Long Beach Naval Shipyard The Long Beach Naval Shipyard , which closed in 1997 , was located at Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles and approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport . The Long Beach NSY industrial area encompassed of the total owned . There were 120 permanent , 39 semi - permanent , and 6 temporary buildings , for a total of 165 buildings . There were 17 different shop work areas and of covered building space . The shipyard had three graving docks , and five industrial piers . There were feet ( 3 . 8 km ) of ship berthing space . Crane capacity ranged from to ( portal ) and from to ( floating ) . During World War II , the naval dry docks provided routine and battle damage repairs to a parade of tankers , cargo ship s , troop transport s , destroyer s , and cruiser s . Peak employment of 16 , 091 civilian employees was reached in August 1945 . On February 9 , 1943 , the Secretary of the Navy established the facilities as the US Naval Dry Docks , Roosevelt Base , California . The name of this facility was changed to Terminal Island Naval Shipyard on November 30 , 1945 . The name became Long Beach Naval Shipyard ( NSY ) in March 1948 . The Long Beach NSY was equipped with facilities and skills to perform all non - nuclear structural , sheet metal , boiler , rigging , electronics , electrical , insulating , lagging , ordnance , sandblasting , welding , machining , woodworking , painting , pipe fitting , and other work pertaining to the overhaul and repair of surface ships . The shipyard possessed complete design , engineering , combat systems , quality assurance , planning and public works capabilities to support its industrial work . Dry dock No . 1 was designated the West Coast nuclear powered aircraft carrier ( CVN ) emergency dry dock . The Long Beach NSY was placed in an inactive status on June 1 , 1950 . The Korean War began less than one month later . Reactivation of the shipyard was directed on January 4 , 1951 . Through the years the shipyard accomplished several special projects in addition to its primary mission . These included support or scientific projects in conjunction with programs like POLARIS , POSEIDON , and SEALAB . Closure . The naval shipyard was ordered to be closed in 1995 by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission ( BRAC ) , and closure was complete on 30 September 1997 . By 2004 , 72 % of the land had been turned over to the City of Long Beach by the military . In 1997 , COSCO ( The China Ocean Shipping Company ) wanted to lease the space from the City , including building a $ 400 million cargo terminal . It was opposed by Rush Limbaugh and the Audubon Society , to name a few , and was being reviewed for national security by The Pentagon . After review by the DoD and CIA , the lease went through , at an agreed - upon payment of $ 14 . 5 million per year from the Chinese , with renewal scheduled after ten years . However , continued controversy and opposition by Republican lawmakers caused cancellation of the lease , and the new cargo terminal , which was in fact built by the Long Beach Harbor Department ( Port of Long Beach ) , was leased to the Hanjin Shipping Company , a South Korean firm , which continues to be the terminal ' s primary customer and major partner .