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The yard has its origins in a commercial shipyard founded in 1776 on Philadelphia 's Front Street on the Delaware River; it was designated an official United States Navy site in 1801. From 1812 until 1865, it was a large ship production center. The first ship launched to the water was the USS Franklin.
During the Cold War, the newly renamed Philadelphia Navy Base and Naval Shipyard resumed its more traditional role as a port where ships were mothballed and overhauled. The workforce fell to nine thousand by July 1946.
Investments in floating dry docks (the first in the world) extended the yard’s useful life, but eventually it became clear that Philadelphia would need an entirely new shipyard. The City of Philadelphia transferred 923-acre League Island to the U.S. Government in 1868 for $1.
Because of the housing shortage and the refusal of the city government to build public housing, the commandant of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard ordered the construction of the Tasker Homes in South Philadelphia near the base.
Jul 21, 2016 · As the USS John F. Kennedy set sail down the Delaware River, it appeared that Philadelphia’s two-century history of shipbuilding was coming to a close. But two decades later, the City of...
Jul 21, 2016 · Nuclear ships went to naval yards in Virginia, California and Washington, which gave the Navy ample capacity without the expense of retrofitting Philadelphia’s dry docks.
Oct 5, 2017 · The Navy Yard, which opened the same year the nation was founded in 1776, continued to operate as a U.S. naval base until the mid-'90s.
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