Civil War

Gosport Navy Yard: Before the Storm

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Gosport Navy Yard, Portsmouth, ca. 1840. Historical Recollections of Va, Henry Howe, 1852. Library of Congress.
Gosport’s Beginnings

Gosport Navy Yard, located in Portsmouth, across the Elizabeth River from the busy port of Norfolk, Virginia, was one of the largest shipyards in the United States. Norfolk merchant Andrew Sprowl established the yard in 1767. Sprowl remained a loyalist when the Revolutionary War erupted. The yard was confiscated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and then burned by the British in 1779.

The yard remained inactive until 1794, when the property was leased by the United States. Captain Richard Dale served as the superintendent for this new government shipyard. When the US Navy was formally established in 1798, it assumed operation of the yard and designated it as the Gosport Navy Yard.Read more

USS Monitor Center

Newly Conserved Artifacts Now on Display!

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Just in time for Battle of Hampton Roads weekend, 10 newly conserved artifacts are now on display at the USSMonitorCenter, helping to tell the story of theMonitorand the CSSVirginia.

Visitors to theMonitorCenter are now greeted by the muzzle of a IX-inch Dahlgren shell gun which was used on board theVirginiaon March 8th, the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads. A shot fired by the USSCumberlanddamaged its muzzle and the gun was retired and later captured by the Union Navy as ‘Trophy No. 1’ This gun with its beautiful commemorative inscription is on loan to The Mariners’ Museum from the US Navy and has recently been cleaned and conserved. During the process, Will found a number of historic ‘graffitti’ inscriptions not previously visible.Read more

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