Exploration of the Portsmouth Navy Yard responsible for 37 per cent
of the United States
submarines during WWII.
Established on 12th June 1800 during the administration of President
John Adams, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is the oldest continuously operating
shipyard in the United States Navy. It is situated on a cluster of conjoined
islands called Seavey's Island in the Piscataqua River, whose swift tidal current prevents ice from
blocking navigation to the Atlantic
Ocean.
After averaging the completion of less than two submarines a year in
the 1930s, the Portsmouth Navy Yard completed an astonishing thirty-two
submarines in 1944 including the simultaneous launching of three submarines. The
yard built seventy-nine submarines between 1941 and 1945, a fleet that
collectively represented thirty-seven percent of the United States submarines built during the war and
that was responsible for sinking over one third of the Japanese shipping sunk by
United
States submarines.
32 in ‘44 analyses the factors behind the yard’s record setting
submarine production that made such a significant contribution to the winning of
the war.
