NAVAL SHIPBUILDING ON THE JAMES…

…JUST NOT AT NEWPORT NEWS!

~ Background ~ Before Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) became the premiere builder of naval vessels for this country, two very short-lived shipbuilding enterprises located 75 miles upstream from Newport News constructed warships on the banks of the James River. They were positioned southeast of downtown Richmond [located to the extreme upper left of the following image] and within sight of one another. One was an 1860’s government navy yard operation. But it was not a US Navy facility; it was created by the Confederacy during the Civil War. Called the Rocketts’ Landing Navy Yard, it operated between 1862 and 1865 at the location marked CSA, below. The other was a private shipbuilding enterprise owned by Richmond industrialist William R. Trigg. Situated at the position denoted TRIGG, this facility built several warships for the US Navy between 1898 and 1903, as well as a number of commercial vessels. The first of these shipbuilding ventures discontinued operation when it was burned by retreating Rebel forces before being captured by the Union army. The second succumbed due to the untimely death of its owner…and associated financial troubles.

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~ Rocketts’ Landing ~ In the spring of 1862, the Confederate Navy created a makeshift shipyard that occupied the river port of Rocketts’ Landing; situated on the north side of James River, and additional land on the south side of the narrow river. Rocketts’ Landing was named for Robert Rockett who began operating a ferry there in the early 1700’s. Built on a floodplain and located a couple of miles below the rocky rapid adjacent to downtown Richmond, the community was a prosperous river port between 1790 and 1830. Between 1830 and 1861, Rocketts’ Landing took on the additional role of being a manufacturing center for tobacco products. When the Civil War erupted, Rocketts’ Landing was pressed into service by the Confederate Navy. In addition to becoming a shipbuilding facility, this modest town also became the base for the James River Squadron, which was created to help defend Richmond from Union forces’ repeated attempts to attack the capital of the Confederacy. But barely three years later, the Confederacy was forced from its capital. On April 2, 1865, Richmond and vicinity, including everything at Rocketts’ Landing, was burned as part of the military evacuation of Richmond. Historic events soon followed. The city was occupied by Union troops the next day. On April 4th, President Lincoln came ashore at Rocketts’ Landing and toured the devastated area. Lee surrendered at Appomattox on the 9th. Lincoln was shot on the evening of the 14th and died the next morning. During the relatively short period of time it was in operation, this Confederate navy yard managed to produce a few vessels and modify several more for wartime use. This remarkable vintage photo depicts the state of activity there just days before the area was reduced to a smoldering ruin.

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Skilled shipbuilders and materials for this effort were in short supply throughout the yard’s existence. The situation would have been much worse if the nearby Tredegar Iron Works had not been able to provide armor plate and other items required to construct what were some of the first iron clad vessels in history. Following the Civil War, the area in and around Rocketts’ Landing was industrialized and also became an integral part of Richmond’s resurgence as a major railroad hub in the late 1800s. Over time, those activities waned and associated facilities largely disappeared. Today, Rocketts’ Landing has become an urbanized, largely residential community.

~ Rocketts’ Landing Navy Yard Limited Output ~

The South’s ability to build ships was far inferior to that of the North. Vessels built at Rocketts’ Landing were few in number and spent their entire, short careers on the James River. Then, they were all destroyed within a few miles of their common birthplace. CSS VIRGINIA II was laid down in 1862. After the original VIRGINIA had to be destroyed in May of that year to prevent its capture by Union forces, the Confederates assigned the name CSS VIRGINIA II to this steam-powered ironclad ram already being built at Rocketts’ Landing. Acting Constructor William A. Graves was in charge of her construction. More than $30,000 was raised by the Richmond chapter of the ‘Ladies Aid and Defense Society’ to help fund the vessel. By November of 1862, it was reported that she was ‘pretty well advanced, frames up, clamps in, etc. She will be a strong and fine vessel’. But difficulties in procurement and fabrication of her hull, engines and armament delayed launching until June 29, 1863. Additional logistical problems further delayed her completion until mid-May 1864.

