The Navy Needs More Shipyards. It Should Take a Close Look at Philadelphia
The MOC
August 20, 2024
Philadelphia has a long and rich maritime history. Founded in 1682 on the banks of the Delaware River, in colonial times it rivaled Boston and New York as America’s largest and most active port. After President George Washington signed the Naval Act of 1794, authorizing construction of the United States Navy’s first six frigates, naval shipbuilding commenced in Philadelphia’s Southwark neighborhood. In 1801, the Navy purchased this area, creating what would become the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (PNSY).
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Philadelphia built and maintained vessels for the Navy. The many ships built in the city that served in World War Two included the aircraft carriers USS Antietam, Princeton, and Valley Forge; the heavy cruisers Minneapolis, Wichita, Los Angeles, and Chicago; and the battleships Washington, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The last of these now sits across the Delaware on the shore of its namesake state, serving as a historical museum in the city of Camden.
The end of the Cold War, however, saw a drastic reduction in the Navy’s ship maintenance facilities. The Base Realignment and Closure process closed four of the Navy’s eight publicly owned shipyards, including PNSY. While Philadelphia still has a Navy Ships Inactive Office location, where decommissioned ships are stored for maintenance and eventual disposal, the military presence on the city’s docks is far less than it used to be.
Could this be reversed? Could Philadelphia be restored to its former glory as a hub of Navy shipbuilding and maintenance? The collapse of the Soviet Union may have seemed to render PNSY obsolete, but more recent geopolitical events provide reasons to reconsider its closure.
With U.S. national security planners facing a wide variety of complex threats to American interests—great power competition from China and Russia; threats to Middle East security from Iran and its proxies, terrorism, failed states—the Navy needs all the capacity it can get to ensure its vessels remain in good working order. Unfortunately, the Navy’s four remaining shipyards are plagued with difficulties. Shortages of everything from vital parts to skilled workers continue to hobble maintenance and refurbishment, years after the COVID-19 pandemic brought these shortages into sharp focus. In May 2024, Diana Maurer, director of defense capabilities and management at the Government Accountability Office, told a Senate subcommittee that shipyard conditions were the second most troubling readiness issue facing the military, behind only the cost of the sustaining F-35 fighters. The Navy could certainly benefit from additional shipyard space.
PNSY’s location provides ample opportunities for a booming shipyard to interact with Philadelphians. Just a short drive away is the city’s stadium complex, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles, 76ers, and Flyers. It’s not hard to imagine Shipyard Nights at these stadiums, where the PNSY and its stakeholders interact with fans, tell them about opportunities working in the yard, and recruit people interested in good lines of work.
Pearl Harbor provides an example of the kind of cross-sector cooperation that could reintroduce a booming shipyard to Philadelphia. The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Apprentice Program in Hawaii—a partnership between the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Honolulu Community College, and the U.S. Department of Labor—helps young workers learn 27 trade occupations, giving them chances to hone newly acquired skills while earning a good living at a vital naval facility. Another example is in Bath, Maine. Bath Iron Works, one of the two builders of Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers, runs training programs with the help of Maine community colleges, avenues to meet their manpower needs as they build the Navy’s workhorses. There are seven community colleges in the Philadelphia area. It is worth a sizeable effort to persuade them that their graduates would fare well in a valuable trade helping to keep the Navy’s ships in good shape.
The aforementioned city of Camden across the Delaware River is another reason the Philadelphia metro area would be a useful site. The city’s economic woes since the 1960s are legendary, and it has struggled through multiple attempts to revive its economy. If there is room on Camden’s coastline for some shipyard work, let it come. An influx of useful blue-collar jobs could be just what the city needs to jump-start a recovery. There is history here: New York Shipbuilding Corporation was once a major employer in the city, building many vessels until its closure in 1967, which dealt a severe blow to Camden’s economy.
Another reason to consider the Philadelphia region is a general shortage of defense facilities in the Northeastern United States. While all parts of the country have been affected by base closures and consolidations in recent decades, the Northeast was hit particularly hard, leaving the region with few close links to the military and the industries that support it. Philadelphia’s position on the eastern seaboard, with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean—and NATO and Russia beyond it—underscores the strategic logic of reopening PNSY. This geographic tie could also be a good selling point for Northeasterners looking for jobs that not only pay well, but come with a sense of high purpose attached.
Reopening a closed shipyard in one of America’s largest metro areas may seem like a strange move for the Navy. However, with the possibility of great power conflict in the offing, and with any number of threats to American interests lurking throughout the world at any given time, the Navy needs its ships to be ready. The more shipyards and workers it has, the better able it will be to do its job. A decision that seems strange at the beginning may turn out to be quite prescient.
Michael D. Purzycki is an analyst, writer, and editor based in Arlington, Virginia. He has worked for the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Army. The views expressed here are entirely his own.
