Shipbuilding History

Since the nation's earliest days, the US Navy has operated its own shipyards. There were 13 in total, four of which are still active. In addition, eight naval stations - one in the U.S., seven overseas - had some shipbuilding capability. At the end of WWII, the Navy terminated or cancelled almost all new ship construction contracts and only a few new ships were built in the Naval Shipyards thereafter. Then, in 1972, a report was published that demonstrated that ships built in Naval Shipyards cost, on average, about 30% more than ships built by private-sector shipbuilders: as a result, all new ship construction in the Naval Shipyards ceased and five of the nine remaining yards were closed. Finally, the US Coast Guard maintains its own yard in Baltimore MD: a host of boats have been built there over the years but it is now primarily a maintenance facility.