Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard timeline | The Honolulu Advertiser

Comment, blog & share photos

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard timeline | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Sunday, May 4, 2008

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard timeline

•	A legacy of bravery, dedication

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

A 1908 act authorized the enlargement and dredging of the Pearl Harbor channel and lochs to accommodate the largest ships.

Photos courtesy of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

The Feb. 29, 1913, collapse of a dry dock that was still under construction after four years, was blamed on seismic tremors. But some Native Hawaiians called it the anger of the shark god. A kahuna was called in to bless the site and the dry dock was finished by 1919.

The USS Greeneville was in for repairs in February 2001 after colliding off Honolulu with a Japanese fishing trawler training high school students. Nine people on the sinking Ehime Maru died but the bodies were never recovered. The sub was showing off maneuvers to civilian visitors when it hit.

Associated Press library photo

1820s and 1830s: American warships visit Honolulu

1887: Treaty with Hawai'i gives U.S. exclusive use of Pearl Harbor for naval operations

1899: Naval coal depot constructed at Honolulu Harbor

1908: Congress authorizes construction of shops and supply houses for the Navy yard

1913: Seismic activity causes partly completed Drydock 1 to collapse

1941: 361 Japanese planes bomb and strafe O'ahu

1942: Carrier USS Yorktown limps into Pearl Harbor; repairs made within 72 hours

1945: Civilian workers at the shipyard total 24,910

1950: Matson freighter SS Hawaiian Wholesaler repaired in the shipyard

1951: During Korean War, worker numbers increase to 7,000, a number not seen since 1946

1958: First visit by a nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, and first home port with USS Sargo

1961: Five submarines in dry dock being overhauled at the same time

1969: Carrier USS Enterprise experiences explosion and fire, killing 28; repairs made in the shipyard

1975: Gross business totals $133 million, including $86 million for civilian payroll

1985: Shipyard reduces workforce from 6,788 to 6,150

1992: 5,036 civilian employees in the shipyard

1997: Annual pay for a GS-11, Level 10 worker rises to $56,990

1998: Merger of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility

1999: Defueling and inactivation of submarine USS Boston, the third defueling accomplished

2000: Work completed on 18 submarines and 12 surface ships

2001: Submarine USS Greeneville enters dry dock for repairs after colliding with Japanese ship Ehime Maru

2002: New 60-ton crane arrives, one of four ordered

2004: Pearl Harbor and other three Navy shipyards ordered to reduce expenses by $600 million by 2009

2005: 270 shipyard workers fly to Guam to help repair submarine USS San Francisco after it hit an undersea mountain

2005: Shipyard escapes placement on base closure list

2006: Refueling overhauls completed on submarines Bremerton and Olympia

2007: Shipyard has nearly 4,200 civilian and 520 military employees

Source: Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

• • •

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos