Part 2Visiting Charlestown Navy Yard

The launching of a ship celebrates the time, energy, and skill spent in its making. Here U.S.S.Guest,one of 24 destroyers built at Charlestown during World War II, slips into Boston Harbor in 1942. The bigFletcher-class destroyer took only five months to build.

A destroyer is traditionally named for a distinguished naval figure, and if possible the closest female relative sponsors the namesake ship. In a centuries-old ritual, DD-461’s sponsor Eileen Fairfax Thomson breaks a bottle of champagne against the ship’s bow in 1941, sending it down the ways with the words, “I christen theeForrest,and may God bless all who sail in her.” Captain French Forrest commanded the Charlestown-builtCumberlandin the Mexican War. Siding with the Confederates during the Civil War, he oversaw conversion of the burned U.S.S.Merrimackinto the ironclad C.S.S.Virginia—destroyer ofCumberland (see pages28-29).

From 1933 to the end of World War II, the Charlestown yard moved outside its traditional role as repair yard and became a shipbuilding facility. It began with destroyers—ships it had long specialized in repairing—averaging two a year in the 1930s. This period of steady production was preamble to the World War II crash building program. Charlestown launched almost 200 vessels, including 24 destroyers, between 1939 and 1945. In 1942 it began building destroyer escorts—smaller, less expensive versions of destroyers designed to counter German submarines. The final big program was the production of LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) for amphibious assaults in Europe and Asia. LSDs (Landing Ship, Dock) for carrying other vessels; submarines; and various auxiliary vessels also came down the ways during the war. These programs spurred major changes at the yard. Greater specialization, for instance, broke up traditional shops. The biggest change was in construction methods, most notably prefabrication. Several bow and stern sections, each with its own keel, were built separately—many in the Shipfitters Shop, but also “in playgrounds and schoolyards and parts of the yard, and all around greater Boston,” remembered Rigger Charles Snell. These were then joined to the midship hull section rising on the shipways. “Economy was not the name of the game,” recalled Snell. “The name of the game was time.”

Hulls were launched from shipways or dry docks, then moored alongside piers for completion. Here, yard workers, who labored round the clock during the war, outfit aFletcher-class destroyer as night falls. At top, a five-inch gun is lowered by a mobile crane.

Destroyer (36 built)A fast, versatile, relatively small ship, it was equipped for anti-submarine warfare, escort duty, scouting, antiaircraft warfare, torpedo or gun surface engagement, and shore bombardment.

Destroyer (36 built)

A fast, versatile, relatively small ship, it was equipped for anti-submarine warfare, escort duty, scouting, antiaircraft warfare, torpedo or gun surface engagement, and shore bombardment.

LST (Landing Ship, Tank; 44 built)This craft carried tanks and other vehicles for amphibious landings. The water ballast system allowed it to vary its draft: deep for stable ocean travel and shallow for moving in close to shore.

LST (Landing Ship, Tank; 44 built)

This craft carried tanks and other vehicles for amphibious landings. The water ballast system allowed it to vary its draft: deep for stable ocean travel and shallow for moving in close to shore.

Destroyer Escort (62 built)This smaller, more quickly built version of the destroyer was designed to protect allied shipping convoys from German U-boats, freeing destroyers for other duties.

Destroyer Escort (62 built)

This smaller, more quickly built version of the destroyer was designed to protect allied shipping convoys from German U-boats, freeing destroyers for other duties.

During the long era of wooden sailing ships, when naval technology changed only gradually over the decades, a warship’s service lasted as long as the materials from which it was built. But as the pace of change quickened in the mid-19th century with the advent of steam propulsion and iron hulls, a vessel quickly grew obsolete without continual incorporation of the latest technology. This state of affairs, which intensified in the 20th century, provided Charlestown Navy Yard with a new role after World War II: lengthening or transforming the careers of old ships, otherwise destined for mothballs, through modernization and conversion. Modernization meant updating old electrical, propulsion, or weapons systems or performing structural surgery without altering the vessel’s function. This ranged from installing a sonar dome on the bottom of the hull to dismantling the entire superstructure and building a new one. The process normally took several months. Conversion, which could take years, involved major alteration of a vessel to prepare it for a different tactical mission. A typical example would be the conversion of a conventional scouting, escorting, and submarine-fighting destroyer to a radar picket destroyer, whose role was to provide mid-ocean radar warning. A notable postwar task undertaken by the yard was the 1956 conversion of the destroyerGyattinto the world’s first guided missile destroyer. Basically, the vessel’s aft five-inch guns were replaced with a twin missile launcher. But the ship had to be significantly altered to perform its new function. The yard designed automated systems that first affixed a booster charge to the missile and then moved it from the air-conditioned belowdecks magazine to the launcher. The decks and superstructure had to be reinforced to withstand the tremendous pressure and temperature of a launch. A system of ducts and blowout plates was installed to minimize damage and injury in the event of a premature explosion. Innovative retractable fins at midships helped stabilize the vessel for firing. With these and other changes, the yard remadeGyattinto a sophisticated missile-firing machine.

In the late 1950s the Navy began installing sonar equipment in bow domes. Bow domes reduced hull resistance and were less susceptible to bubble noise. The Charlestown yard, already a leader in sonar technology, performed a prototype dome installation in 1958. To install a dome, workers first cut away part of the old bow, then fitted the prefabricated dome(next page, on U.S.S.Willis A. Leein 1961).

Sonar works actively and passively. In active sonar, the transducer in the dome transmits sound pulses through the water. When the pulses reach an object (or the bottom), they are reflected and received by the transducer as echoes. Distance is determined by time elapsed between transmission and echo. In passive sonar, hydrophones pick up noises generated by underwater sources.