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Once commissioned, she was made the flagship of the James River Squadron. Roughly 75 feet shorter than her namesake, VIRGINIA II’s draft of fourteen feet was better suited for operations in the shallower parts of the James River near Richmond. Placed in service in defense of the Confederacy’s capital, VIRGINIA II never ventured more than a few miles downstream from her construction site. She engaged the enemy on several occasions over the next few months, and was often hit by Union gunfire from both shores. But her armament initially proved durable; even deflecting 100-pound cannon balls without serious damage or crew casualties. Her luck ran out in what proved to be her final engagement, which took place about halfway between Richmond and Hopewell in the narrow, shallow and twisting confines of the James River. At the Battle of Trent’s Reach on January 23 & 24, 1865, she and other Confederate vessels ran aground. VIRGINIA II [far right] was only extradited with great difficulty while under fire. Six of her crew were killed and a half dozen more wounded when Union ironclads and shore batteries combined to damage her iron shielding and wooden framework. Finally freed, she retreated upriver where repairs, presumably at Rocketts’ Landing, were still being made when the Confederates evacuated their capital city. The VIRGINIA II and other vessels were moved into the river’s channel, blown up and sunk in a futile attempt to prevent Union warships from reaching Richmond. Her destruction took place on April 3, 1865; the day after her birthplace was put to the torch. When Union forces occupied Richmond, they found the VIRGINIA II’s bullet-riddled smokestack at the burned out navy yard. CSS FREDERICKSBURG was the second ironclad completed at the Rocketts’ Landing shipyard. A little shorter than VIRGINIA II, FREDERICKSBURG had a much reduced draft of only 9.5 feet. She was actually completed in March of 1864, two months before the VIRGINIA II went into service.

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FREDERICKSBURG’s short career was likewise spent entirely in the James River. Here, she is shown in the foreground turning away from the shallows where the VIRGINIA II and another vessel [both behind the FREDERICKSBURG] had grounded during the Battle of Trent’s Reach. At least that time, her shallow draft saved her. But after participating in a number of other engagements on the James, she became one of the several ships destroyed by the Confederates in early April, 1865. CSS RICHMOND was the name given to the Confederate’s third iron clad. Her design and early stages of construction took place at the Gosport [now Norfolk] Navy Yard after that facility was captured by the Confederates in 1861. Her initial design was heavily influenced by the first ironclad.

Her keel was laid in March 1862. On May 6th of that same year, her incomplete hull was towed to Richmond before her birthplace was abandoned and burned by the Confederates. Completed at the Rocketts’ Landing naval shipyard, was quickly completed and placed in commission in July 1862 as a member of the James River Squadron. It is unlikely that she was completed as shown above. Civil War historians lean towards a slightly different finished product [right], since it more closely resembles the completed appearance of numerous other ironclads built at Rocketts’ Landing and other southern shipyards.

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The RICHMOND had a relatively uneventful career; all of it spent in the James River. She was also at the Battle of Trent’s Reach and like her near sister ships, was destroyed in April of 1865. However, the RICHMOND did provide some additional benefit, serving as a common design for five additional ironclads built by the Confederacy. Two similar vessels were built to her basic design in South Carolina and helped defend the crucial port of Charleston. Two others were constructed in Wilmington, North Carolina and the final one in Savannah, Georgia. They all were 150 feet long, with a beam of 34 feet and a draft of 13 feet. Better suited to harbor defense than any unlikely offense on the high seas, all of the RICHMOND-class vessels stayed close to their birthplaces. All of them were eventually destroyed in battle or at the hands of their own crews, to prevent capture. CSS PATRICK HENRY started out life as the civilian steamer YORKTOWN. Built in New York City in 1859, she originally was a brigantine-rigged, side-wheel steamer that was seized when the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861. Renamed PATRICK HENRY and modified to become a gunboat, she participated in The Battle of Hampton Roads the following March. In May of 1862, she was relocated near Richmond, along with other vessels in the James River Squadron in order to help protect the Confederacy’s capital. Based at Rocketts’ Landing, she was converted by the navy yard there to serve as an ‘academy ship’. As such, she was the home of and entire ‘campus’ for the short-lived Confederate States Naval Academy. But the PATRICK HENRY also participated in defensive actions undertaken to safeguard Richmond late in the war. Her embarked midshipman got some pretty realistic training under enemy fire when she periodically steamed downstream to engage advancing Union forces. This sketch was created by one of her midshipmen, T. Thomas Scharf, whose signature appears bottom, right. PATRICK HENRY was destroyed in April 1865, along with all of the other ships in the James River Squadron. Her midshipmen went ashore beforehand in an organized unit. They were then utilized to move the Confederate treasury from Richmond to Danville, Virginia; an assignment they carried out without incident.

