Brooklyn Navy Yard

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a historic shipyard and industrial complex on Wallabout Bay in northwest Brooklyn, New York City. Situated along the East River opposite Lower Manhattan, the approximately 225-acre site is bounded by Navy Street, Flushing Avenue, Kent Avenue, and the river. It was established by the federal government in 1801 and became an active United States Navy yard in 1806. Across more than a century and a half of naval use, it built, repaired, refitted, and maintained vessels for the United States Navy and supported a broad range of maritime and military activities. The yard developed from land around Wallabout Bay that had been farmed and used for private shipbuilding. Shipbuilder John Jackson and his brothers acquired parts of the former Rapelje estate in the late eighteenth century, and Jackson established a shipbuilding facility there. The federal government purchased the initial naval-yard property in February 1801, during the final days of the Adams administration. Development was initially slow, but the site became an important naval installation during the early nineteenth century. Its work included repairs and retrofits during the War of 1812, construction of wooden naval vessels, and the operation of receiving ships for new recruits. Brooklyn Navy Yard's industrial capabilities expanded substantially during the nineteenth century. The yard built USS Ohio, a wooden ship of the line whose keel was laid in 1817 and which was launched in 1820. It also built the steam warship Fulton II and developed major infrastructure, including Dry Dock 1, completed in 1851. After the Civil War, the yard moved progressively from wooden construction toward iron vessels and later steel shipbuilding. It produced naval vessels before the First World War and undertook major repairs and overhauls of large battleships during the Second World War. The facility became one of the largest industrial employers in Brooklyn. During the Civil War its workforce grew from roughly 3,700 employees in 1861 to about 6,200 by 1865. Its wartime workforce reached approximately 75,000 during the Second World War, earning the nickname “The Can-Do Shipyard.” The yard's work included vessel construction, conversion, repairs, armament-related support, and logistics. Its history also reflects the evolution of public-sector labor, naval engineering, immigration, and Brooklyn's industrial development. The Navy deactivated the installation in 1966. Rather than disappearing as an industrial site, the property continued to accommodate private businesses and maritime activities. It is now operated as a city-run industrial and commercial complex, with shipping repair and maintenance businesses alongside offices, manufacturing facilities, creative enterprises, and other non-maritime uses. The site includes numerous historic structures, including the former Brooklyn Naval Hospital complex, the commandant's residence, and Dry Dock 1, as well as newer buildings constructed during late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century redevelopment. The Brooklyn Navy Yard is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains an active employment, manufacturing, and waterfront development center rather than a functioning naval installation.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard occupies land around Wallabout Bay that was originally tidal marsh and was later farmed by Dutch settlers. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Rapelje family controlled much of the area, developing farmland, a grist mill, and a mill pond. During the American Revolutionary War, British prison ships were moored in the bay, and many American prisoners died there. The site later became associated with private shipbuilding. John Jackson and his brothers acquired parts of the former Rapelje estate in 1781, and Jackson established a shipbuilding facility that produced the merchant vessel Canton in the late 1790s. The federal government purchased the first naval-yard tract in February 1801 for $40,000. The property remained largely unused while President Thomas Jefferson resisted an extensive military buildup, but it became an active Navy yard in 1806 after Jonathan Thorn took up the position of commandant. The Navy expanded the site in 1810 by acquiring additional land from New York State. During the War of 1812, the yard repaired and refitted more than one hundred vessels, although it had not yet become a major ship-construction center. Early construction included USS Ohio, a wooden ship of the line designed by Henry Eckford. Its keel was laid in 1817 and it was launched in 1820. The yard also received and housed naval recruits aboard receiving ships, including Robert Fulton's steam frigate, later known as USS Fulton. A second major phase of institutional development followed in the 1820s. The Navy acquired land for the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, which opened in 1838, and engineer Loammi Baldwin Jr. developed plans for a dry dock and an internal street grid. Construction of Dry Dock 1 began in 1841 and was completed in 1851. The dock became one of the yard's defining engineering works and is now a designated New York City landmark. The yard's role broadened under officers including Matthew C. Perry, who served as commandant from 1841 to 1843. Perry helped establish the United States Naval Lyceum at the yard in 1833, an institution devoted to professional education, technical knowledge, and collecting. The facility also contributed personnel and equipment during major fires in Lower Manhattan in 1835 and 1845. Labor became a central part of the yard's identity. Its workforce consisted of mechanics and laborers employed by the day, and disputes over wages and hours reflected wider changes in American industrial relations. In 1840, the federal government imposed a ten-hour workday on mechanics and laborers working on public projects. By the beginning of the Civil War, Brooklyn had become a major urban and industrial center, and the Navy Yard employed thousands of skilled workers. Its workforce rose from approximately 3,700 in 1861 to about 6,200 by the end of the war. During the conflict, the yard built fourteen large vessels and refitted hundreds of commercial ships for Union naval operations. It continued to expand after the war, shifting from wooden shipbuilding to iron and then steel construction. The yard's infrastructure, acreage, and workforce grew repeatedly, eventually reaching more than 356 acres at its historical peak. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Brooklyn Navy Yard construction and repair work tracked the transformation of naval technology. The yard produced some of the Navy's final pre-dreadnought battleships before the First World War. During the Second World War, it became one of the country's most important naval repair and construction centers. Approximately 75,000 people worked there at the wartime peak, and the facility acquired the “Can-Do Shipyard” nickname for its high-volume production and repair work. The yard also contained housing, administrative facilities, a hospital, dry docks, officers' residences, and other support buildings. The Navy closed the installation in 1966. Its waterfront and industrial infrastructure nevertheless remained in productive use. The City of New York took responsibility for the property and developed it as a mixed industrial and commercial complex. Maritime repair and maintenance continued alongside manufacturing, offices, studios, and other businesses. Historic buildings were preserved or adapted, while newer facilities were added in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The former Brooklyn Naval Hospital, Dry Dock 1, the commandant's residence, and other surviving structures connect the current campus to its naval past. Admiral's Row, a group of former officers' houses, was removed in 2016 as part of redevelopment. Today the Brooklyn Navy Yard is both a National Register-listed historic site and an active urban industrial campus operated under the City of New York.

