A dramatic portrayal of Newport News History
1930’s Shipbuilding as Seen Through the Eyes of this American Maritime Artist
This special exhibition explores the history of Newport News Shipyard and Dry Dock Company through the remarkable 1930’s work of painter Thomas Skinner, as well as early photographs, oral history, interviews, artifacts, films, and more!
By the mid-19th century, iron and steel gradually replaced wooden ship construction as the demand for larger ships created the need for new and stronger building materials. The new building materials significantly changed shipbuilding techniques. Steel shipbuilding became a complex undertaking. Gone were the artisans, the shipwrights, caulkers, and joiners. They were replaced by specialized industrialized facilities, foundries, bending sheds, pipe fitters, and machine shops.
Industrial visionary Collis P. Huntington began Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in 1886, to repair ships servicing Hampton Roads. It became the largest privately owned shipyard in the United States. Following World War I, shipbuilding in the United States almost came to a halt. Despite the economic depression of the 1930s, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock received additional naval contracts as other shipyards faltered and failed.
During this time, shipyard president Homer L. Ferguson hired artist Thomas C. Skinner to document scenes of ship construction. These paintings tell the story of men and machines during the Depression era.
Thomas Skinner
An American maritime artist born in 1888, Skinner documented the bustling shipyard in large- scale murals and paintings.
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Created in 1886, it became the largest privately owned shipyard in the United States.
Outfitting the Ship
Innumerable ships built, serviced and repaired in the Newport News Ship Yard.