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“DRY LAND MERRIMAC” was a nickname that appeared in Richmond newspapers when the Rocketts’ Landing shipyard created the first rail-mounted artillery battery to go into combat. In early June of 1862, General Robert E. Lee posed this question to the Confederate’s Chief of Ordinance: “Is there a possibility of constructing an iron plated battery mounting a heavy gun on trucks, the whole covered with iron to move along the York River Railroad? Please see what can be done…” A Confederate officer, Lieutenant James Barry of the Norfolk United artillery unit, seized upon the idea. He and his unit had served in the VIRGINIA’s crew during the Battle of Hampton Roads, so he had an acquaintance with ironclad design. Under his guidance, the Rocketts’ Landing naval shipyard modified a railroad car. He directed that they build a sloping, armor-plated shield at one end of the car, reminiscent of the VIRGINIA’s casemate. They then mounted a Brooke 32-pounder naval rifle behind it, positioned to fire through a narrow aperture in the shield. At the Battle of Savage Station [roughly where present-day I-495 and I-64 cross] this creation was pushed into battle by a locomotive in late June of 1862. Moving at the speed of infantry advancement, it outgunned anything the Union forces had. They retreated and would have been completely routed if the Dry Land Merrimac’s weapon could have been traversed laterally more than just a few degrees. Predictably, both sides copied and improved on the concept during the duration of the war.

~ William R. Trigg Company ~ In 1887, William R. Trigg transformed the old Tredegar Iron Works in order to create the Richmond Locomotive Works. Over time, it became one of Richmond’s largest industrial firms. At the height of its operations, this steam locomotive manufacturing complex employed 1,600 and completed, on average, two locomotives a day, which were sold to railroads throughout the United States, mostly to Southern carriers. Richmond-built locomotives became well known, world-wide and a number were built for companies abroad and as far away as New Zealand.

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Then, near the end of the 19th century, he surprised the shipbuilding world by announcing in August of 1898 that he had obtained government contracts to build torpedo boats and destroyers for the Navy. The idea of building warships so far inland and under confined conditions was greeted with skepticism; especially in East Coast shipbuilding cities. By October of that same year, Trigg had a charter in hand and had leased a vacant industrial plant fairly close to his locomotive manufacturing operation. The Talbott & Brother Iron Works had manufactured steam engines and other machinery between 1831 and 1880 on a narrow peninsula of land bordered by the James River and the Kanawha Canal. Its facilities were well suited for supporting shipbuilding and ship repair work. Over the next few years, the William R. Trigg Company managed to construct and deliver sixteen vessels; half for the US Government and the other half for commercial interests. At the same time, an ambitious plan for the expansion of their shipbuilding facilities resulted in the interesting acquisition of some property adjacent to Trigg’s original bases of operations. The shipyard’s owner swapped construction of a small steamer for some of the Chesapeake & Ohio’s right-of-way. The railroad shifted their tracks and elevated them, as can be seen in the following shipyard layout and a ca.1900 photo insert of a torpedo boat and two sailing vessels. This permitted Trigg to expand his shipyard, although most of the facilities that appear in the following layout were never actually realized. Nor were there ever as many ships under construction at the William R. Trigg Company at the same time as the drawing indicates.

