Courtesy Photo | This composite photograph from September 29, 1910 shows Norfolk Naval Shipyard looking...... read more read more
2025 marks the 250th birthday of the United States Navy. In celebration and reflection of this most momentous milestone, we will be looking at how Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) has directly supported the U.S. Navy throughout the centuries. This time on Heritage Hour, we look back at the construction of Dry Dock 3 and see the work done over 100 years ago was completed with the technology of the time.
The advancement of photography in the late 1800s and early 1900s gives us the ability to look back through time to a very different looking Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY). In the fall of 1903, the area where the dry dock is today was a flat, open space with piles of construction material separated by dirt roads. Steam locomotives sat on actively used rail lines that lead directly to the river, a river teeming with small boats. The pile driver forced hundreds of tall tree trunks, still with the bark on them, into the mud to fortify the wall that would allow crews to dig out the 550-foot length cavity.
The equipment available at the time looks familiar, but still very different. The excavator that was utilized was not only stationary during operation, but the main body was the size of a two-story house with an addition cab mounted on the top to oversee the massive boom. The boiler situated at the back of the house served both as the power source and the counterweight. Just as today, unexpected setbacks happened. The walls supported by timber and mud washed out, leaving rail track suspended in the air. In September 1904, the pile driver overturned off the tracks, requiring the heavy boiler to be lifted back up.
Even in 1910, NNSY was willing and able to support the U.S. Navy when the need arose, no matter the construction on the waterfront. An early panoramic photograph shows a ship in the dry dock with sailors disembarking as the inland wall is fully dug out and exposed. After the initial completion, it was determined to extend the dry dock and additional 176 feet to the 726-foot length it is today. A mule team and wagon worked alongside the steam powered equipment with the long-gone Sheet Metal Shop in the distance.
While the technology and styles of clothing have changed, the dedication of the NNSY workforce to support the U.S. Navy never has.
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2025 12:49 |
| Story ID: | 492624 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 119 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Heritage Hour: Log 03-25 - NNSY, U.S. Navy and Dry Dock 3, by Victoria Pendleton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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