South Boston Naval Annex and South Boston Army Base, circa 1958

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

facilities in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of the new

U.S. Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April ...

in 1798. After 175 years of military service, it was decommissioned as a naval installation on 1 July 1974. The property is administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, becoming part of

Boston National Historical Park The Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that showcase Boston's role in the American Revolution and other parts of history. It was designated a national park on October 1, 1974. Seven of the eight sites are connected by the ...

. Enough of the yard remains in operation to support the moored USS ''Constitution'' ("Old Ironsides") of 1797, built as one of the original six heavy frigates for the revived American navy, and the oldest warship still commissioned in the

and afloat in the world. , a 1943

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

-era ''Fletcher''-class destroyer serving as a museum ship, is also berthed here. The museum area includes a dock which is a stop on the

MBTA Boat The MBTA boat or MBTA ferry system is a public boat service providing water transportation in Boston Harbor. It is operated by Boston Harbor Cruises (BHC) under contract to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). In , the system h ...

water transport system. Among local people in the area and the National Park Service, it is still known as the Charlestown Navy Yard. The South Boston Naval Annex was located along the waterfront in

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...

, an annex of the Navy Yard from 1920 to 1974. Other annexes of the Navy Yard during World War II were the Chelsea Naval Annex (formerly the Green Shipyard, now the Fitzgerald Shipyard), East Boston Naval Annex, and Boston Naval Yard Fuel Depot Annex.

History

The earliest naval shipbuilding activities in Charlestown, Massachusetts across the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

and

Boston harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History ...

to the north from the city of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, began during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

(1775–1783). The Charlestown Arsenal of

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

was established in 1794. Shortly thereafter, in 1800, the land for the Charlestown Navy Yard was purchased by the United States government and the yard itself was established. The yard built the first U.S. ship of the line, in 1814, and at least twelve small vessels for the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, but was primarily a repair and storage facility until the 1890s, when it started to build steel ships for the "New Navy". By then, it was called the Boston Navy Yard. On 24 June 1833, the staff and dignitaries including then Vice President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Lewis Cass,

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

Levi Woodbury Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789September 4, 1851) was an American attorney, jurist, and Democratic politician from New Hampshire. During a four-decade career in public office, Woodbury served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U ...

, and many Massachusetts officials, witnessed "one of the great events of American naval history": the early United States frigate was inaugurating the first naval

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

ropewalk A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other. Many rope ...

supplied cordage used in the Navy from the time it opened in 1837 until the Yard closed in 1975. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

(1861–1865), the Yard was downgraded to an Equipment and Recruit Facility. In the late 1880s and 1890s, the Navy began expanding again bringing into service new modern steel-hulled steam-powered warships and that brought new life to the Yard. In the first years of the 20th century, a second drydock was added. During

(1939/1941–1945), it worked to fix

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

warships and merchant transports damaged by the Nazi Germans when crossing the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. On 27 September 1941— Liberty Fleet Day—Boston launched two destroyers, USS ''Cowie'' and the USS ''Knight''. Even before the U.S. entered the Second World War after the

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

attack on 7 December 1941, a month before in November, Boston was one of four United States naval shipyards selected to build s under the Lend-Lease military assistance program for the Royal Navy. Since the United States was at war when these ships were finally completed, some were later requisitioned and used by the United States Navy as

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

s. In the post war period, the shipyard modified World War II ships for Cold War (1945–1991) service through

Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization The Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program of the United States Navy extended the lives of World War II-era destroyers by shifting their mission from a surface attack role to that of a submarine hunter. The FRAM program also covere ...

(FRAM). The

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

(1950–1953), and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

(1964–1975) did not bring much work to the yard since it was so far from the fighting. The Yard closed after the Vietnam War. It was also the location of the Marine Barracks Boston.

Dry Docks and Slipways

Ships built at Boston Navy Yard

Current use

When ideas were floated for redevelopment of the yard, one of the people's popular idea was to have the yard turned into a construction yard for

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

s. Ultimately, these plans fell through, and the site became part of the

. Its mission is, "to interpret the art and history of naval shipbuilding".Charlestown Navy Yard: The Shipyard on the Charles
The Boston Navy Yard hosts many attractions, including Charlestown Naval Shipyard Park. The fully commissioned and the museum ship are tied up at Pier 1 and open to the public. The Navy Yard also hosts the USS ''Constitution'' Museum. Dry Dock No. 1 is still used for ship maintenance for ''Constitution'' and ''Cassin Young''. In May 2015, ''Constitution'' entered the dry dock for three years of repairs. The Yard is toward the north end of the

Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston, Massachusetts, that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. Marked largely with brick, it winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston through the North End to the Bu ...

. The

stops at nearby Pier 4, providing easy visitor access to the Yard. The campus of the MGH Institute of Health Professions occupies seven buildings in the Yard, including classroom, office, and clinical space. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and multiple Massachusetts General Hospital research laboratories occupy the perimeter.

Gallery

Image:USS Cassin Young 2007.jpg, USS ''Cassin Young'' berthed at the Boston Navy Yard File:Dry Dock 1.JPG, A view of the dry dock without water File:Boston Dry Dock.JPG, ''Cassin Young'' in drydock File:USS Cassin Young in Dry Dock.JPG, ''Cassin Young'' in dry dock at night

References

External links

Charlestown Navy Yard – Boston National Historical Park

{{Authority control Navy Yards of the United States Navy Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Navy Yard, Boston National Historic Landmarks in Boston Navy Yard, Boston Manufacturing companies based in Boston Navy Yard, Boston Maritime museums in Massachusetts Military and war museums in Massachusetts Naval museums in the United States Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Boston National Historical Park 1800 establishments in Massachusetts Shipyards on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Boston Military installations established in 1800 Military installations closed in 1974 Closed installations of the United States Navy Shipyards building World War II warships