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The site’s physical limitations required that all of the vessels constructed by Trigg’s shipbuilding company be laid down parallel to the river or the canal so that they could be side-launched, using several short ways of a ‘tilt and slide’ design. The entrance to the Kanawha canal was fitted with a lock that allowed small ships to bypass the falls at Richmond and proceed further upstream. The portion of the canal adjacent to some of the yard’s building ways was 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep. When it came time for a side-launching to be performed, the canal could be flooded to a depth of 18 feet. This image shows a steamer built for the C&O and ready for launch in 1901. What had been a thriving shipbuilding enterprise soon came to an abrupt end. William R. Trigg, stricken by paralysis nearly two years earlier, died on February 16, 1903. He was only fifty-four years old. His shipbuilding company’s financial health soon followed Trigg’s decline in personal health. Because he had become incapacitated, his shipyard suffered from lack of his leadership. In his absence, others imprudently submitted bids that were competitively low…but also too low to support ongoing facility expansions. Financially strapped, the shipbuilding firm entered receivership in December of 1902. The final blow came in May of 1903, when the Secretary of the Navy ordered that the $1.027 million contract that the William R. Trigg Company held for building a seventeenth vessel, a cruiser, be revoked. Because of their financial difficulties, no work had been done for months on the cruiser GALVESTON (C-17), which was 66 percent complete and was nearly ready to be launched. The Navy arranged for the incomplete cruiser to be made ready for launching; an event that took place in July of 1903. She was then towed to the Norfolk Navy Yard for completion. The last two vessels built by Trigg’s shipyard, a revenue cutter and a tanker were completed in 1904, and following that work, the yard ceased operation. Today, the long and narrow parcel of land where the William R. Trigg Company once built ships is now part of a City of Richmond park. That popular recreational area’s name is The Great Shiplock Park. Several historical markers located there only hint at all the varied maritime activity that once took place along that particular stretch of the James River.

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~ Triggs’ Naval & Government Shipbuilding Successes ~

The first vessels that were contracted for by this firm were three torpedo boats, closely followed by two destroyers. All five were completed after being launched over the very short time span of less than a year. The first of these was the USS SHUBRICK.

SHUBRICK (TB 31) was named in honor of Admiral William B. Shubrick, USN, who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. The vessel’s keel was laid in March of 1899, and she was to be launched just seven and a half months later. The City of Richmond and William Trigg pulled out all stops, when it became known that President William McKinley had agreed to give the principal address at the ship’s launching ceremonies on October 31, 1899. The promise of seeing a president attracted an estimated 30,000 people to an afternoon ceremony. But torrential rains developed that morning, forcing a planned mid-morning parade to be postponed until the next day. At the ceremonies, much of what the president had to say was muffled by noises associated with shifting the vessel from its building cradle to the multiple, tilting slide devices that were used to transfer the SHUBRICK sideways into the river. When Carrie Shubrick, a young descendant of the torpedo boat’s namesake shouted “I christen thee SHUBRICK!” and hit the ship’s prow with a bottle of champagne…the bottle didn’t break. As the unchristened vessel began her irreversible sideways roll into the water, an alert shipbuilder on board grabbed the bottle and successfully smashed it. What was supposed to be the climax of the ceremonies was then upstaged when a steamboat docked nearby capsized when about a hundred passengers rushed to one side to get a better view. Although many fell into the river, none were drowned. Despite nautical superstitions about christening mishaps, TB-31 served uneventfully in the Navy for two decades after being commissioned in 1901. She is shown here in June of 1900, during her fitting-out. Her duties kept her on the East Coast for her entire career, mostly operating out of Charleston, South Carolina. Decommissioned in 1920, she was sold for scrap.

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STOCKTON (TB 32) & THORNTON (TB 33) were the next two vessels built by the William R. Trigg Company. Like their predecessor, they were named for US naval officers that served in the first half of the 19th century. Nearly identical to SHUBRICK, their main armament was three torpedo tubes, supplemented by three small caliber guns. Each of these 175 foot-long craft displaced just 200 tons. Their steam engines, almost certainly built by Trigg, developed 2,000 SHP and propelled them at a top speed of 25 knots. Their crews numbered 29 officers and men.

Delivered in June 1901, and March 1902, respectively, TB 32 and 33 had short and undistinguished careers; serving with the Atlantic Fleet. THORNTON, shown here at the Trigg shipyard shortly after launch, was utilized by the Navy as a target ship in 1916, and sunk in the Atlantic. STOCKTON was sold to private interests in 1920; her subsequent usage unknown.

DALE (DD-4) & DECATUR (DD-5) were two of the Navy’s first class of true destroyers and both were named after early 1800’s American naval heroes. Richard Dale was one of John Paul Jones’ officers during the Revolutionary War. Steven Decatur fought in the so-called Tripolitan War and also the War of 1812, in which he was victorious in one of the greatest single-ship actions in American naval history. DD-5 was the second of what eventually became five Navy warships named in honor of Steven Decatur. These exceedingly rare photos, taken during the DALE’s construction at the Trigg shipyard, illustrate [left to right] equipment set up to machine her starboard propeller shaft strut boss, and a general view of her forward boiler room.

