Brooklyn Navy Yard
Cradle of the Navy

J.M. Syken

Course Outline

In this course, we will come to understand why the “New York Naval Shipyard” (a/k/a “Brooklyn Navy Yard”) came to be known as “The Cradle of the Navy.” Our review will include the early history of the site and its Dutch roots and how the inlet on the Brooklyn shore of the East River came to be known as “Wallabout Bay.” As well, we will discuss the purchase of John Jackson’s 42-acre fledgling shipyard by the U.S. Government in 1801, sponsored by POTUS John Adams, and the opening of the naval shipyard in June 1806. Also, we’ll discuss the anchoring of prison ship “hulks” in the vicinity of Wallabout Bay and the suffering of American patriots imprisoned on them, in particular the infamous “Jersey.” The important role played by the BNY in the War of 1812 and the American Civil War will also be highlighted. The establishment of the BNY as the main repair base of the USN’s North Atlantic Squadron by the late 19th Century will be discussed as will be the organization and operations of the BNY.

The design construction of the BNY’s dry docks, starting in the mid-19th Century, of both timber and masonry/concrete construction and the debate over the two types will be of great interest, in particular the problems inherent in timber dry docks. The 20th Century methods of constructing modern dry docks (i.e. “Tremie” method) will be discussed in depth and detail as will be the creation of the world’s largest graving dock in Southampton, England. Also, we’ll discuss the various cranes, derricks and railway integral to the operations of the BNY. As well, we’ll highlight many of the famous ships built at the BNY. The expansion of the BNY in the post-WWI years and in the years leading up to WWII will be of great interest. The BNY’s “Finest Hour,” during WWII when +70K men and women were employed at the BNY will be of special interest as will be the closing of the BNY in the mid-1960s and its rebirth as a highly successful industrial park will round-out our review.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Understand/appreciate that on the eve of WWII, the BNY contained more than five miles of paved streets, four dry docks, two steel shipways and six pontoons and cylindrical floats (for salvage work), barracks for marines, a power plant, a large radio station, a railroad spur as well as foundries, machine shops and warehouses;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1938, the yard employed about 10K men;
• Understand/appreciate closed in 1966 and dormant for decades, the 300-acre, 200 year-old Brooklyn Navy Yard has renewed life as an industrial park with sustainable design and construction as its operating principle;
• Understand/appreciate that one of the premier projects was the “Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92,” the adaptive reuse of and addition to the 1857 Marine Commandant’s house, now housing a museum, leasable space for non-profit organizations and public amenities;
• Understand/appreciate that Building 92 is home to the visitor center, museum and employment center for the BNY and it’s the starting point for all BNY tours;
• Understand/appreciate that, housed inside the 1857 Marine Commandant’s residence, the “Past, Present, and Future” exhibit spans three floors and explores the history and contemporary development of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that by the late 19th Century, the BNY was the main repair and refitting base for the USN’s North Atlantic Squadron;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY had a receiving ship for enlisting sailors, a barracks for Marines, a thousand workmen turning out war material and a large ship building establishment;
• Understand/appreciate the history, function etc. of the receiving ship VERMONT;
• Understand/appreciate the operation and purpose of the Cob Dock;
• Understand/appreciate the historic, derelict ships within the BNY (i.e. John Ericsson’s DESTROYER);
• Understand/appreciate the purpose, function etc. of the BNY’s moulding loft;
• Understand/appreciate the purpose, function etc. of the plumber’s shop;
• Understand/appreciate the various anchor types on display at the BNY:
• Understand/appreciate the reduced functions of the Boston Navy Yard as an equipment center;
• Understand/appreciate the process/procedures for placing a ship “out-of-commission”;
• Understand/appreciate how surveys for repair were performed;
• Understand/appreciate the process of “dismantling” a ship;
• Understand/appreciate in the late 19th Century, if the estimate for the repairs to the hull amounts to more than 20% of the total cost of the ship, an Act of Congress forbade the expenditure – if she was a wooden ship;
• Understand/appreciate that in refitting, every part of a  ship’s rigging or furnishings that was badly worn or strained, or likely to give out, was renewed, so that, when again she set out, she was, practically speaking, a new ship;
• Understand/appreciate the determination to expand the operations of the BNY by the late 19th Century;
• Understand/appreciate comparisons of the BNY to Portsmouth and Chatham to the Royal Navy and Brest and Toulon to the French Navy;
• Understand/appreciate the location and history of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the background of the prison ship JERSEY, where thousands of American patriots were incarcerated under harsh conditions during the Revolutionary War in Wallabout Bay and where thousands perished;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1808, a crypt was constructed near the bay for unidentified skeletal remains;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1908, on a hilltop overlooking Wallabout Bay, a monument was erected to the prison ship martyrs;
• Understand/appreciate the role of POTUS Joh Adams in creating the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the Dutch origins and corruptions of the place-name for Wallabout Bay;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1801, POTUS John Adams purchased, on his own responsibility the sites for six Navy Yards;
• Understand/appreciate that subsequent additions were made in 1824, 1848, and 1867, and at a later date  two sections were sold to the City of Brooklyn, one of which is occupied by the well-known Wallabout Market;
• Understand/appreciate the ever-increasing land area and value of the BNY from the Federal governments original purchase of 42-acres for $40K;
• Understand/appreciate the existing shipyard owned by John Jackson in the mud flats of Wallabout Bay;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY was the principal supply depot for the USN;