Installing a sonar dome

U.S.S.Cassin Youngat Pier 1.

The yard offers the visitor a captivating glimpse into the activities that for nearly two centuries supported the United States Navy. Here on the home front, thousands of civilian workers and navy personnel built, repaired, and supplied warships from the majestic sailing vessels of the early 19th century to the powerful steel navy of the 20th century. In 1974, the year of its closing, 30 acres of the historic yard were set aside for the National Park Service as a living museum of the Navy’s activities here. The remaining 100 acres continue to be developed as part of the revitalization of Boston’s waterfront.

Nineteenth-century buildings, docks, and piers reflect the yard’s 174-year history. The commandant’s 1805 hilltop mansion overlooked the activities below. Within view are Dry Dock 1, used by U.S.S.Constitutionas early as 1833 and as late as 1995, the 1842 Carpenter Shop, the 1852 Pitch House (Building 10) for caulking wooden vessels, the 1833 Officers’ Quarters, the 1813 Navy Stores (Building 5), and the 1811 Marine Barracks.

Two venerable warships, the 1797 frigate U.S.S.Constitutionand the powerful 1943 destroyer, U.S.S.Cassin Young, float alongside the working piers, illustrating the changing United States Navy. Both theConstitution, an active duty Navy warship, andCassin Young, maintained by National Park Service rangers and volunteers, offer free tours daily.

Tours of the yard

A National Park Service exhibit, “Serving the Fleet,” and tours of the yard (above) provide visitors with opportunities to explore the history of the site. The USS Constitution Museum offers a rich collection of artifacts, paintings, and models relating to the history of “Old Ironsides.” The museum, located inside the Dry Dock 1 Pumphouse, is open daily to visitors.

Key to map

CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARDHigh-resolution Map

Charlestown Navy Yard’s buildings reflect the range of architectural styles employed over its long history. These structures served a variety of functions within the working yard, which was home to naval officers and their families as well as an industrial work place.

Beginning in 1853, the civilian shipyard workers living in surrounding communities, primarily Charlestown, assembled each morning to the ringing of the bell atop the octagonal Muster House. For most of the 19th century, the workers mustered there three times daily, in the morning at sunrise, at lunch, and once more in the evening before retiring to their homes at sunset.

Muster House

Directing the activities was the shipyard commandant, who lived with his family and personal staff in the impressive mansion constructed in 1805. Built on the yard’s high ground, the Commandant’s House provided a bird’s-eye view of the construction and repair activities going on below.

Commandant’s House

Today the house is open to the public for special tours, and numerous activities, such as historical military encampments, take place on the expansive lawn through the summer months.

Historical military encampments

The Chain Forge houses the massive hammers once used to forge die-lock chain, a unique process developed here in 1926.

The country’s only remaining full-length ropewalk was for more than 130 years the sole facility in the Navy manufacturing rope for U.S. warships. Both buildings (not open to the public) await restoration and preservation work as part of the National Park Service’s ongoing efforts to preserve the significant industrial heritage of the Charlestown Navy Yard.

The Navy’s oldest commissioned warship, United States ShipConstitutionand the Charlestown Navy Yard share a long history. Constructed in Boston between 1794 and 1797, “Old Ironsides” was repaired and supplied here many times during its active career. U.S.S.Constitutionwas permanently berthed in Charlestown in 1897 and has since been open to the public for tours. Like all wooden vessels,Constitutionneeds constant attention. In the 1920s, a major overhaul was capped with a nationwide tour. Between 1992 and 1995,Constitutionunderwent the most significant restoration to date in the yard’s Dry Dock 1. Newly discovered drawings and descriptions were used to help skilled naval shipwrights restore the vessel to its original appearance.

Constitutionsettles on dry dock blocks in preparation for its 1990s restoration.

A view off the bow of the venerable warship.

Caulkers use traditional caulking hammers to seal the gun decks.

The World War II destroyer U.S.S.Cassin Young(DD-793) reflects a very different kind of sea power than doesConstitution. Yet both warships, constructed 150 years apart, served much the same purpose. Like frigates, destroyers (known as the workhorses of the modern navy) are smaller and less powerful than the heaviest warships, but they are fast and remarkably versatile. Boasting five 5-inch guns and made of steel,Cassin Youngwas built on the West Coast in 1943 and took part in major Pacific engagements, including the Saipan landing and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where its crew rescued over 100 sailors from the attack on U.S.S.Princeton.

Free tours let visitors see where the “tin can sailors” lived during their long months at sea.

AboardCassin Young, “Rosie the Riveter” programs introduce visitors to the work and lives of the women who wielded rivet guns and welding rods during World War II.

Cassin Young’sbow offers views of the historic yard and harbor.

Today, exhibits and educational activities help bring alive the navy yard and Boston’s maritime history. At the USS Constitution Museum, located in the historic Dry Dock 1 Pumphouse and adjacent buildings, hands-on activities help visitors to appreciate the skills of a 19th-century seaman and get a sense of his life aboard a sailing warship. Load and fire a replica cannon, try out a sailor’s sleeping quarters, take a turn at the great wheel of a square-rigger, or command U.S.S.Constitutionin battle on a computer screen.

The museum houses the frigate’s logs, weapons, documents, charts, journals, decorative arts, and other items illustrating the epic role of “Old Ironsides” in U.S. history. Skilled craftsmen demonstrate ship model building, while films and special programs provide greater insight into the ship’s story. A museum store offers other items relating toConstitution’shistory and to the nation’s maritime heritage.

USS Constitution Museum

A permanent exhibit, “Serving the Fleet,” which focuses on the history of the navy yard, is open to the public on a seasonal basis in the navy yard’s Paint Shop (Building 125).

Numbers in italics refer to photographs, illustrations, or maps.

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