Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipyard (Newport News, Virginia)

USA / Virginia / Newport News / Newport News, Virginia / Washington Avenue, 4101
 shipyard, production
Founded by Collis P. Huntington in 1886, Newport News Shipbuilding quickly grew to become one of the United States’ five largest shipbuilders in the first quarter of the 20th Century, owing in part to the rapid growth of the US Merchant Marine Fleet and the United States Navy in the years before, during and after the First World War.

Surviving the lean times of the Great Depression, the yard was one of the few fully operational shipyards when the pre-World War Two buildup of United States Naval and Merchant fleets, and was given considerable amounts of Federal Funding to expand its facilities in the late 1930's. BEfore and during the Second World War, Newport News built a myriad of vessels at their yard, ranging from small craft to Liberty Ships and from Destroyers and Escorts to Battleships and Aircraft Carriers. At its wartime peak in 1943, the yard employed more than 31,000 people.

After the war, the yard retained its Naval and Merchant shipbuilding contracts, eventually becoming one of the prime location for the construction, repair and upkeep of Nuclear-powered vessels in the United States. Purchased by Tenneco in 1968 the yard became prime contractor for the United States Navy and the sole builder of Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carriers in the country, which helped offset the loss in revenue experienced as the US Merchant Marine Fleet dwindled in the latter half of the 20th Century. Returned to independent ownership in 1996, the shipyard was quickly purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001 and formed into Northrop Grumman Ship Systems with Grummans yards in Pascagoula, MS and Avondale, LA. Northrop Grumman Ship Systems eventually was eventually spun off its parent company in September 2011 and renamed Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).

Today, the Newport News Shipyard remains the nation’s largest private shipyard, employing roughly 20,000 workers.

For a complete list of ships built here, please see:
www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/ac...

www.huntingtoningalls.com/nns/index.html
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington_Ingalls_Industries
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   36°59'38"N   76°26'37"W

Comments

  • It was originally known as the Newport News Shipyard (part of Tenneco), the largest privately owned shipyard in the world before they sold to Northrop Grumman. Hull number 1 from this shipyard is the "Dorothy", a tugboat that sits down on Washington Avenue now. In its heyday of the Reagan "80s", it had over 30,000 employees, of which I was one.
  • the 31 of march 2011 Northrop grumman separat's from his shipyards division, And Huntington Ingalls Industries was created.
This article was last modified 11 years ago