• Understand/appreciate that by the late 19th Century, complete electrical plants, both for lighting and power, had been installed at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the system of double-track railways which encircles each dry dock and by means of connecting branches united them with the boiler shop;
• Understand/appreciate the cranes and derricks used in handling guns, gun carriages and the heavier pieces of machinery and ship’s framing and fittings;
• Understand/appreciate the use of floating derricks;
• Understand/appreciate the various buildings in the BNY and their functions;
• Understand/appreciate the Commandant’s residence;
• Understand/appreciate the Department of Construction and Repair;
• Understand/appreciate the Department of Steam Engineering;
• Understand/appreciate the Department of Yards and Docks;
• Understand/appreciate the Equipment Department;
• Understand/appreciate the Department of Supplies and Accounts;
• Understand/appreciate the Ordnance Department;
• Understand/appreciate proposed improvements to the BNY ca. 1900;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the BNY’s “Chain Ferry”;
• Understand/appreciate the scheme of alterations to the BNY’s docks, drawn up by Naval Constructor Bowles;
• Understand/appreciate the problem of low clearances for the two bridges downstream of the BNY (Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge/s) and how it limited the height of ship’s masts;
• Understand/appreciate the mitigation schemes used to resolve the problem of post-WWII super-carriers masts being too tall to pass under the bridges;
• Understand/appreciate the history of ships hitting (a/k/a “allusion”) the Brooklyn Bridge;
• Understand/appreciate the nominal and actual clearances under the bridges;
• Understand/appreciate the objections to the Brooklyn Bridge before and during construction by ship and warehouse owners;
• Understand/appreciate the demise of the “Age of Sail” to the “Age of Steam” by the late 19th Century;
• Understand/appreciate the multiple bridges upstream of the BNY:
• Understand/appreciate the failed effort to build a third bridge downstream of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the raising of the Bayonne Bridge by the PANYNJ in order to facilitate Post-Panamax ships entering Port Newark;
• Understand/appreciate the use of the BNY annex in Bayonne, NJ to mitigate the clearance problems of super-carriers;
• Understand/appreciate the BNY on its 150th anniversary in 1951;
• Understand/appreciate why the BNY is considered to be the “Cradle of the Navy’;
• Understand/appreciate the wooden “Sub-Chasers” built at the BNY during WWI;
• Understand/appreciate the important role played by the BNY in five wars;
• Understand/appreciate attempts to close the BNY that failed;
• Understand/appreciate the Iowa-class battleship USS MISSOURI, built at the BNY, and its historic role in WWII;
• Understand/appreciate the expansion of the BNY post-WWI;
• Understand/appreciate the relocation of certain elements of the BNY to other facilities nearby in order to make more room at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the post-WWI expansion of other Navy Yards in order that they be able to build large capital ships, akin to the BNY’s ability;
• Understand/appreciate the construction of the Vinegar Hill power plant at the western-end of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate how the BNY proved itself in the War of 1812;
• Understand/appreciate the various ships that were built at the BNY, including famous ships like Robert Fulton’s CLERMONT;
• Understand/appreciate the construction and history of the frigate USS OHIO;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the BNY’s Trophy Park;`
• Understand/appreciate the history of “Brooklyn -born” ships such as the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate that for a decade after WWI no ships were built, but between 1929 and 1936 four cruisers several destroyers and Coast Guard cutters were built at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the construction of the 35K-ton battleship USS NORTH CAROLINA at the BNY, launched in 1937;
• Understand/appreciate the classification of ships either as warships or merchant ships;
• Understand/appreciate the construction of the frigate ADAMS by John Jackson, launched in 1797, prior to the establishment of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the history of other Navy Yards on both the Atlantic and Pacific coast/s;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the BNY’s Commandants, starting with the first; Lt. Jonathan Thorn and his sad fate;
• Understand/appreciate that the site for the BNY’s “Granite  Dock No. 1” was first surveyed in 1826, with construction beginning in 1841 and completed in 1851 at a cost of $2,146,255.36;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of Granite Dock No. 1;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of other masonry dry docks at other shipyards;
• Understand/appreciate the operation of flooding and/or dewatering a dry dock;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of a dry dock caisson;
• Understand/appreciate the mechanical requirements of a dry dock (i.e. pumps);
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of a fireproof pump house for Granite Dock No. 1;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY’s Dry Docks No. 5 and 6 were the last to be built and used the “Tremie-method” of construction that significantly reduced the time for construction. This innovation did not require the site to be pumped-out and excavated be-fore the concrete was poured;
• Understand/appreciate details of the Tremie-method of dry dock construction;
• Understand/appreciate the BNY as an “Industrial Enterprise”;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the BNY’s eleven-story supply storehouse (a/k/a Building No. 3), completed in September 1917;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the BNY’s Bldg. No. 20;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the BNY’s Sands Street Entrance Gate;
• Understand/appreciate the Brooklyn Distillery’s outdoor garden;
• Understand/appreciate that although the BNY was the storehouse for everything used by the USN, explosives were not kept in large quantities there;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY received shipbuilding supplies and coal as well as general freight via carfloat;
• Understand/appreciate vessels requiring repair and/or refit were required to first offload their the munitions prior to entering the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that  two bronze “Markers” (plaques) on the Brooklyn Bridge commemorate the history of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that during the Civil War, 416 merchant vessels were converted for naval purposes;
