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TO HONOR THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO THE SUCCESS OF THE CHARLESTON NAVAL SHIPYARD FOR NINETY-FIVE YEARS AND TO DESIGNATE APRIL 6, 2019, AS "CHARLESTON NAVAL SHIPYARD DAY" IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Whereas, the Charleston Naval Shipyard, formerly known as the Charleston Navy Yard, was a United States Navy ship-building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River in North Charleston and was part of Naval Base Charleston; and
Whereas, the shipyard began operations in 1901 as a dry dock and continued as a navy facility until 1996 when it ceased operations as the result of recommendations of the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission; and
Whereas, the Navy Yard and later the Naval Base had a significant century-long impact upon the local community, the tri-county area, and the entire State of South Carolina; and
Whereas, during World War I, the shipyard flourished, but during the Great Depression until the start of World War II, the shipyard faced an uncertain future, employing fewer than two hundred fifty workers. By the 1930s, the skilled workers at the shipyard had produced the destroyer USS Tillman, and they assembled a total of twenty-one destroyers at the facility; and
Whereas, peak employment of 25,948 was reached in July 1943, enabling the production in the mid 1940s of two destroyer tenders, two of the largest vessels ever built by the shipyard workers, USS Tidewater and USS Bryce Canyon; and
Whereas, after the war, the work force had stabilized to nearly five thousand persons who were responsible for the repairs and alterations of captured German submarines until the North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950 increased production again, and the work force mounted to over eight thousand employees; and
Whereas, the shipyard work force activated forty-four vessels and converted twenty-seven more for active fleet duty during the Korean War, and into the 1960s, submarines and missiles continued to be built, along with the overhauling of nuclear submarines; and
Whereas, a major installation throughout the Cold War as a homeport to numerous cruisers, destroyers, attack submarines, Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarines, destroyer tenders, and submarine tenders of the United States Atlantic Fleet, shipyard workers completed the first refueling of a nuclear submarine in 1966 and began its first overhaul of an FBM submarine; and
Whereas, the shipyard began closure in the 1990s as a result of the end of the Cold War and became the largest commercial facility on the East Coast with three dry docks, one floating dock, and six piers, whose projects include military, commercial, and cruise ships; and
Whereas, on Saturday, April 6, 2019, Riverfront Park in North Charleston will host the Charleston Naval Shipyard Reunion, an opportunity for generations of dedicated shipyard employees to return and reunite, along with their friends and families; and
Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is grateful for the significant impact that the dedicated workers at the Charleston Naval Shipyard had on the Palmetto State for more than nine decades and for the significant role they played in protecting our great nation. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, honor the men and women who devoted themselves to the success of the Charleston Naval Shipyard for ninety-five years and designate April 6, 2019, as "Charleston Naval Shipyard Day" in the State of South Carolina.
This web page was last updated on January 17, 2019 at 10:43 AM