1. 2016Admiral's Row removed

   The former officers' residences known as Admiral's Row were demolished for new construction.

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2. 1966Naval deactivation

   The United States Navy deactivated the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a military installation.

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3. 1940Second World War industrial expansion

   The yard became a major wartime construction, repair, and overhaul center, eventually employing approximately 75,000 people.

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4. 1865Civil War expansion

   By the end of the Civil War, the yard workforce had grown to approximately 6,200 employees.

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5. 1861Civil War workforce reaches thousands

   At the start of the Civil War, the yard employed approximately 3,700 workers and began expanded Union naval production and repair work.

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6. 1851Dry Dock 1 completed

   The yard completed its first major dry dock, a landmark of nineteenth-century naval engineering.

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7. 1838Brooklyn Naval Hospital opens

   The naval hospital complex began serving the yard and remained in operation until 1948.

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8. 1833Naval Lyceum established

   The United States Naval Lyceum was founded at the yard to support naval education and technical exchange.

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9. 1820USS Ohio launched

   The wooden ship of the line USS Ohio was launched at the Navy Yard.

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10. 1817Keel laid for USS Ohio

    Construction began on USS Ohio, the yard's first ship of the line.

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11. 1806Active naval operations begin

    Jonathan Thorn became the first commandant associated with the yard's active operation as a United States Navy facility.

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12. 1801Federal acquisition of the naval-yard site

    The federal government purchased the initial tract around Wallabout Bay, establishing the property that became the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

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A historically significant waterfront industrial campus combining naval heritage, maritime services, manufacturing, commercial activity, and urban economic development.

• Naval vesselsShipbuilding1817

  During its active Navy period, the yard built wooden ships, iron vessels, steel warships, and other naval craft. Its output included USS Ohio, launched in 1820, as well as vessels associated with the transition from sail and wood toward steam propulsion and industrial steel construction.

• Ship repair and overhaulMaritime maintenance1812

  Repair, refitting, and overhaul were central to the yard's operations from the early nineteenth century through its naval deactivation. Dry docks and waterfront facilities allowed the Navy to maintain large warships and commercial vessels, with especially intensive activity during the Civil War and Second World War.

• Industrial and commercial workspaceIndustrial real estate1966

  After naval deactivation, the property evolved into a city-managed industrial and commercial campus. Its buildings accommodate manufacturing, offices, studios, maritime businesses, and other commercial users rather than serving solely as a shipbuilding facility.

• 2016Redevelopment involving Admiral's RowStrategy

  Several nineteenth-century officers' residences at the western end of the yard had deteriorated and occupied land targeted for new development.

  What changed. Admiral's Row was demolished to accommodate new construction within the city-managed complex.

  Aftermath. The decision enabled redevelopment but removed a notable group of historic structures from the site.

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• 1966Conversion from naval installation to civilian industrial complexStrategy

  The United States Navy deactivated the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a military installation after more than a century of naval operations.

  What changed. The property continued under city management and was repositioned for private industrial, maritime, manufacturing, office, and commercial uses.

  Aftermath. The site remained economically active while retaining historic naval structures and waterfront infrastructure.

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• 2016Admiral's Row demolished for new construction

  The former officers' residences known as Admiral's Row were demolished to make way for new development within the evolving Brooklyn Navy Yard complex.

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• 1966Brooklyn Navy Yard deactivated as a United States military installation

  The United States Navy ended the yard's operation as an active naval installation. The property subsequently continued to host private industrial and maritime users.

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1. Brooklyn Navy Yard
2. Brooklyn Navy Yard official website