• Understand/appreciate that during WWI, the BNY had a part in protecting NYC from submarines via nets across the Narrows, across the entrance to the yard and other wartime precautions;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the U.S. Marines that provided security for the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the BNY’s role in fitting-out scientific expeditions;
• Understand/appreciate the economic importance of the BNY to Brooklyn;
• Understand/appreciate the evolution of the Iowa-class battleships and the two (IOWA and MISSOURI) that were built at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the need/purpose/types etc. of dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate the many problems associated with the BNY’s Dry Dock No. 3;
• Understand/appreciate how a ship is settled onto and supported by concrete blocks in a dry dock;
• Understand/appreciate the advantages of a masonry dry dock as compared to timber;
• Understand/appreciate the importance of dry docks for maintaining the fleet;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1898, at the time of the Spanish-American War, only four of eleven dry docks operated by the U.S. Government were made of masonry;
• Understand/appreciate that timber docks were atypical for the use of great Navies;
• Understand/appreciate Liverpool’s Gladstone Graving Dock;
• Understand/appreciate the preference for masonry dry docks in Europe;
• Understand/appreciate London’s masonry wet/dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate arguments made in favor of using timber docks (i.e. lower first cost);
• Understand/appreciate the significantly reduced costs of repairs of a masonry dry dock as compared to timber;
• Understand/appreciate the long lifespan of masonry dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate experiences with timber docks at League island and the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that national docks are much deeper, as a rule, than those for private corporations;
• Understand/appreciate that in the case of a timber dock, every foot of depth means a great increase in the element of instability;
• Understand/appreciate that for its stability the structure of a dry dock depends upon its weight; stone or concrete gives it that weight;
• Understand/appreciate a timber dry dock has a thin veneering, the size of the excavation, held down by piles driven into the soil, to which piles the timbers are bolted;
• Understand/appreciate that cases frequently occurred in which this interior lining, to a greater or less extent, is forced loose from its fastenings and large bodies of water enter;
• Understand/appreciate that the increase in depth of a timber dock brings with it an element of grave danger, since from the design and construction it is not well adapted to resist the hydrostatic pressure of the water; a pressure which tends to collapse it or start leaks in the interior;
• Understand/appreciate this was shown in a notable and disastrous way by the leak which occurred in the BHY’s timber Dry Dock No. 3;
• Understand/appreciate the work of Colonel Loammi Baldwin, C.E., in designing/constructing masonry dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY’s Dry Dock No. 1 is the third-oldest dry dock in the U.S, being completed in 1851, well after the dry docks at Charlestown (Boston) and Norfolk;
• Understand/appreciate that the first permanent dry dock in NYC built at a cost of $2 million, Dry Dock No.1 is the smallest of the BNY’s dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate Dry Dock No.1’s masonry superstructure used 23K cubic yards of granite, mainly from Maine and Connecticut;
• Understand/appreciate that a Harper’s magazine article from 1871 stated that Dry Dock No. 1 had a capacity of 610K U.S. gallons and could be emptied within two hours and ten minutes;
• Understand/appreciate that another dry dock of masonry was constructed at the Mare Island Navy Yard, and finished sufficiently for service in 1881;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction/operation/history etc. of floating dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate Simpson & Co., the premier constructors of timber dry docks in the U.S. and owner of most patents for the design of timber dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate the history of Red Hook, Brooklyn’s Erie Basin and its timber dry dock;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the BNY’s timber Dry Dock No. 3;
• Understand/appreciate the Port Orchard dry dock on Puget Sound;
• Understand/appreciate a comparison of Dry Dock No. 3 at the BNY to the Port Orchard dry dock;
• Understand/appreciate the origin/impact of the leak in Dry Dock No. 3;
• Understand/appreciate repairs made to Dry Dock No. 3;
• Understand/appreciate the three boards of naval officers, including civil engineers, organized to visit and report upon the docks of Simpson & Co. and their findings;
• Understand/appreciate the monopoly Simpson & Co. maintained in the bidding for timber dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate the excessive expenditures by the U.S. Government in order to repair and maintain in service timber dry docks at Navy Yards;
• Understand/appreciate the Secretary of the Navy’s advocacy of masonry dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate the factors that influenced the USN and U.S. Government to no longer allow the use of timber dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate the refitting of timber dry docks into masonry and concrete;
• Understand/appreciate the rebuilding of BNY’s Dry Dock No. 2 in masonry;
• Understand/appreciate the enlargement of Dock No. 2 by increasing the slope of the side walls thus widening its base;
• Understand/appreciate the caving in of timber Dry Dock No. 2 due to the rotten conditions of the timbers and also to quicksand;
• Understand/appreciate that he entrance to the dock has been weakened and shore timbers had to be placed in position to prevent a more serious accident, the breaking in of the caisson;
• Understand/appreciate that from the time Granite Dock No. 1 was rebuilt in 1887-88, no repairs to it were required, serving as a role model for the advantages of masonry over timber dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate that it was uncommon for naval dry docks to be flooded, save for the entrance or egress of ships;
• Understand/appreciate the purposeful flooding of Dry Dock No. 2 after the cave-in to prevent any further damage;