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These rakish ships were 250 feet long and armed with torpedo tubes, 3-inch naval rifles and several smaller caliber weapons. Each had twin, triple expansion steam engines that produced 8,000 SHP and drove them almost thirty knots. DD-4 was delivered in October of 1902; DD-5…for some unknown reason…was completed several months earlier, in May of 1902. After being commissioned, these sister ships had remarkably similar careers. Both were first assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. The next year, DECATUR was designated lead ship in a Torpedo Flotilla. Accompanied by the DALE and other destroyers, she left Norfolk in mid-December, 1903, bound for the Philippines. After being there several years, both of them were reassigned to convoy escort duty in the Atlantic during World War I. Returning to the United States together in 1919, they were sold for scrap the next year. In 1908, the DECATUR went aground, briefly. Refloated without damage, her commanding officer, a young ensign was reprimanded, not court marshaled. That was fortunate for him and history. The ensign was Chester Nimitz; who later was the leader of America’s Pacific fleet during World War II and became a five-star admiral. Revenue Cutters TUSCARORA & MOHAWK: These US Coast Guard vessels were completed by the William R. Trigg Company for the United States Government in 1902 and 1904, respectively. The TUSCARORA, named for an Indian Tribe, was 178 feet long and displaced only 620 tons. Her construction cost at completion was $173,814.

At first she was assigned to patrol duty on the Great Lakes, and was usually laid up when the lakes became ice-bound. During World War I she was placed under the control of the Navy and based in Key West, Florida. After the war, she returned to the Great Lakes. In 1926, she was moved to the Atlantic and participated in anti-smuggling patrols during Prohibition. In May 1936, this pretty little vessel was decommissioned…and then disappeared.

The MOHAWK was less fortunate. Somewhat larger than the TUSCARORA, her contract price [in 1900 dollars] was $217,000. Following completion she was stationed in the Atlantic. Placed under operational control of the Navy at the start of World War I, she was struck amidships on October 1, 1917 off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, by a British tanker. Uninjured, all of her crew was saved, but she rapidly filled and sank in about an hour’s time before she could be towed to safety.

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Dredge BENYUARD: In 1901, the War Department contracted with Trigg for a sea-going dredge. Apparently construction on this vessel had started, but had not completed when Trigg went into receivership. Scanty records indicate that she may have been completed elsewhere as the SANDCHIEF, but no definitive documentation of that or any subsequent service record under the latter name could be found. PLUNGER: This 149-ton experimental submarine was built in Baltimore. Designed by the Holland Torpedo Company for the US Navy, her construction lasted several years, as the Navy and John Holland disagreed over fundamental features…such as what kind of propulsion should be installed. In 1899, totally frustrated, Holland offered to reimburse the Navy for all monies that had been advanced for the PLUNGER. His plan was to replace steam engines the Navy had insisted be installed with a diesel engine. For some reason, the submarine was moved to the Trigg shipyard, where this rendering was created in 1900. Apparently, it depicts the PLUNGER being hauled ashore from a barge, utilizing heavy-duty block and tackle. Unfortunately Holland’s troubles continued when negotiations with an engine supplier fell through. Consequently, PLUNGER was never completed. She languished incomplete; perhaps at the Trigg shipbuilding site until 1917, when she was scrapped.

~ The End of Naval Shipbuilding in Richmond ~ The cruiser GALVESTON , had she been completed in Richmond, would have been the largest naval vessel built by the Trigg company. However, as previously indicated, although she was almost two-thirds complete when the company folded, the Navy had her towed downriver to the Norfolk Navy Yard to be finished. What had started out as a promising naval shipbuilding enterprise in Richmond ended when the Navy revoked Trigg’s contract. The USS GALVESTON was commissioned in 1905 and served somewhat uneventfully after that inauspicious beginning until 1936, when she was scrapped.

