Newport News Shipbuilding was started by Collis P. Huntington in 1886, as Chesapeake Dry Dock & Construction Company. Incredibly, within ten years of its foundation it was building battleships for the U.S. Navy. Through two world wars, it established itself as the world's most capable shipyard, outliving all the other great naval and merchant shipbuilders. It was fully operational at the start of the WWII emergency and expanded its capabilities for the war effort with the aid of $22mm from the Navy. At its peak, the yard employed 35,000 people and still found the resources to run North Carolina Shipbuilding, one of the best of the emergency shipbuilders. It continued as both a naval and merchant shipbuilder and repairer after the war and is today the largest U.S. shipbuilder. It was privately held until it was acquired by Tenneco in 1968. Tenneco spun it off as an independent company in 1996 and its stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange, but it was immediately a takeover target. General Dynamics tried to buy it in 1998 and Litton Industries in 1999. GD tried again in 2001 but was beaten out by Northrop Grumman which closed the deal in December 2001. The shipyard was integrated in January 2008 with Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (Ingalls and Avondale) and is now technically part of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. Visit it at www.nn.northropgrumman.com and see it from the air on Google here.
Note that Newport News' lawyers tell me that Current Navy security requirements prohibit disclosure of the hull numbers on the Navy ships that we build. None of the other Big Six shipbuilders tell me this. It's mindbogglingly idiotic, but what can you do?
| Hull # | USSB, USMC or MARAD Hull # | Original Name | Original Owner | Ship Type (C=Major Conversion) | Gov't. Type or Design Code | Pennant # | GT | LDT | Price ($mm) | Delivered | Disposition |
| 1 | Dorothy | James Sheffield | Tug | 130 | 30-Apr-91 | Preserved at Newport News | |||||
| 2 | El Toro | Morgan Line | Tug | 130 | 20-May-91 | Later YT 18 1898, renamed Nottoway 1920, later YTL 18, scrapped 1946 | |||||
| 3 | El Sud | Morgan Line | Cargo Ship | 4,659 | 27-Jun-92 | Later aux. cruiser Yosemite 1898, foundered 1900 | |||||
| 4 | El Norte | Morgan Line | Cargo Ship | 4,659 | 15-Aug-92 | Later aux. cruiser Yankee 1898, wrecked 1908 | |||||
| 5 | El Rio | Morgan Line | Cargo Ship | 4,664 | 9-Feb-92 | Later aux. cruiser Dixie 1898, AD 1 1909, scrapped 1922 | |||||
| 6 | El Cid | Morgan Line | Cargo Ship | 4,665 | 24-Aug-93 | To Brazil as Nicheroy, later aux. cruiser Buffalo 1898, AD 8 1909, sold as Sirius 1929, scrapped 1933 | |||||
| 7 | Albatross/Nashville | US Navy | Gunboat | PG | 7 | 1,371 | 19-Aug-97 | Sold 1921 and converted to a barge, scrapped 1957 | |||
| 8 | Penguin/Wilmington | US Navy | Gunboat | PG | 8 | 1,392 | 13-May-97 | Later Dover (IX 30) 1941, sold 1946, scuttled 1947 | |||
| 9 | Porpoise/Helena | US Navy | Gunboat | PG | 9 | 1,392 | 8-Jul-97 | Scrapped 1934 | |||
| 10 | Twin City | Unknown | Ferry | 15-Mar-94 | Machinery only | ||||||
| 11 | Louisiana | Unknown | Cargo Ship | Dec-94 | Machinery only | ||||||
| 12 | John H. Estill | Savannah Pilots Association | Tug | 243 | 25-Nov-94 | Scrapped 1952 | |||||
| 13 | Albert F. Dewey | Albert F. Dewey | Tug | 134 | 15-Apr-95 | ||||||
| 14 | Newport News | Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Co. | Passenger Ship | 1,535 | 15-Jun-95 | Later Midland 1919, burned 1924, scrapped 1936 | |||||
| 15 | La Grande Duchesse | Plant Investment Co. | Passenger Ship | 5,017 | 9-Apr-98 | Later City of Savannah 1901, Carolina 1905, sunk by gunfire 1918 | |||||
| 16 | Creole | Cromwell Steamship Co. | Passenger Ship | 3,801 | 5-Dec-96 | Later Solace (AH 2) 1898, scrapped 1930 | |||||
| 17 | Sommers N. Smith | Pilots' Benevolent Association | Tug | 211 | 14-Sep-96 | Sank on launching but salvaged, scrapped 1937 | |||||
| 18 | Kearsarge | US Navy | Battleship | BB | 5 | 11,525 | 20-Feb-00 | Later AB 1 1941, scrapped 1955 | |||
| 19 | Kentucky | US Navy | Battleship | BB | 6 | 11,525 | 15-May-00 | Scrapped 1923 | |||
| 20 | Margaret | Plant Investment Co. | Passenger Ship | 674 | 14-Oct-96 | Later Tlacatolpan 1905, Carmania 1913, wrecked in dock 1924 | |||||
| 21 | Illinois | US Navy | Battleship | BB | 7 | 11,565 | 16-Sep-01 | Later Prairie State (IX 15) 1941, scrapped 1956 | |||
| 22 | El Sud | Morgan Line | Cargo Ship | 4,659 | 26-Jul-99 |