• Understand/appreciate that the chief drawbacks to a timber structure are that it is liable to rapid and hidden decay and that seepage of water from the outside channel, or the existence of concealed springs at the back of the dock, may at any time wreck it by bursting in the sides, as occurred at Dry Dock No. 2;
• Understand/appreciate that Dry Dock No. 3 commenced to leak immediately after it was completed and repairs were necessitated which lasted for eighteen months and involved an expenditure of $170K;
• Understand/appreciate Dry Dock No. 2 was wrecked during a heavy rain storm in July 1899, when the hydrostatic pressure due to accumulation of water behind the altars was sufficient to burst in the side of the dock;
• Understand/appreciate in this case, a structure which originally cost $500K, so completely failed within nine years of the date of completion necessitated the expenditure of 60% of its first cost to place it again in serviceable condition;
• Understand/appreciate similar problems with the timber dry dock/s at League Island and Port Royal;
• Understand/appreciate the recommendation of Admiral Endicott, the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, that stone be substituted for timber in constructing the two new docks at the League Island and Mare Island Navy Yard/s;
• Understand/appreciate the reconstruction of the pumping plant of Dry Dock No. 1;
• Understand/appreciate the original condensing, double-acting, beam engine and pumps, which were erected in 1851;
• Understand/appreciate the proposed electric pumping plant with a capacity of 60K gpm;
• Understand/appreciate the architecture of the pump house;
• Understand/appreciate details of the new pumping equipment;
• Understand/appreciate the need to construct dry docks of sufficient size asap  to be able to handle the Wyoming-class battleships of the USN:
• Understand/appreciate the background of the Wyoming-class battleship;
• Understand/appreciate how/why technological advances in the design of battleships outpaced dry dock design/capacity;
• Understand/appreciate the introduction of new classes of USN battleships, particularly in the post-HMS Dreadnought (1906) era;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the BNY’s Dry Dock No.4 with dimensions capable of handling the largest USN ships;
• Understand/appreciate the increase in the beam (width) of battleships, starting with the Wyoming-class;
• Understand/appreciate naval docks on the Atlantic coast ca. 1909 were located as follows: One at Portsmouth, two at Boston, four at Brooklyn, two at League Island, three at Norfolk and one at Charleston;
• Understand/appreciate that although there were only two docks on the Pacific coast, they were both modern basins, and one of them received the ‘Wyoming’ without the slightest difficulty. Both docks were located at Puget Sound;
• Understand/appreciate the modernization of Dry Dock No. 3 at the BNY to be akin to Dry Dock No. 4;
• Understand/appreciate problems the Royal Navy was having with their own dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate the history/design/construction/types/operation etc. of floating steel dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate objections by the USN to the use of floating docks;
• Understand/appreciate the extensive use of floating dry docks by the USN during WWII;
• Understand/appreciate the various types of floating dry docks developed by the USN;
• Understand/appreciate the need for dry docks to repair damage to ships hulls caused by submarine warfare;
• Understand/appreciate the design/excavation/construction/mechanical equipment/controls operation/capacity etc. of the world’s largest dry dock – the King George V Graving Dock in Southampton, England;
• Understand/appreciate the ships that used the King George V Graving Dock;
• Understand/appreciate the nature of the site for the King George V Graving Dock;
• Understand/appreciate the use of excavated material (i.e. gravel) in the construction of the King George V Graving Dock;
• Understand/appreciate the specialized equipment used to build the graving dock;
• Understand/appreciate the problems with artesian water at the site of the graving dock and how it was mitigated;
• Understand/appreciate the 25-foot thick pressure slab in the graving dock to resist the hydrostatic pressure of the artesian water;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction/transport etc. of the caisson used to seal the graving dock;
• Understand/appreciate the pimping pant of the graving dock;
• Understand/appreciate the safety features of the graving dock control equipment;
• Understand/appreciate control room/panel for the graving dock;
• Understand/appreciate the official and unofficial opening of the King George V Graving Dock;
• Understand/appreciate the operations of the GMD shipyard at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the three present-day operating dry docks at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the geography of the East River and upper New York Bay;
• Understand/appreciate the background history/operations of the Port of New York Authority (now known as the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey);
• Understand/appreciate the demise of the freight piers on the west-side of Manhattan and the development of Battery Park City;
• Understand/appreciate the shift of the freight port from Manhattan’s west side to Port Newark, NJ with the rise of containerized shipping in the mid-1950s;
• Understand/appreciate the rise and fall of Brooklyn’s waterfront;
• Understand/appreciate the Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Company of Staten Island, which operates seven floating dry docks on the Kill Van Kull;
• Understand/appreciate that the PANYNJ, which is the third largest port in the U.S., there are only a few large dry dock facilities still open for business;
• Understand/appreciate the demise and future prospects of the Union Dry Dock in Hoboken, NJ;
• Understand/appreciate the gentrification of the waterfront;
• Understand/appreciate the problem of sea-level rise for the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the damage caused to the BNY by Hurricane Sandy (2012);
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY suffered almost $100 million of infrastructural damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy;
• Understand/appreciate measures taken/considered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) to help mitigate storm damage/sea-level rise;
• Understand/appreciate that Granite Dry Dock No. 1 was declared a NYC Landmark in 1975;
