Newport News Shipbuilding
All nine Nimitz-Class nuclear submarines were built at Newport News Shipbuilding. Uploaded by naval-technology.com.
I grew up in Newport News, and many of my friends’ parents worked at the Shipyard. After high school, many of those friends also had careers there. You could say that for many of us, the Shipyard was the family business.
Uploaded by wikimapia.org.
Founded in 1886, the Newport News Shipyard built the cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers that helped win two world wars – and helped enforce the peace thereafter. It built the original USS Enterprise in 1936, and its namesake – the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier – in 1960. It built tugs and tankers, freighters and submarines. It built two exceptional ocean liners, the SS America in 1939 and the SS United States in 1951.
Along the way it became one of the largest employers in Virginia. I can still remember seeing the morning and afternoon traffic heading up Huntington Avenue along the waterfront, across the James River Bridge, some workers coming from as far away as North Carolina. I’ve been away from the area for 45 years, but I still feel incredible pride whenever I remember Newport News Shipbuilding and all it did for our families. And our nation.