The installation occupies about 4 miles of waterfront and has 14 piers, a total 11 miles of pier and wharf space. It supports naval forces in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Naval Station Norfolk (NSN) is the largest naval station in the world. Take a minute to see more facts and pictures of this fifth-generation ship builder at:Īlthough we couldn’t tour NNS, we could tour NSN. Their facilities span more than 550 acres strategically positioned in one of the great harbors of the East Coast. Since that time Newport News Shipbuilding has built more than 800 ships, including both naval and commercial ships.

By 1897 NNS had built three warships for the US Navy: USS Nashville, Wilmington and Helena.” In 1891 Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company delivered its first ship, the tugboat Dorothy. “In 1886, Huntington built a shipyard to repair ships servicing this transportation hub. In 1881, the Peninsula Extension of the C&O was built from Richmond down the Virginia Peninsula to reach a new coal pier on Hampton Roads the small unincorporated community of Newport News Point. This C&O rail link to the Midwest was soon being used to transport bituminous coal from the previously isolated coalfields, in West Virginia.

Huntington (1821–1900) provided crucial funding to complete the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) from Richmond, Virginia to the Ohio River in the early 1870s. (No tours are available, or we would have taken one!) Look at that bridge crane lettered with “Newport News Shipbuilding.” “Big Blue” is 280′ tall, 360′ wide and can lift 1,050 tons! It has an interesting history which Art learned when he interviewed there as a structural engineer following active duty in the Navy.

Navy aircraft carriers, and one of two providers of U.S. Friday (6/1) Depart Norfolk for Deltaville.Īs mariners, we couldn’t be in Norfolk without touring Naval Station Norfolk and the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, just up the James River.Īlthough tours are not available, the town of Newport News is significant because it is the home of “ Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest industrial employer in Virginia (22,000 employees), and sole designer, builder and refueler of U.S.

Neuse river nc and navionics gold card