• Understand/appreciate that the USS Monitor was not fully built at the BNY, but was commissioned there;
• Understand/appreciate that there are six dry docks located inside the BNY, but only three are currently active;
• Understand/appreciate that the new 17-story office building at Dock 72 was built above the flood plain;
• Understand/appreciate the WWII saga of the aircraft carrier USS FRANKLIN;
• Understand/appreciate the demise of the BNY in the post-WWII years;
• Understand/appreciate the competition between shipyards for business;
• Understand/appreciate the design/components/operation etc. of the new floating derrick at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate traveling cranes at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the design/components/operation etc. of the 100-ton floating crane at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the methods used to fabricate parts for the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the method/procedures/equipment etc. used to build the armored cruiser USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the “double-bottom” of ships hulls;
• Understand/appreciate the armor protection used in the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the naval architecture of the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the power plant of the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the initial and alternate armament of the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the MAINE-class of battleships;
• Understand/appreciate the MAINE-class in comparison to the preceding ILLINOIS-class;
• Understand/appreciate the use of electricity on the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the refrigeration and distilling plant of the USS MAINE;
• Understand/appreciate the USS MAINE in comparison to the HMS MAGNIFICENT;
• Understand/appreciate the origins of the christening ceremony for ships;
• Understand/appreciate the advantages of the “Krupp Process” for manufacturing armor plate;
• Understand/appreciate test results for Krupp Process armor plate;
• Understand/appreciate comparison of warship construction on public vs. private shipyards;
• Understand/appreciate a comparison of the construction of sister ships USS MAINE/USS Connecticut and USS TEXAS/USS LOUISIANA in public/private shipyards respectively;
• Understand/appreciate the post-WWI westward expansion plans for the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the $60 million three-year building program Secretary of the Navy Daniels proposed that would  provide additional naval ships, ten of them dreadnaughts and six battle-cruisers;
• Understand/appreciate the design features of battle-cruisers, as compared to battleships;
• Understand/appreciate the operations of the USN during WWI;
• Understand/appreciate that the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 restricted total battleship tonnage allowed and limited individual ship size to 36K-tons;
• Understand/appreciate that the South Dakota-class battleships were authorized in 1917, but work was postponed so that the USN could incorporate information gained from the WWI Battle of Jutland (fought in mid-1916) in their design;
• Understand/appreciate construction on the USS SOUTH DAKOTA and USS INDIANA was begun at the BNY in 1920;
• Understand/appreciate that the USS SOUTH DAKOTA and USS INDIANA were scheduled, under the limitations of the Armament Treaty, to be scrapped;
• Understand/appreciate the economic impacts to the BNY of the stopping of work on the two battleships;
• Understand/appreciate the inability of battleships to become anything other than battleships due to their complex design;
• Understand/appreciate the salvaging and scrapping of the two battleships at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the adaptive reuse of components of the two battleships (i.e. cage masts);
• Understand/appreciate that the construction on USS INDIANA was halted in early 1922 when the ship was 34.7% complete. The unfinished hull was scrapped the following year The guns were transferred to the U.S. Army and her boilers and armor were used to modernize older battleships;
• Understand/appreciate the transfer of salvaged items for other uses;
• Understand/appreciate the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922;
• Understand/appreciate the organization, wages, management, labor-relations,  work days/hours, pensions etc. of the BNY’s civilian work force;
• Understand/appreciate the establishment of the BNY’s central drafting office in 1930 and its expansion;
• Understand/appreciate story behind how the BNY got the contract to build the “treaty” cruiser USS PENSACOLA:
• Understand/appreciate the BNY’s twin building ways which were a great advantage because of the economy involved in building a pair of ships from the same plans;
• Understand/appreciate the BNY’s employee Credit Union and the Mutual Relief Society;
• Understand/appreciate the process/potential etc. for securing apprenticeship positions at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the terms of serving as an apprentice at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the building of the USS NORTH CAROLINA, launched in 1937, at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that the first modern battleship built at the BNY was the USS FLORIDA, the keel of which was laid in March 1909. She was launched in 1910 and commissioned in 1911;
• Understand/appreciate that the sister ship of the USS FLORIDA was the USS UTAH, which was built at a private yard;
• Understand/appreciate the color schemes of USN ships based on service climate;
• Understand/appreciate the use of cage masts on early dreadnaughts;
• Understand/appreciate that battleships were  named after the states of the Union, while cruisers took the names of cities;
• Understand/appreciate the construction at the BNY of the USS NEW YORK, keel laid in 1911 and commissioned in 1914; the USS ARIZONA, keel laid in 1914; commissioned in 1916; the USS NEW MEXICO, keel laid in 1915, commissioned in 1918; the USS TENNESSEE,  keel laid in 1917, commissioned in 1920;
• Understand/appreciate the service history and fate of the USS ARIZONA;
• Understand/appreciate that the Colorado-class proved to be the culmination of the standard-type battleship series built for the USN in the 1910s and ‘20s;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the USS NORTH CAROLINA at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the expansion of Navy Yards to meet the requirements of the enlarged fleet preceded the declaration of an emergency, in 1938, shortly after Congress authorized an increase in the fleet by about 20%;
