shipbuilding jobs went overseas Norfolk is the only exception other then Mississippi which uses skid platforms. Name a shape that is a carrier and I will tell you that it was built in dry dock 12. Originally 12 was a slipway dock it was converted into a conventional Dry Dock after World War II for the construction of crude carriers. When the wars begin 12 was lengthened and then extended for the largest carriers that we constructed. This and nearby 10 are the largest dry docks in the world. All the Forrestal class all the Kitty Hawk class all the Enterprise class and all the Chester Nimitz class carriers were built here. And most recently they're using it to build the Ford class. If you have a large carrier to build 12 is the place where you build it.
This article was last modified 9 years ago