Naval Weapons Station Yorktown

Last updated
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
Yorktown, Virginia
Typenaval base
Site information
Controlled by United States Navy
Site history
Built1918,
In use1918–present

Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a United States Navy base in York County, James City County, and Newport News in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. It provided a weapons and ammunition storage and loading facility for ships of the United States Atlantic Fleet, and more recently, for those from the Fleet Forces Command.

Contents

Location

The Naval Weapons Station (NWS) Complex (including Cheatham Annex) is 20.7 square miles (54 km2) in area, roughly 1/5 of the total land area of York County, in which most of it lies; a small portion is within James City County.

The station is bounded on the northwest by the Naval Supply Center Cheatham Annex, the Virginia Emergency Fuel Farm, and land owned by the Department of the Interior; on the northeast by almost 14 miles (23 km) of the York River and the Colonial National Historical Park; on the southwest by Route 143 and I-64; and on the southeast by Route 238 and the community of Lackey. [1] [2]

The station borders the cities of Newport News and Williamsburg. It shares almost 14 miles (23 km) of the York River shoreline (about half of York County's York River shoreline and wetlands) with the National Park Service.

The large Camp Peary, which also has much York River frontage on the northern side of the Virginia Peninsula, is adjacent to the Naval Station.

History

Kiskiack (Lee House), the only original country house still standing on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown US Navy 080801-N-3312P-001 File photo of the Lee House, the only original plantation house still standing on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.jpg
Kiskiack (Lee House), the only original country house still standing on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown

The site of NWS Yorktown is rich in colonial era (1607–1776) history, as well as that of the American Civil War (1861–1865). The station is located on the York River, in an area that was an early settlement of English colonists in Virginia. They displaced the Algonquian-speaking Kiskiack and other American Indian tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, who historically inhabited the area.

The oldest structure at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station is the brick "Kiskiack (Lee House)", built as a private residence in the late 17th century by English immigrant Henry Lee or his near descendants. [3] At that time, the owner of the farm likely cultivated tobacco for export. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. Descendants of the Lee family owned the property until its acquisition in 1918 by the federal government for the Navy Mine Depot. [3]

The colonial infantry of the American Revolutionary War and forces of the Civil War slogged along the Old Williamsburg Road that today runs through the station.


Around 1914, the DuPont Company acquired a 4,000-acre (16 km2) site on the banks of the York River and built a dynamite plant, which came to be known as Penniman. Before DuPont production started, the Navy acquired the site in August 1918 by presidential proclamation in response to the outbreak of World War I in Europe. This eventually developed as the largest naval installation in the world.

USS Dahlgren at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in 1990 USS Dahlgren (DDG-43) at NWS Yorktown 1990.JPEG
USS Dahlgren at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in 1990

The Navy acquired the property to establish the Navy Mine Depot, Yorktown at this site. [4] The Navy planned to lay the North Sea Mine Barrage to protect commercial shipping and required an Atlantic Seaboard plant to support the effort. Here the mines would be stored, assembled, loaded, tested and issued to the Service. A related station was required for the training of personnel to adjust and operate the mines. The Navy selected the DuPont site, about 18 square miles (47 km2) of area near Yorktown, Virginia, as the best location on the East Coast for its mine activities. The Bureau of Ordnance of the Navy Department assumed possession one month later.

Yorktown was near the Navy Operating Base at Hampton Roads, the Norfolk Navy Yard, and the Fuel Bases of the Fifth Naval District. It had excellent transportation access, with the main lines of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad forming one of the boundaries of the Depot, and five miles (8 km) of waterfront on the navigable York River. Ocean-going vessels of largest dimension and deepest draft could navigate there.

To make way for the new Mine Depot, the government acquired by eminent domain the property of many landowners along the former Yorktown-Williamsburg Road in nearby Lackey, Virginia. Both landowners and tenants in this area were primarily African American. (Since the late 19th century, this area had been locally known as "the Reservation".) Assisted by self-educated farmer John Tack Roberts (born ca. 1860), many of the displaced residents of Lackey negotiated better financial compensation for their properties. Many relocated to the community of Grove in nearby James City County. Another small community, also named Lackey, was later developed along the Yorktown Road a few miles away. [5]

As many as 10,000 personnel worked at the Naval facility during World War I. Many workers lived in the town of Penniman. After World War I and the Navy's shift away from mines, this community also vanished as workers moved away. Halstead's Point, another community of workers on the station, also declined and disappeared. It was located near the present main gate off State Route 143.

Current use

Over the years, the growth and expansion of the Navy's technical requirements and responsibilities have been reflected by corresponding developments at the station to support the Atlantic Fleet and CFFC.

As part of the Navy’s Mid-Atlantic installation consolidation, Cheatham Annex, formerly an annex of the Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Norfolk, was incorporated with the station on October 1, 1998. This area of land, located in the Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown area known as the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, was acquired by the Navy on June 21, 1943. Cheatham Annex includes the former site of the "lost town" of Penniman, Virginia.

Naval Weapons Station Yorktown hosts 25 tenant commands which include the Navy Munitions Command, the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity, the Marine Corps Second Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk detachment, Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Command, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group, Riverine Squadron THREE, Maritime Civil Affairs Squadron TWO, and 19 Storefronts.