• Understand/appreciate that without the rehabilitation, modernization and improvements that were accomplished prior to America’s formal entry into WWII in December 1941, the Navy Yards would have been unprepared for WWII;
• Understand/appreciate the Naval Appropriation Act of 1938;
• Understand/appreciate the Vinson Fleet Expansion Bill of 1938;
• Understand/appreciate that the Two-Ocean Navy Bill, passed in July 1940 (shortly after the fall of France) super-imposed an expansion of 70% in the fleet (on top of the previous 20% Vinson expansion of 1938) and an additional 11% expansion (authorized earlier in 1940);
• Understand/appreciate that the authorization of the two-ocean Navy, in 1940, involved both radical increases in the scope of the public works program at Navy Yards and new concepts in shipbuilding practice as applied to capital ships;
• Understand/appreciate that the new expansion program included five battleships of the Montana-class, with a London Treaty displacement of approximately 58K-tons and a true displacement of nearly 70K-tons;
• Understand/appreciate reasons why the Montana-class battleships were never built;
• Understand/appreciate that HMS Vanguard was the last battleship ever built;
• Understand/appreciate the rise of the aircraft carrier during WWII, ultimately eclipsing the battleship;
• Understand/appreciate infrastructure (i.e. buildings, hops, cranes, docks etc.) built at the BNY and other Navy Yards in the build-up to America’s entry into WWII;
• Understand/appreciate the establishment of the Bayonne Annex to the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the expedited construction of the BNY’s Bldg. No. 77 - - a 16-story, one-million-square-foot command and sup-ply center running operations for the entire North Atlantic fleet;
• Understand/appreciate the new receiving barracks built for the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the obtaining of the Wallabout Market area for expansion of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that during WWII, the BNY hit its peak of activity, with more than 5K ships repaired and 250 converted;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY was allotted $15 million to build two new dry docks, expand another and construct an annex and dry dock in Bayonne, NJ. This expansion would transform the yard into the busiest ship repair facility on earth during WWII;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY built two heavy landing craft, two battleships and five aircraft carriers (the latter built in the new dry docks);
• Understand/appreciate that the Marine Channel, which received barges and rail cars of produce for the market, was filled-in to make way for the two new dry docks;
• Understand/appreciate that Cob Dock, a tidal flat in the East River that had grown with landfill and ballast dumped by passing ships into the yard’s Ordinance Dock (and many other functions), was dredged and reconfigured into three new piers;
• Understand/appreciate the launching of the battleships USS IOWA and USS MISSOURI at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that ships from allied Navies were also serviced at the BNY during WWII;
• Understand/appreciate that two destroyers were also built at the BNY during WWII;
• Understand/appreciate that the cruiser USS JUNEAU, on which the five Sullivan bros. were lost, was commissioned at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the operations of the BNY’s Field Production Division;
• Understand/appreciate that at the peak of its activity nearly 75K men and women were employed by the BNY and the monthly payroll ran between $15 and $16 million;
• Understand/appreciate that the manpower requirements for the BNY’s wartime production schedule rose from 2,479,830 man-days in 1942 to 6,591,203 man-days in 1944;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY was the first Navy Yard in the country to win the Navy ‘E,’ emblematic of excellence in wartime production;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the two Iowa-class battleships at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that by the outbreak of WWII, the original 42 acres of the BNY had grown to 290 acres, with four annexes raising the total to 788 acres;
• Understand/appreciate that eighty other locations, mostly in Brooklyn, were used for such purposes as storage;
• Understand/appreciate that sixteen shipyards in three states operated under the BNY’s jurisdiction;
• Understand/appreciate that +700 companies, each with sub-contractors, made parts for the BNY’s ships;
• Understand/appreciate that in 1944 it performed repairs, alterations and other services on 1,618 ships, 833 of which went into dry dock;
• Understand/appreciate that the BNY’s field service division handled 1,517 vessels built in private yards, fitting them out or providing alterations;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the five Essex-class aircraft carriers built at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the ingenuity of the BNY workers in repairing battle-damaged ships;
• Understand/appreciate that whenever possible, two or more ships were fitted into a dry dock for servicing;
• Understand/appreciate the use of and advantages of the BNY’s construction dry docks (a/k/a “Ditch” construction);
• Understand/appreciate the versatility an load-carrying capacity of the BNY’s movable cranes;
• Understand/appreciate the complexities of the BNY railroad system;
• Understand/appreciate the material salvaged from the BNY’s operations;
• Understand/appreciate labor-saving infrastructure at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate that during WWII, the 70K-strong work force of the BNY was roughly divided as follows: 20Kon new construction, 20K on repairs, 10K on manufacture of parts, etc. and 20K on maintenance, utilities, transportation, clerical work and various minor classifications;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the BNY’s flag-making operation;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the various official names for the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the failure of the BNY to receive the contract to build CVA-67 – a Forrestal-class super-carrier and its implications;
• Understand/appreciate the three CVA-type super-carriers previously built at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the deadly fire that broke out during the construction of the USS CONSTELLATION which delayed her commissioning;
• Understand/appreciate the cause of and damage resultant of the December 1960 fire;
• Understand/appreciate the announcement in November 1964 by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara that the BNY was among multiple DOD installations to be closed as part of a cost-cutting initiative;
