PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Initially named the Gosport Shipyard back in 1767 under British rule, Norfolk Naval Shipyard sits on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, founded 31 years before the Department of the Navy.
“We are the economic heartbeat of Portsmouth, Virginia,” said Rear Admiral Kavon Hakimzadeh, the shipyard commander. “We’ve been here longer than we’ve had a country.”
Hakimzadeh is well aware and very proud of the shipyard’s history of being the home of the nation’s oldest continuously-operating shipyard…