Early Years

By 1882, railroad magnate, Collis P. Huntington, had established the successful Chesapeake & Ohio railroad to transfer coal from the Ohio Valley to its eastern terminus at Newport News, VA. He next sought to build a shipyard to repair ships  servicing this  transportation hub. The new shipyard was first known as the Chesapeake Dry Dock & Construction Company, chartered in 1886.

In 1891, Newport News Shipbuilding delivered its first ship, a tugboat named Dorothy.   By 1897, NNS had built three warships for the U.S. Navy – Nashville, Wilmington and Helena.

Dreadnought Era

After the death of its founder, Collis P. Huntington, in 1900, the company issued $5 million in bonds and $6 million in preferred stock to the Huntington family members and began building and repairing a great variety of ships at a profit. In 1907 President Teddy Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet on its round-the-world voyage to demonstrate the United States as a force to be reckoned with. Seven of the 16 great battleships were built by NNS. In 1906, the British-built Dreadnought, a revolutionary new design of warship, launched a great naval race worldwide. Between 1907 and 1923, Newport News built 6 out of a total of 22 dreadnoughts for the U.S. Navy – Delaware, Texas, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Maryland, and West Virginia – and all but the first would see service in World War II.

World War II

By 1940 the Navy had ordered seven additional aircraft carriers and four cruisers. Clearly, NNS had all the Navy work it could handle for several years to come. Still, the company reacted swiftly to fill additional requests for merchant ships that were so desperately needed during the war. It founded an emergency yard, the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, on the banks of the Cape Fear River and launched its first ship before the end of 1941 and built 239 in all. At the peak period in 1943, more than 31,000 employees worked to deliver ships to the Navy. For its tremendous contributions during the war, the Navy awarded the company its prestigious "E" pennant for excellence in ship construction.  No other shipbuilder had delivered such an array of ships – or built them better – or faster – than NNS. In the post war years, NNS focused on conversion and repair work and took on new challenges, building the famous passenger liner United States, which set transatlantic speed records that still stand today.

Nuclear Power Age

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, a general slump in shipbuilding occurred. NNS not only survived the slump but prospered due to a strategic decision to move into nuclear power. 

In 1954, NNS, together with Westinghouse and the Navy developed and built a prototype nuclear reactor for a carrier propulsion system. NNS later partnered with the Navy to design the first nuclear-powered supercarrier, Enterprise, "the largest, most powerful, most modern ship of all time",  launched in 1960. 

In 1959 NNS launched its first nuclear-powered submarine,  Shark. In the same year, NNS also helped design and build the first ballistic missile submarines, the Polaris class, launching Robert E. Lee in late 1959.

By  the end of the 1960s, NNS had embarked upon the biggest improvement program in its history and was moving more and more into nuclear work.

Cold War Era

By the end of the 1960s, aerospace companies such as Litton and General Dynamics were moving into shipbuilding and competition was intensifying. 

In 1968 NNS made the decision to pursue a merger with Tenneco Corporation. In the 1970s NNS again expanded its operations, investing $250 million in the development of a new North Yard.

In the new yard, NNS built the two largest tankers ever built in the western hemisphere and also constructed three large liquefied natural gas carriers. With a worldwide gas and oil slump, however, the company’s hopes for commercial shipbuilding waned and profits lagged. NNS turned itself around in the 1980s, topping the $1 billion mark in revenues for the first time in 1981 while successfully turning out a variety of Navy products.

Independent Again

The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s and the resulting decline in the U.S. defense budget brought fundamental changes to the industry. NNS responded by implementing strategies to strengthen its core defense business and diversify its business base. In 1996 Tenneco initiated the spin-off of NNS into an independent company. On December 12, 1996, NNS began trading, once again, on the New York Stock Exchange.

NNS opted to focus on its core defense products -- aircraft carriers and submarines. Through niche acquisitions, strategic alliances and internal improvement initiatives, the company  expanded.

Upon the firm foundation Huntington left 115 years ago, NNS is poised to pursue its goals for the future: strengthen its core defense business, effectively manage technology insertion and systems integration, become the life cycle manager for its products and deliver superior value to customers.

Northrop Grumman

Continuing Trends towards consolidation among defense contractors and constraints on spending signaled the need for change. On Nov. 7, 2001, NNS signed a merger agreement with Northrop Grumman.

The combination of Northrop Grumman and Newport News Shipbuilding creates a $4 billion world-class shipbuilding enterprise with expertise in every class of nuclear and non-nuclear naval ship. With this merger and upon the firm foundation Huntington left 115 years ago, Newport News is poised to pursue its goals for the future: strengthen its core defense business, effectively manage technology insertion and systems integration, become the life cycle manager for its products and deliver superior value to customers.