The views expressed in this piece are the sole opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Maritime Strategy or other institutions listed.
Center for Maritime Strategy
Philadelphia has a long and rich maritime history. Founded in 1682 on the banks of the Delaware River, in colonial times it rivaled Boston and New York as America’s largest and most active port. After President George Washington signed the Naval Act of 1794, authorizing construction of the United States Navy’s first six frigates, naval shipbuilding commenced in Philadelphia’s Southwark neighborhood. In 1801, the Navy purchased this area, creating what would become the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (PNSY).
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Philadelphia built and maintained vessels for the Navy. The many ships built in the city that served in World War Two included the aircraft carriers USS Antietam, Princeton, and Valley Forge; the heavy cruisers Minneapolis, Wichita, Los Angeles, and Chicago; and the battleships Washington, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The last of these now sits across the Delaware on the shore of its namesake state, serving as a historical museum in the city of Camden.
The end of the Cold War, however, saw a drastic reduction in the Navy’s ship maintenance facilities. The Base Realignment and Closure process closed four of the Navy’s eight publicly owned shipyards, including PNSY. While Philadelphia still has a Navy Ships Inactive Office location, where decommissioned ships are stored for maintenance and eventual disposal, the military presence on the city’s docks is far less than it used to be.
Could this be reversed? Could Philadelphia be restored to its former glory as a hub of Navy shipbuilding and maintenance? The collapse of the Soviet Union may have seemed to render PNSY obsolete, but more recent geopolitical events provide reasons to reconsider its closure.
With U.S. national security planners facing a wide variety of complex threats to American interests—great power competition from China and Russia; threats to Middle East security from Iran and its proxies, terrorism, failed states—the Navy needs all the capacity it can get to ensure its vessels remain in good working order. Unfortunately, the Navy’s four remaining shipyards are plagued with difficulties. Shortages of everything from vital parts to skilled workers continue to hobble maintenance and refurbishment, years after the COVID-19 pandemic brought these shortages into sharp focus. In May 2024, Diana Maurer, director of defense capabilities and management at the Government Accountability Office, told a Senate subcommittee that shipyard conditions were the second most troubling readiness issue facing the military, behind only the cost of the sustaining F-35 fighters. The Navy could certainly benefit from additional shipyard space.
PNSY’s location provides ample opportunities for a booming shipyard to interact with Philadelphians. Just a short drive away is the city’s stadium complex, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles, 76ers, and Flyers. It’s not hard to imagine Shipyard Nights at these stadiums, where the PNSY and its stakeholders interact with fans, tell them about opportunities working in the yard, and recruit people interested in good lines of work.
Pearl Harbor provides an example of the kind of cross-sector cooperation that could reintroduce a booming shipyard to Philadelphia. The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Apprentice Program in Hawaii—a partnership between the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Honolulu Community College, and the U.S. Department of Labor—helps young workers learn 27 trade occupations, giving them chances to hone newly acquired skills while earning a good living at a vital naval facility. Another example is in Bath, Maine. Bath Iron Works, one of the two builders of Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers, runs training programs with the help of Maine community colleges, avenues to meet their manpower needs as they build the Navy’s workhorses. There are seven community colleges in the Philadelphia area. It is worth a sizeable effort to persuade them that their graduates would fare well in a valuable trade helping to keep the Navy’s ships in good shape.
The aforementioned city of Camden across the Delaware River is another reason the Philadelphia metro area would be a useful site. The city’s economic woes since the 1960s are legendary, and it has struggled through multiple attempts to revive its economy. If there is room on Camden’s coastline for some shipyard work, let it come. An influx of useful blue-collar jobs could be just what the city needs to jump-start a recovery. There is history here: New York Shipbuilding Corporation was once a major employer in the city, building many vessels until its closure in 1967, which dealt a severe blow to Camden’s economy.
Another reason to consider the Philadelphia region is a general shortage of defense facilities in the Northeastern United States. While all parts of the country have been affected by base closures and consolidations in recent decades, the Northeast was hit particularly hard, leaving the region with few close links to the military and the industries that support it. Philadelphia’s position on the eastern seaboard, with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean—and NATO and Russia beyond it—underscores the strategic logic of reopening PNSY. This geographic tie could also be a good selling point for Northeasterners looking for jobs that not only pay well, but come with a sense of high purpose attached.
Reopening a closed shipyard in one of America’s largest metro areas may seem like a strange move for the Navy. However, with the possibility of great power conflict in the offing, and with any number of threats to American interests lurking throughout the world at any given time, the Navy needs its ships to be ready. The more shipyards and workers it has, the better able it will be to do its job. A decision that seems strange at the beginning may turn out to be quite prescient.
Michael D. Purzycki is an analyst, writer, and editor based in Arlington, Virginia. He has worked for the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Army. The views expressed here are entirely his own.
The views expressed in this piece are the sole opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Maritime Strategy or other institutions listed.