Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-20
1t is the Second Largest in the
Uuited States.
DATES FROM COLONIAL TIMES.
Captured and Burned by the British
A Bone of Contention During
the Civil War-Its Present
Excellent Con dttion.


SJEuCtlOH VI bUO UHNy NuTuS w WHltu tuB
government is to be enabled to construct her
new ships and equip them for warfare. In
order to rebuild and repair new vessels it
has been necessary to improve the plants at
the more important navy yards. OF these,
next In Importance to that in Brooklyn, is
the navy yard at Norfolk, Va. Accounts
have recently appeared in the newspapers of
the opening of the large wooden dry docks
at this yard, and of the successful docking
in it of the war ship Yantic attended with
appropriate ceremonies.
The battle ship Texas, about which con-
siderable controversy has arisen, is now
building there, and the secretary of the navy
has just ordered that the construction of one
of the new 30O0ton cruisers shall be under.
| taken at this yard. A short account of this
| government establishment and the work
| going on there may therefore not be with
| out interest
The establishment of the yard at Gosport
| as the lower end of the present city of
| Portsmouth was then called, dates from col
| onial times. The British government just
before the revolution, selected the site on
| the report of one of its agents as the most ell
| igibe situation for naval station in its
American colonies. Scarcely had the work
| begun, however, when the revolution broke
| out and the place was taken possession of
| by Virginia. The yard was recaptured by
| the British IN 1579 and set on fire.
In 1901 the yard was bought from the state
| of Virginia by the United States, which had
used it for number of years previously in
| building vessels. The yard comprised at that
| time an area of sixteen acres.
In 1927 large amount of property sur
| rounding the yard was purchased and the
| yard increased to nearly ats present size. In
| the same year the construction of stone
| dry dock was begun on part of the newly
acquired land. This dock was completed in
| 1888. On June II, of that year, the dock was
4 opened and the line-ot- battle ship Delaware
docked in it with imposing ceremonies. Inc
| total cost of this dock was S914, 65
| This dock has since been III continuous SER
| vice, and many fine ships have been docked
| in it. The chamber of the dock is 253 feet
long and S5lG feet wide at the coping. The
extreme length of tie dock, which can be
| made available by placing the floating gate
| outside the entrance, is $50 feet.
| Up to the beginning of the civil war vari
| Gus improvements were made, consisting of
| filling in the grounds, erection OF shops,
store houses, cisterns, wharves, and the
| building of a timber dock or pond for the
| preservation of timber under water.
At the outbreak of the civil war the yard
| was abandoned by the United States author
| ties. The ship-houses and other buildings
| were set on fire, the vessels lying at the
| wharvcs burned and sunk, among them the
| famous Merrimac, ana an unsuccessful at
| tempt was made TO blow up the stone dry
| dock. The yard was taken possession of by
| the coufederates and the suaken Merrlmac
raised and rebuilt under the name of Vir-
| gnia. Her subsequent history Is we'll
| known.
| The city of Norfolk was surrendered to the
| United States forces on May 10, 1862. Early
| the following morning the Merrimac was
| blown up by the confederates who also set
| fire to the yard and abandoned it, after an
other attempt TO blow up the dry dock, which
| was only partially successful.
AT this time the yard had been almost en-
| tirely destroyed, but few buildings left
! standing. The work of reconstruction, how
| ever, was taken up energotically by the
| United States at the close of the war. New
| buildings We're erected and old ones repaired,
| the stone dry dock was put in n serviceable
condition and the hulks sunk at the wharves
| raised or removed.
Since the year 1870 comparatively little has
| been done to improve the yard or fit it for
| doing work of character consonant with
| the rapid strides in the art of ship building
| until the past three years.
Our old wooden vessels required compare
| lively little machinery to build them the
most important being a saw mill, a black
| smiths shop, and small machine shop for
| making the many fittings used even in a
| wooden vessel of the old type. The interest
aroused in the country in the Improvement
| OF the navy enabled the navy department to
| arouse congress to the Importance of an ade-
| Quate plant of machinery at the important
| navy yards for building and repairing iron
| and steel vessels.
The first appropriation for this purpose
| was made by congress in August, 1885, in an
| act appropriating s., 500, 900 for the increase
of the navy, in which 1t was provided that
| not exceeding Sl50,0 might be expended
under the direction of the secretary of the
| navy in improving the plant of such of the
navy yards as he might select.
The sum was entirely inadequate to the
G.t..
| secretary of the navy determined chat the
| amount should be used to equip only twO
| yards with new tools, and decided upon
| those at Brooklyn and at Portsmouth (gen-
orally called the New York and Norfolk
| navy yards) as being the most suitable. AT
| the same time it was decided to build the two
| arlnored vessels authorized by the same act
| at these yards.
The sum OF $4,000 allotted to the Norfolk
| yard was insufficient Tor the establishment
| of a first-class plant and Il building TO cover
| it, and in the appropriation bill passed in
| September, 1885, there was an item of Si5, 900
for a building to contain the new tools. A
| further sum OF S5O. 900 was appropriated last
| spring for additional tools, for which the pro-
pOsals have just been opened
! The work of designing and building up the
new plant for the Portsmouth navy yard has
| been carried on entirely by Naval
| Constructor Francis Il. Boyles, under
| the superintendent of Commodore George
| Brown, cOmmandant of the yard. During
| the Iall OF 1881 ana the spring OF 1883, large
| and commodiOus shed was designed and
| built for the accommodation of the new tools,
| ana a schedule of these having been pre-
| pared, advertisements were made for pro-
| posals in March of last year. In April the
| contracts were awarded, and the last CT these
| tools have only lately been delivered. The
| result Is model shipbuildng plant parts of
| which have been adopted as models by some
| of the private shipbullding firms.
| The area enclosed in the navy yard proper
| is thirty-two and one half acres and OF The
ground on the opposite side of the river, USED
| for storing guns, ammunition, forty acres,
| the whole being valued at S9i5, 600. On this
| ground there are nearly forty buildings, of
| large and small sizes. Many of these build
| ings are storehOuses, in which large amounts
| of materials of all sorts are kept on hand.
| Others are large workshops and some are
| officers quarters. The total valuation of the
real estate buildings, etc, III the yard is
| 81, 900, ,000
The work of the yard is sub bdivided among
| different departments. The construction
| department. has charge Of the building and
| repairs 10 the hull Of vessels, the depart
| ment OF steam engineering has the building
| and repairs of steam engines of all parts, the
| department OF yards and docks the erection
| and care Of buildings, grounds wharyes,
| docks, etc, the ordnance department, the
| guns and ammunition, etc.
| The navy yard at the present time presents
| quite busy aspect. The rigs OF the ironclad
| battle ship Texas are beginning to rise in the
J. IN nd FRl nj tn 1agf tod GsaE.