Northrop Grumman Newport News

Northrop Grumman Newport News, formerly called '''Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company''' ('''NNS&DD or simply NNS'''), is the largest privately owned Shipyard in the United States and the only one that can build ''Nimitz'' -class Supercarrier s. It is located in Newport News, Virginia , and often participates in projects with the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia , also located adjacent to Hampton Roads .

HISTORY

Industrialist Collis P. Huntington (1821-1900) led the efforts to complete the Chesapeake And Ohio Railroad (C&O) from Richmond, Virginia to the Ohio River in the early 1870s. Although originally built for general commerce, the C&O soon was also used to transport Bituminous Coal from the previouusly isolated coalfields adjacent to the New River and the Kanawha River in West Virginia . In the 1880s, built an extension of the C&O from Richmond down the Virginia Peninsula to reach a new Coal Pier on Hampton Roads in Warwick County near the small Unincorporated Community of Newport News . However, building the railroad and coal pier was only the first part of Huntington's dreams for Newport News.

In , ''Wilmington'' , and ''Helena'' .

In 1906, the revolutionary HMS ''Dreadnought'' launched a great naval race worldwide. Between 1907 and 1923, Newport News built six of the U.S. Navy's total of 22 dreadnoughts -- ''Delaware'' , ''Texas'' , ''Pennsylvania'' , ''Mississippi'' , ''Maryland'' , and ''West Virginia'' -- and all but the first would still be in active service in World War II .

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet on its round-the-world voyage. Seven of its 16 Battleships were built by NNS. In 1914, NNS built the SS ''Medina'' for the Mallory Steamship Company ; as the MV ''Doulos'' she is now the world's oldest active Ocean -faring Passenger Ship .

Between 1918 and 1920, NNS delivered 25 Destroyers , and after World War I , NNS began building Aircraft Carrier s. ''Ranger'' was delivered in 1934, and NNS went on to build ''Yorktown'' and ''Enterprise'' .

By 1940, the Navy had ordered seven more aircraft carriers and four Cruiser s. Still, the company swiftly filled requests for " Liberty Ships " that were needed during the war. It founded North Carolina Shipbuilding Company , an emergency yard on the banks of the Cape Fear River and launched its first Liberty ship before the end of 1941, building 243 ships in all, including 186 Libertys. For its contributions during the war, the Navy awarded the company its "E" pennant for excellence in ship construction.

In the post-war years, NNS built the famous passenger liner SS ''United States'' , which set a transatlantic speed record that still stands today. In 1954, NNS, together with Westinghouse and the Navy, developed and built a prototype Nuclear Reactor for a carrier propulsion system. NNS designed the ''Enterprise'' in 1960. In 1959 NNS launched its first nuclear-powered Submarine , ''Shark'' as well as the Ballistic Missile Submarine ''Robert E. Lee'' .

In the 1970s, NNS launched two of the largest Tanker s ever built in the western hemisphere and also constructed three Liquefied Natural Gas Carrier s -- at over 390,000 deadweight tons, the largest ever built in the United States. In the 1980s, NNS produced a variety of Navy products, including ''Nimitz''-class Nuclear Aircraft Carriers and ''Los Angeles''-class Nuclear Attack Submarines . The original ship in its class, the USS Nimitz was already well under construction by the early '70's, being built in a drydock at 42nd Street in Downtown Newport News, in full view of most of the downtown area.

MERGER WITH NORTHRUP GRUMMAN

On November 7 , 2001 , NNS signed a merger agreement with industrial conglomerate Northrop Grumman . the combination creating a $4 billion shipyard now called Northrop Grumman Newport News. The shipyard is a major employer not only for the lower Virginia Peninsula, but portions of Hampton Roads south of the James River and the harbor, portions of the Middle Peninsula region, and even some northeastern counties of North Carolina .

SHIPS BUILT

Ships built at the Newport News yard include:

Tugboat ''Dorothy'', the shipyard's first vessel delivered, in 1891

Ocean liner SS ''Medina'' for the Mallory Steamship Company in 1914, currently the oldest serving passenger ship in the world

''Wickes'' Class Destroyers ( ''Lamberton'' ; ''Radford'' ; ''Montgomery'' ; ''Breese'' ; ''Gamble'' ; ''Ramsay'' ) for the Navy in 1918

Liberty Ship transports for the Allies during World War II

Ocean liner SS ''United States'' , holder of a transatlantic speed record

Submarine USS ''Shark'' in 1959, the yard's first nuclear-powered submarine

Ballistic missile submarine ''Robert E. Lee'' in 1959

Aircraft carrier USS ''Enterprise'' in 1960, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

''Nimitz'' Class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers

''Los Angeles'' Class nuclear-powered submarines

CREED

::"We shall build good ships here. At a profit - if we can. At a loss - if we must. But always good ships".
::: Collis Potter Huntington

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