• Understand/appreciate reactions by the public and politicians to the announcement and the failed efforts to reverse the decision;
• Understand/appreciate the estimated $1.25 billion economic loss to NYC resulting from the closure of the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the other NYC DOD facilities to be closed (i.e. Brooklyn Army Terminal);
• Understand/appreciate the widespread unemployment resulting for the BNY’s closure;
• Understand/appreciate RFK’s role as a newly-elected NYS Senator in trying to reverse the closure decision;
• Understand/appreciate the takeover of the BNY by the GSA and its efforts to sell the BNY to NYC;
• Understand/appreciate the official announcement of the BNY’s closure in June 1966;
• Understand/appreciate the Commerce, Labor and Industry Corporation of Kings (CLICK) and their role in transforming the BNY into an industrial park post-closure;
• Understand/appreciate the takeover by NYC of the BNY property;
• Understand/appreciate that after the BNY’s closure, it was sold to the City of New York and reopened as an industrial park in 1969. When the yard reopened, Seatrain Shipbuilding, which built crude-oil supertankers, was its largest commercial tenant, employing +3,100 unionized workers;
• Understand/appreciate the closure of Seatrain Lines and the ensuing mass unemployment that adversely affected the Fort Greene neighborhood;
• Understand/appreciate the two supertankers built by Seatrain at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the controversies surrounding CLICK;
• Understand/appreciate the establishment/purpose of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Coalition (BNYC);
• Understand/appreciate Coastal Dry Docks’ BNY operations;
• Understand/appreciate the controversy surrounding NYC plans to build an incinerator at the BNY and the long-running but successful efforts to stop it;
• Understand/appreciate the alternative (expanding NYC’s recycling program) to the incinerator;
• Understand/appreciate the design/construction of a Cogeneration plant in the BNY that produces both electric and steam energy, which significantly reduced energy costs for BNY tenants;
• Understand/appreciate BNY’s major tenant, Steiner Studios, and their extensive operations/facilities at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the transformation of the BNY into a highly desirable/successful industrial park with a diverse group of tenants;
• Understand/appreciate the history of the Brooklyn Naval Hospital and its adjoining cemetery;
• Understand/appreciate the transformation of the cemetery into a publicly accessible landscape;
• Understand/appreciate the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and the BNY’s integration into it;
• Understand/appreciate the on-going use of three of the BNY’s six dry docks for ship maintenance and repair;
• Understand/appreciate that in 2014, the BNY was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district. Quarters A, the Commandant’s house, is a National Historic Landmark. Dry Dock No. 1, the Naval Hospital Building and the Surgeon’s Residence are designated NYC landmarks;
• Understand/appreciate the history of “Admiral’s Row,” its decline and demolition;
• Understand/appreciate that in 2016, nine of the ten historic houses on Admiral’s Row were torn down to accommodate 399 Sands Street, a Wegmans supermarket and a parking lot;
• Understand/appreciate the saving/restoration of the historic timber shed;
• Understand/appreciate the decline of the historic Brooklyn industrial waterfront;
• Understand/appreciate that on August 14, 1965, the Landing Platform Dock USS Duluth (LPD-6) floated out of Dry Dock No. 3 at the BNY. In the preceding 145 years, this shipyard had witnessed the launch of 125 commissioned warships of the USN. This would be the 126th – and final – USN vessel to be built on Wallabout Bay;
• Understand/appreciate why/how the BNY earned the nickname the “Can-Do Shipyard” during WWII;
• Understand/appreciate that one of the perks of working at the BNY during WWII was making workers and their families eligible to move into an apartment in the newly-built Fort Greene Houses. The vast complex was one of the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) first and largest affordable housing projects, built to house the families of Navy Yard workers;
• Understand/appreciate the development of the Fort Greene Houses and their postwar decline;
• Understand/appreciate the renaming of the Fort Greene Houses;
• Understand/appreciate that NYC invested $250 million to overhaul the antiquated water, electrical and sewer lines at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate green initiatives at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG. 92;
• Understand/appreciate the transformation of Bldg. 77 as a manufacturing hub for the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate Industry City as a model for the BNY of a successful industrial park;
• Understand/appreciate various tenants’ experiences at the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the loss of the Brooklyn Dodgers as endemic of the problems Brooklyn faced in the postwar years with the loss of much of its middle-class to suburbia;
• Understand/appreciate the Philadelphia Navy Yard’s decline and repurposing, akin to the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate the 65K square-foot urban farm, operated by Brooklyn Grange, on the rooftop of Bldg. No. 3;
• Understand/appreciate the transformation of Bldg. No. 128;
• Understand/appreciate the BNY’s plans to double in size with a $25 billion investment, adding 5 million square-feet of manufacturing space and bringing an additional 10K jobs to the BNY;
• Understand/appreciate details of the BNY’s Master Plan;
• Understand/appreciate that the new master plan and rezoning called for three “vertical manufacturing” buildings, increased public access, and more educational programming;
• Understand/appreciate the proposed “Skybridge,” connecting the street with the new Ferry Landing;
• Understand/appreciate that the master plan divides the 300-acre BNY into five districts;
• Understand/appreciate plans for increased connectivity of the BNY to mass transit (i.e. nearby subway lines) and surrounding neighborhoods (i.e. DUMBO);
• Understand/appreciate the BNY’s vulnerability to sea-level rise;
• Understand/appreciate the new East River ferry servicing the BNY, and;
• Understand/appreciate the on-going legacy of the BNY to Brooklyn and NYC.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for architects, engineers and other design professionals.

