Boston Navy Yard
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The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and after 1945 called Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities of the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed 1 July 1974 and the 30 acre property was transferred to the National Park Service to be part of Boston National Historical Park. Enough of the yard remains in operation to support the USS Constitution. The USS Cassin Young, a World War II-era destroyer serving as a museum ship, is also berthed here. Among people in the area and the National Park Service, it is still known as the Charlestown Navy Yard. [1]
[edit] History
The earliest naval shipbuilding activities in Charlestown, Massachusetts began during the American Revolutionary War. The land for the Charlestown Navy Yard was purchased in 1801 and the yard itself established shortly thereafter. The yard built the first US ship of the line, USS Independence, but was primarily a repair and storage facility until the 1890s, when it started to build steel ships for the "New Navy". By now, it was called the Boston Navy Yard.
On June 24, 1833 the staff and dignataries including Vice President Martin Van Buren, Secretary of War Lewis Cass, Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury, and many Massachusetts officials, witnessed "one of the great events of American naval history": the United States frigate Constitution was inaugurating the first naval drydock in New England. On March 14, 1975 the historic ship floated out of the dock--the last commissioned vessel to use the facility. [2]
The Ropewalk supplied cordage used in the Navy from the time it opened in 1837 until the Yard closed in 1975.
After the Civil War, the Yard was downgraded to an Equipment and Recruit Facility. [3]
In the 1890s, the Navy began expanding and that brought new life to the Yard. In the first years of the 20th century, a second drydock was added. During WWII, it worked to fix British Ships damaged by the Germans. In the post war period, it worked on modernizing vessels through Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM). The Korean War and Vietnam War didn't bring much work to the Yard since it was so far from the fighting.
It closed after the Vietnam War ended and now, as a historical park, it has a new mission: "to interpret the art and history of naval shipbuilding." [4]
The Yard is on the Freedom Trail and is seen by thousands every year.