The station and tenant commands work together to provide ordnance logistics, technical, supply and related services to Fleet Forces Command and its ships. Today the station is a hub of activity. As one of the Navy's "explosive corridors" to the sea, supply, amphibious and combatant ships may be seen arriving and departing the station's two piers.

See also

Related Research Articles

York County, Virginia U.S. county in Virginia

York County is a county in the eastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in the Tidewater. As of the 2010 census, the population was 65,464. The county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown.

Yorktown, Virginia CDP in Virginia, United States

Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York County's population was 66,134 in the 2011 census estimate.

Virginia Peninsula Peninsula in southeast Virginia, United States

The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the Lower Peninsula to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the north, the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck.

York River (Virginia) River in Virginia, United States

The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately 34 miles (55 km) long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from 1 mile (1.6 km) at its head to 2.5 miles (4.0 km) near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area of the coastal plain of Virginia north and east of Richmond.

Colonial Parkway Scenic parkway in Virginia

Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile (37 km) scenic parkway linking the three points of Virginia's Historic Triangle, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. It is part of the National Park Service's Colonial National Historical Park. Virginia's official state classification for the parkway is State Route 90003. With portions built between 1930 and 1957, it links the three communities via a roadway shielded from views of commercial development. The roadway is toll-free, is free of semi trucks, and has speed limits of around 35 to 45 mph. As a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road, it is also popular with tourists due to the James River and York River ends of the parkway. A video drive-thru is available.

Historic Triangle

The Historic Triangle includes three historic colonial communities located on the Virginia Peninsula of the United States and is bounded by the York River on the north and the James River on the south. The points that form the triangle are Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown. They feature many restored attractions and are linked by the Colonial Parkway in James City and York counties, and the City of Williamsburg.

Magruder was a small unincorporated town in Virginia near Williamsburg in York County. Settled mostly by African-American freedmen after the American Civil War, it once had its own church, post office, cemetery, lodge, and homes. After this land was acquired for the development of the US military reservation known as Camp Peary, all the residents and businesses were displaced. Magruder is considered extinct and one of the lost towns of Virginia.

Penniman was an unincorporated town in northwestern York County, Virginia, on the south bank of the York River six miles (9.7 km) northeast of Williamsburg. This was on the Virginia Peninsula and near the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States.

Cheatham Annex

Cheatham Annex is a Naval Base, located near Williamsburg, Virginia on the York River approximately 35 miles northwest of Norfolk in the heart of the famous Jamestown–Williamsburg–Yorktown "Historic Triangle." Although Cheatham Annex was not commissioned until June 1943, the land on which the base is located can claim the unique distinction of having been associated with every conflict involving the United States freedom and independence. The mission of Cheatham Annex includes supplying Atlantic Fleet ships and providing recreational opportunities to military and civilian personnel.

Grove, Virginia

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Lackey was a small unincorporated community near Yorktown in York County, Virginia, United States established primarily after the American Civil War. Lackey is now extinct as the properties were bought by the federal government in 1918 for use as a naval military installation.

Virginia State Route 238

State Route 238 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 7.75 miles (12.47 km) from U.S. Route 60 in Newport News east to United States Coast Guard Training Center – Yorktown near Yorktown. SR 238 connects Interstate 64 (I-64) with Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, the Yorktown portion of Colonial National Historical Park, and the Coast Guard training center. The majority of SR 238 is part of the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route.

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Kiskiack was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy in what is present-day York County, Virginia. The name means "Wide Land" or "Bread Place" in the native language, one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the Virginia Peninsula.

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Peninsula Extension

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History of Hampton Roads

The history of Hampton Roads dates to 1607, when Jamestown was founded. Two wars have taken place in addition to many other historical events.

Virginia State Route 199

State Route 199 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known for most of its length as Humelsine Parkway, the state highway runs 14.13 miles (22.74 km) from Interstate 64 (I-64) and SR 646 in Lightfoot to SR 641 near Williamsburg. VA 199 forms a western loop of Williamsburg in York and James City Counties. The state highway, which is entirely a four-lane limited-access highway with a mix of intersections and interchanges, provides access from I-64 to several highways that serve attractions around Williamsburg, including U.S. Route 60 and Colonial Parkway, an automobile parkway that leads to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. VA 199 between its junctions with I-64 is named for Carlisle H. Humelsine, a former curator and president of Colonial Williamsburg, in 2004.

References

  1. ↑ THE ATSDR PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT
  2. ↑ http://archive.orr.noaa.gov/book_shelf/427_Yorktown.pdf Archived 2013-03-05 at the Wayback Machine NOAA map
  3. 1 2 Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Staff (August 1969). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Kiskiack" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying photo
  4. ↑ Naval Weapons Station (NAVWPNSTA), Yorktown, Virginia
  5. ↑ Bradley M. McDonald, Kenneth E. Stuck, Kathleen J. Bragdon. 'Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are': An Ethnohistorical Study of the African-American Community on the Lands of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, 1865-1918, [Williamsburg, Va.] : The Center, [1992], full text online at HathiTrust

Coordinates: 37°14′09″N76°32′57″W / 37.235902°N 76.549235°W / 37.235902; -76.549235

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