Benefit to Attendees

The attendee/s will gain an intimate knowledge and insight into the “Cradle of the Navy” – the New York Naval Shipyard (a/k/a “Brooklyn Navy Yard”) – its past, present and future.

Course Introduction

The course includes an in-depth slideshow (PowerPoint) presentation and the viewing of documentary films.

Course Content

In this course, you are required to view/study the following slideshow and the materials contained in the web pages:

Brooklyn Navy Yard: Cradle of the Navy (printable handout in PDF, 32 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)
Trans-Siberian Railway: West Meets East (non-printable slideshow for screen-viewing only, 94 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)

Archival/Documentary Film:

TITLE: U.S. Navy's Great Day (1945)
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2WH1Gzo-fg
DURATION: 01:55
TITLE: WWII & NYC: Brooklyn Navy Yard at War
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2vwgoq_kmk
DURATION: 03:29
TITLE: Brooklyn Navy Yard Closes after 165 Years [1966]
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49TlEb6uvJo
DURATION: 02:12
TITLE: Brooklyn Navy Yard Opens to the Public
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRr6blEDiJU
DURATION: 01:28
TITLE: BNY Tour
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C-77XTqZRA
DURATION: 14:07
TITLE: BNY
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_xGxKe6R-A
DURATION: 04:39

Note A: Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right-clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader from your computer.

Course Summary

On November 30, 1945, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal decided to consolidate all the naval facilities in the metropolitan region into “United States Naval Base, New York.” The headquarters of this new entity would be at the “United States Naval Shipyard, New York.” The name change required new signage throughout the yard; a new title flag for the shipyard newspaper and even a new name for the BNY’s band. However, everywhere outside of the Federal Government, from the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817 until the present day, its been known as the “Brooklyn Navy Yard.” The name change stirred-up such a controversy that a few days later, Forrestal issued a new directive that the yard be known instead as the “New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York.” That name stuck for twenty-one years, until the BNY closed in 1966. It was only after NYC acquired the site that it officially got the name it had for so long been known: “Brooklyn Navy Yard.” Fuggedaboutit!

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:

Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Navy_Yard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallabout_Bay

Films

https://archive.org/details/cunytv_STRP17048
(The Brooklyn Navy Yard – 28:47)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5i_3FtbG4o
(World’s Largest Graving Dock [1933] – 01:43)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtI3a0BsXjc
(USS FRANKLIN Approaches BNY – 02:47)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AjEA144YU0
(BNY Tour – 03:17)

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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