Each keel was 1,625 tons and they were numbered LST 333 through LST 352. NNSY laid the keel for the first of 20 LSTs on July 17, 1942, and launched its final group on February 7, 1943. Each ship contributed in its own way to the success of the invasion on June 6, 1944. The local shipyard workforce, in excess of 43,000 employees, worked around the clock to produce vessels such as the Gleaves-class destroyers USS Herndon (DD-638) and USS Shubrick (DD-639), Raven-class minesweeper USS Osprey (AM-56), and the Auk-class minesweeper USS Auk (AM-57), along with a multitude of other LCMs and LSTs. Of the ships that arrived in Normandy, NNY was involved in the construction of two destroyers, three minesweepers, 50 landing craft mechanized (LCM), and ten tank landing ships (LST) that enabled the employees of Norfolk “to take the fight over there.' The Norfolk shipyard also saw the commissioning and final outfitting of 85 vessels that were built at other yards as well as the construction of another 101 vessels in its own yard.

This yard also supported the repair of six major British warships along with other Allied vessels. Of the 20 total LSTs that NNY built, 12 were constructed and launched in Dry Dock 8 while eight others were launched from the building ways structure.įirst, some background on how our yard contributed to the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II (1939-1945).ĭuring the war, 6,850 ships underwent repair, overhaul, alteration, modification, or conversion at NNY. This story highlights ten specific tank landing ships (LST) that were built at NNY and participated in the D-Day landings in Normandy, France 79 years ago last month. The Norfolk Navy Yard (NNY), as Norfolk Naval Shipyard was then known, was an industrial powerhouse both repairing and constructing warships during World War II.

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