BNY Production Schedule

Ship Construction in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1926-1946

A chronological listing by ship is certainly one way of showing what vessels the BNY has produced over the years. Another way of looking at the Yard's production is to present it as it actually progressed as a whole. It is easy this way to see the lethargy of ship construction in the 1920s and early 1930s and how rapidly production advanced up in the latter half of the 1930s and into the war years.

This unit of time, 1926-1946, marked a specific period in the BNY's history. Ship construction, principally in battleships, halted a few years after World War I ended, with the signing of the Washington naval disarmament treaty, and resumed again in the mid-1920s in a halting manner, initially consisting of cruisers and smaller vessels. Production reverted to capital ships--now including aircraft carriers--by 1940 and continued until shortly after World War II, when it once more halted until the Korean and Cold Wars brought a new--and as it turned out, a final--round of ship construction, of carriers and troop ships, to the BNY. It is this intermediate period, when the BNY experienced its most concentrated period of construction in terms of numbers of vessels, that is shown in the chart below.

Throughout most of this period the navy yard had two building ways and four dry docks on which and in which to construct its warships. With some exceptions though [the Erie and the Coast Guard Cutters], the dry docks were used only to repair and perform maintenance work on vessels. With the onset of the war in Europe, the BNY commenced building two new dry docks to be used solely for ship construction. This allowed for four warships to be built simultaneously during World War II. The BNY also finished constructing ships [adding on weaponry, electronics and such] built in private shipyards in the area.

The importance of America's naval building program in the 1930s as a factor in the role that the BNY played in the second world war can be seen in this chart. Of the five capital vessels that were begun after 7 December 1941, only two were completed in time to see action.

1926	10/27	Pensacola, CL24 - Keel Laid
1929	4/25	Pensacola - Launched
1930	2/6	Pensacola - Commissioned*
1931	3/14	New Orleans, CA32 - Keel Laid
1933	3/7	Hull, DD350 - Keel Laid
	4/12	New Orleans - Launched
1934	1/31	Hull - Launched
	2/10	Dale, DD353 - Keel Laid
	2/15	New Orleans - Commissioned
	12/17	Erie, PG50 - Keel Laid
1935	1/11	Hull - Commissioned
	1/23	Dale - Launched
	3/12	Brooklyn, CL40 - Keel Laid
	6/17	Dale - Commissioned
	9/10	Honolulu, CL48 - Keel Laid
	9/11	Coast Guard Cutters - Keels Laid
1936	1/29	Erie - Launched
	7/1	Erie - Commissioned
	11/30	Brooklyn - Launched
	12/9	Helena, CL50 - Keel Laid
1937	1/6	Coast Guard Cutters - Launched
	3/1, 4	Coast Guard Cutters - Commissioned
	7/26	Honolulu - Launched
	9/30	Brooklyn - Commissioned
	10/27	North Carolina, BB55 - Keel Laid
1938	6/15	Honolulu - Commissioned
	8/27	Helena - Launched
1939	9/18	Helena - Commissioned
1940	6/13	North Carolina - Launched
	6/27	Iowa, BB61 - Keel Laid
1941	1/6	Missouri, BB63 - Keel Laid
	4/9	North Carolina - Commissioned
	11/25	Floating Workshops - Launched
1942	8/27	Iowa - Launched
	9/7	Landing Ships, Tanks, LST 311-314 - Keels Laid
	10/14	Landing Ships, Tanks, LST 315-318 - Keels Laid
	12/13	Bennington, CV20 - Keel Laid
	12/30	LSTs 311-314 - Launched
1943	1/23	LSTs 315-318 - Launched
	2/1	Bon Homme Richard, CV31 - Keel Laid
	2/22	Iowa - Commissioned
	12/1	Franklin D. Roosevelt, CVB42 - Keel Laid**
1944	1/29	Missouri - Launched
	2/26	Bennington - Launched
	3/1	Kearsarge, CV33 - Keel Laid
	4/29	Bon Homme Richard - Launched
	5/1	Oriskany, CV34 - Keel Laid
	6/11	Missouri - Commissioned
	8/6	Bennington - Commissioned
	11/26	Bon Homme Richard - Commissioned
1945	4/29	Franklin D. Roosevelt - Launched**
	5/5	Kearsarge - Launched
	10/13	Oriskany - Launched
	10/27	Franklin D. Roosevelt - Commissioned
1946	3/2	Kearsarge - Commissioned
1950	9/24	Oriskany - Commissioned***

* This ship was the first to be commissioned in ten years.

**This ship was originally named the Coral Sea. When President Roosevelt died shortly before the ship's launching, the vessel was renamed in his honor.

***Work was suspended on the carrier in August 1947 and it was not completed until after the outbreak of the Korean war..

Note: While a ship's physical history is generally marked by the three stages of keel-laying, launching, and commissioning, there are more steps involved:

The military affairs committees of each house of Congress and then Congress itself authorizes a ship or a line of ships recommended by the Navy. In this period the allotment of the ships between private and public shipyards was usually also made.
The appropriation committees of each house of Congress and then Congress itself appropriates money for specific ships from the authorized list. The final decision as to where each ship is to be built is decided. Vessels are given their assigned numbers.
The drafting shop of the assigned yard draws up plans for its ship and the supply office begins ordering materials and parts. If a similar set of ships is being constructed at various yards, one yard may be assigned this task for the entire group.
The keel-laying ceremony: Usually a festive ceremony where naval officials, workers, and local dignitaries lay the so-called "first" rivet in the ship's keel. In reality, the ship is generally about 10% completed at this point, including fabrication not yet merged into the hull.
The launch ceremony: Another festive ceremony. At this point the ship's hull has been mostly finished and the vessel can float. How much of the superstructure and propulsion unit has been installed at this point varies from ship to ship. The vessel has been constructed on a building way with a slope of 1:24. At the ceremony the ship is christened with its name, the bottle of champagne broken against its hull, and workers then release the clamps holding the ship to the ways allowing it to slide into the water. When built in a dry dock the ship is "launched" by flooding the basin.
Commissioning: After the launch the ship is towed to a finishing dock where its superstructure and propulsion unit are completed, its weaponry added, and the ship is outfitted. Up to this point the vessel has been the repsonsibility of the navy yard. At the commissioning, generally a smaller one than the preceding two, the fleet and the ship's captain formally take possession of the vessel and the ship is officially added to the rolls of the navy.
The boat is not yet finished. There are often more construction details yet to be completed, and then the ship goes through sea-trials and any needed adjustments are made at the yard afterward. Civilian workers usually are on board during these test voyages. Only after the successful completion of the sea-trials is the vessel finished and it actually joins the fleet. The vessel is assigned a home port which may or not be the port of its construction.
Periodically the vessel returns to its home port for maintenance and overhauls in dry dock. After ten years or so a vessel may spend a significant period in dry dock where it receives whatever physical and technological upgrades have been developed in the previous decade that the ship can accomodate.
De-commissioning: An aged ship returns to its port and is stricken from the rolls. The ship may be sold to another country, put into mothballs at a port, or sold to a private concern for scrap.

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