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~ Commercial Vessels Built by Trigg ~ The first vessel constructed for a private owner by Trigg was a river steamer of just 24 tons. Named for a Congo missionary martyr, the SAMUEL N. LAPSLEY was constructed in 1900. In order to deliver her to the American Presbyterian Congo Missionary in the Belgian Congo, the steamer had to be disassembled and transported by ship. Reassembled in Africa, she went into service in May 1901. The tiny vessel capsized and sank in the raging, rapids-filled Congo River in May of 1903. Twenty lives were lost. The Trigg shipyard built three tugs, each 92 feet long and displacing 223 tons for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Their uninspiring names were P.R.R. No.7, No.8 and No.9 (depicted here). Originally used in New York harbor, in 1917 they were acquired by the Navy during World War I. In January of 1919, ownership reverted to the railroad. Their final disposition is unknown. Three river steamers were constructed be Trigg. Sister ships BERKELEY and BRANDON were completed in 1902 for the Old Dominion Steamship Co. They were 200 feet long and each had a registered displacement of 1,075 tons. Both transported passengers between Richmond and Norfolk every evening, with a brief stop in Newport News on alternating schedules. Whichever vessel was the northbound steamer was often called the ‘Honeymoon Special’, due to its popularity with newlyweds. This service was discontinued in 1919 and the vessels sold. Their final disposition is also unknown. Little else is known about these vessels, except that they were included in an extended legal action between their owners and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The steamship line claimed it was not obligated to pay property taxes on their vessels plying Virginia waters because they were a nonresident corporation. This case went all the way to the US Supreme Court. In May of 1905, that court upheld lower courts’ determinations that such taxes were proper and could be imposed.

Much better known is the other steamer built by Trigg. Named VIRGINIA …not for the Commonwealth…but in honor of the wife of a president of the C&O railroad, she is shown on page 9 shortly before launch. After being delivered in early 1902, she soon acquired the nickname ‘Smoky Joe’. This speedy vessel served the C&O railroad until 1949, running between Norfolk and Newport News. A full account of her service is currently in development, under the apt title Smokey Joe.

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The last commercial vessel built by Trigg, a tanker for the Standard Oil Company, was the biggest. The CAPTAIN A. F. LUCAS was named in honor of the man who discovered oil in East Texas in 1901. She was 360 feet in length, and displaced 4,188 tons; almost a thousand tons more than the cruiser GALVESTON. After being completed in 1904, this tanker routinely served Standard Oil until 1940, when she was sold to the Balboa Transportation Company, and registered in Panama. Eight years later, she was towed to China and scrapped.

~ The Last Wooden Lightship ~

Several miles downstream of Richmond, in the general area of where the siege of Petersburg took place during the Civil War, a firm only identified in US Coast Guard documents as the Petersburg Iron Works is credited with building a single ship. The Lightship CAPE ELIZABETH (LV-74) , completed in December of 1902 was the last wooden vessel of her type built for the US CG. Her contract price was a modest $89,000. She was 130 feet long and displace just 495 tons. Propelled at the grand speed of four knots by a 380 horsepower steam engine, she originally was also fitted with sails. Following commissioning, she was sent to the New England area where she guarded several rock-bound harbors there between 1903 and 1933. She was retired and sold in 1934…and disappeared from the record books. There are also fragmentary and incomplete references in various sources that allude to other vessels being built in the Richmond area for the US Government. However, none of those references can be verified.

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~ Postscript ~ Fortunately a number of interesting photographic images of the Rocketts’ Landing Navy Yard and the William R. Trigg Company exist. In addition to those utilized in the body of this article, this one, and the one below are worthy of sharing. This well-worn photograph depicts the Rocketts’ Landing area in early 1865; bustling with activity. On the far side of the river, two vessels can just barely be seen under construction. This final image shows the USS DALE (DD-4) in the foreground as she was nearing completion in June 1902. Behind her is what appears to be a three-masted coastal sailing vessel; most likely at the yard for repairs. Other maritime repair work almost certainly was undertaken by the Trigg shipyard. In the background, sandwiched between the sailing vessel’s mizzen mast and the destroyer’s forward smokestack, is one of the river steamers completed the year this image was created. History almost repeated itself…with respect to naval shipbuilding on the James…during World War II. This time, Newport News Shipbuilding was involved. However, creation of an industrial complex in the Richmond area for the express purpose of mass producing destroyer escort vessels had barely gotten underway when the Navy decided that NNS needed to concentrate on the construction of major warships further down the James. Before much work could be done across the river and slightly downstream of the Trigg shipyard site, the Navy cancelled a contract with NNS’ newly formed subsidiary company, the James River Shipbuilding Corporation. That corporate entity existed for even a shorter period of time than did the Confederate Navy Yard or Trigg’s shipyard.

Bill Lee April 2013