Charleston Naval Shipyard (1901-1996)

The Charleston Naval Shipyard (formerly the Charleston Navy Yard) was a prominent ship and submarine dockyard that was operational from 1901 until 1996 and vital to the Allied war efforts in World War I and World War II. During its years of operation, the shipyard produced destroyers, ship tenders, and submarines for the U.S. Navy. While its busiest years were during World War II, the shipyard continued to be strategically important during the Cold War as a nuclear submarine outfitter and home base for many vessels that belonged to the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet.

In 1890, Charleston Mayor J. Adger Smith and Governor Benjamin Tillman began lobbying the Federal Government to build a naval dockyard in Charleston. The city and state had yet to fully recover economically from the Civil War, and a large-scale government project was seen as a potential boost to the local economy. Tilman later served in the Senate where he sponsored legislation to create the naval yard. In the spring of 1901, the project was approved and U.S. Navy officially took control of the land on the banks of the Cooper River in North Charleston. Construction began shortly after the Navy acquired the land and the first drydock was completed in 1907. At the time of construction, Charleston's new facility was the largest drydock on the East Coast.

Production at the facility ramped up significantly when the First World War led to increased spending on naval ships. Production expanded once again when the United States entered the First World War in April 1917. Shipbuilders here constructed over twenty naval vessels in the next two years. The first destroyer constructed at the naval yard was the U.S.S. Tillman, named after the governor-turned-Senator from South Carolina who sponsored the bill to create the naval yard. Today, Senator Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman is best-known for his opposition to civil rights and leadership of a white supremacist paramilitary force that committed brutal acts of terror as they seized power in 1876. The USS Tillman served in the U.S. naval fleet until 1940 when it was one of fifty aging destroyers given to aid the British in 1940 in exchange for leases of strategic ports and bases around the globe. As a result, the Tilman served as part of the British Royal Navy during World War II and was retired from service in 1945. In World War II, the U.S. navy built a second destroyer named after Tilman that saw service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

During WWI, a naval training facility named Camp Bagley was also established at the naval yar along with a naval hospital, clothes factory, large pier, and ammunition warehouses. Some of these structures are still in use today, and visitors can tour the Naval Hospital Historic District, to see Spanish-Colonial-style buildings that housed the former hospital and its staff. Employment at the Navy Yard during the war peaked at around 5,600 personnel.

In the interwar period, the Charleston Navy Yard continued producing, repairing, and retrofitting ships. The naval yard provided consistent employment which was key to the recovery from the Great Depression, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the dockyard several times during the 1930s and early 1940s. In 1935, FDR gave a speech emphasizing how important the dockyard was to the security of the nation as well as its centrality to the economy. In 1939, the dockyard received millions of dollars in federal money to improve its facilities and began ramping up production with war looming and the U.S. producing more ships to expand their fleet's capabilities.

During World War II, production at the Navy Yard reached its maximum capacity. In addition to hundreds of ships coming through the dockyards for repairs, the dockyard produced numerous new vessels including the U.S.S.Tidewater and U.S.S. Bryce Canyon. Employment at the dockyard peaked in 1943, with nearly 26,000 civilian employees. The Navy Yard was a vital part of the South Carolinian economy during the war, and it is estimated that the per capita income of Charleston rose by three times the pre-war levels. This represented a much larger increase than other parts of the nation during the war, and the city also saw an outsized number of newcomers with over 55,000 people moving to the city as a result of employment opportunities in the war industries. Many of these new families settled in what is now North Charleston.

After World War II, the facility became known as the Charleston Naval Shipyard and continued its role as a vital shipbuilding and repair facility. With the onset of the Cold War, came new technological innovations such as the nuclear-powered submarine. One of the main tasks given to the Naval Shipyard was the retrofitting of old diesel-powered submarines into modern nuclear-powered machines. As well as this new duty, the military reorganized the operational area of the drydock into Naval Base, Charleston. This new designation meant the construction of new facilities, and the Naval Shipyard became the home port for the U.S. Navy's Ballistic Missile Submarine Fleet.

Production of combat vessels rose and fell as the U.S. became engaged in various "flashpoints" of the Cold War, such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In 1983, the Naval Shipyard was the third largest naval base in the continental United States. The Naval Shipyard ceased operations in 1996 due to post-Cold War arms treaties, and today, the shipyards are leased by private companies.

While many areas of the former naval shipyard are not open to the public, residents and visitors can still see many historic structures including the powerhouse and drydocks which are visible from the street or along the pier in North Charleston. The area is home to several recognized historic sites, such as the Naval Hospital Historic District and the Greater Charleston Naval Base Memorial. The historic district includes the former naval hospital and officer's quarters while the Greater Charleston Naval Base Memorial pays tribute to the thousands of men and women who worked at the facilities over its nearly 100-year lifespan. The memorial contains information about the facilities, pictures from all eras of its operation, and brass models of several types of ships produced at the facility.

Naval Base History, City of North Charleston. January 1st 2021. Accessed November 14th 2021. https://www.northcharleston.org/visitors/attractions/greater-charleston-naval-base-memorial/naval-base-history/.

Greater Charleston Naval Base Memorial, City of North Charleston. January 1st 2021. Accessed November 15th 2021. https://www.northcharleston.org/visitors/attractions/greater-charleston-naval-base-memorial/.

Charleston Navy Yard Historic District, Charleston County, South Carolina Department of Archives and History. August 6th 2006. Accessed November 15th 2021. http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/charleston/S10817710175/index.htm.

Edmonds, Mary W.. Navy Yard Application to National Register of Historic Places, United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. Accessed November 15th 2021. http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/charleston/S10817710175/S10817710175.pdf.