Long Beach Naval Shipyard - History
In 1943, the Secretary of the Navy established what he then called the US Naval Dry Docks, later to become known as the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. This shipbuilding and repair facility was located on the south side of Terminal Island, at Roosevelt base in California, between the cities of Long Beach and San Pedro, a little more than 20 miles outside of Los Angeles. The facility was initially constructed on land that was acquired by the US government in 1935, but would see a great deal of additional construction and renovation in later years, especially during World War II.
In the years prior to World War II, government authorities became aware that additional capabilities would soon be needed at the site, such as the space and capability to anchor and command a fleet from this region of the United States. An act of legislation passed in 1940 known as Public Law 667 authorized the Navy to establish a fleet in the San Pedro and Long Beach region of California. Another bill passed granting the Navy several million dollars with which to update the facility to better accommodate an entire fleet of naval vessels. Following this bill, the Navy began construction on the facility, which, once the construction was completed, became known as the Terminal Island Naval Facility, a shipbuilding facility with the capacity to dock naval vessels. With its proximity to the open sea and the consider shelter afforded by the Port of Long Beach, the Terminal Island Naval Facility was considered an ideal location at which to dock an armed fleet of sea vessels during the coming war.
Eight years later, in 1948, the facility was renamed the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Despite this name change and its implied change in military culture, the facility was only open for 4 years before it was rendered inactive in 1950. However, the United States involvement in the Korean War began only a few months later, and the facility's active status was reinstated the next year. Following this reinstatement, the Long Beach Naval Shipyard serves as a center of fleet support for the west coast of the United States during times of war, working to build, repair and overhaul naval vessels.
Long Beach Naval Shipyard was vital to the military's ability to repair and build Naval ships. The shipbuilding facility was equipped with the space and technology necessary to perform all of the functions necessary to build and repair non-nuclear ships, including rigging, including rigging, electrical work, insulating, lagging, sandblasting, welding, woodworking, pipe fitting, and other work pertaining to the repair of Navy ships. With these capabilities, the workers at Long Beach Naval Shipyard were able to perform the repairs necessary to a number of important Navy ships like cargo ships, tankers, destoyers, and many others.
During World War II the Long Beach Naval Shipyard was a hub of military activity, where desperately needed ships were repaired and built to support the major war effort undertaken by the United States at that time. In the early 1940s, for instance, the Long Beach Naval Shipyard docked over 400 naval vessels, performed over 300 major repairs, including work on destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and other types of important sea vessel. At the end of the war, the Long Beach Naval Shipyard served as a demobilization center for ships coming back from the war front overseas. Following the ceasefire, ships brought to the facilities at Long Beach were repaired and overhauled, deactivated or converted before being dry-docked or otherwise put into storage.
In the peaceful years following the war, the facilities at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard were used in a variety of scientific projects and research, including the famous POLARIS, POSEIDEN, and SEALAB projects. In 1974, reorganization of west coast naval bases resulted in the demotion of status for the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which now served only as a location for naval support activities. This change was later repealed in 1979, and the facilities were upgraded to the Naval Base status. Throughout the 1980s, the facilities were used to renovate at least two large battleships.
In the early 1990s, thousands of shipyard workers and sea vessels stationed at the facility were deferred to other various bases along the west coast of the United States. As the middle of the decade approached, the facilities at Long Beach Naval Shipyard were renovated as a preventative measure against pollution of the surrounding environment, and with less work than it had during the earlier war years, the facilities employed around 3,000 civilian workers and 800 military personnel-these figures down from a total of approximately 17,000 workers employed at the height of the shipbuilding industry boom in the 1940s and 50s. With a yearly payroll of nearly $145 million and a responsibility for over 100 acres of property equally to a lease rate of more than $10 million a year, it was only a matter of time before the facilities were closed down. The Long Beach Naval Shipyard was indeed closed down in 1997.
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