Navy Centennial - PSNS:125

PSNS:125 125 YEARS OF PUGET SOUND NAVAL SHIPYARD

C O M M E M O R A T I V E

I S S U E

A SUPPLEMENT OF THE BAINBRIDGE ISLAND REVIEW, BREMERTON PATRIOT, CENTRAL KITSAP REPORTER, NORTH KITSAP HERALD, AND PORT ORCHARD INDEPENDENT

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

PSNS turns 125 Welcome message from Commanding Officer Markle When the first shipyard commander Lt. Ambrose Wyckoff, raised the United States flag over Naval Station Puget Sound on Sept. 16, 1891, he could scarcely have imagined the impact this simple ceremony would have on our U.S. Navy and the surrounding area. One hundred and twentyfive years later, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility has become a strategic national asset in the defense of our nation and the centerpiece around which this region has flourished into a vibrant, prosperous and growing community.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Lt. Ambrose Wyckoff, first shipyard commander

Our present-day workforce takes great pride in the work we do here each day – and justifiably so. We are also deeply proud of the legacy of service established by those who’ve served here before us. From the hundreds of war-fighting vessels built here during World War I; to the breakneck speed at which battle-damaged ships were repaired and returned to the fight during World War II; to the birth of the nuclear-powered Navy

and our essential role in it; to our present-day mission of supporting and maintaining fleet readiness while safely inactivating and recycling vessels at the end of their service life – our shipyard predecessors have delivered for the nation again and again. They set the bar high, and our generation is committed to upholding that standard.

As our shipyard and our team developed over the last 125 years, we’ve also seen the evolution of the community that grew up around us. Despite the fence line that now surrounds our work place, we are unbreakably bonded to the city of Bremerton and the greater Kitsap County region. It’s a link that transcends the infrastructure and economic interests we share.

We are joined through the thousands of our workers and their families who made this region their lifelong home. Their children and their children’s children established a family tradition of service at our shipyard, and our link to our neighbors grows deeper with each generation. We are

extremely grateful for the local and regional governments that have always unfailingly supported us; they’re a key part of our success story.

It’s my hope that, 125 years from now, the shipyard commander’s 250th anniversary message will emphasize these same themes – an enduring legacy of service, gratitude for the example of prior generations, and an unshakable partnership with our community neighbors. Since my arrival here, I’ve seen nothing to indicate that won’t be the case.

As for us, our generation will add its own distinctive chapter to the shipyard’s heritage.

I am sure it will be a continuing source of pride in the dedication and efforts of our present-day workforce, and I am deeply proud of my team.

Written by Capt. Howard B. Markle, commander, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance

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Profile

PSNS:125 1891-2016

Capt. Howard B. Markle, USN A native of Pennsylvania, Capt. Howard B. Markle enlisted in the Navy in 1986. He served as a nuclear trained electronics technician until his commission through an enlisted commissioning program in 1993.

His education includes a bachelor of science degree in nuclear engineering from Pennsylvania State University; a master of science in mechanical engineering, a mechanical engineer degree, and Total Ship Systems Engineering Program from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.

He holds a professional engineers license in mechanical engineering from California.

Markle’s afloat tours included assignments to the USS Klakring (FFG-42,) where he qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer and completed operational deployments to Haiti and two Sixth Fleet Deployments supporting Operations Support Democracy, Able Vigil, Deny Flight and Sharp Guard; the USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN 730,) where he earned his submarine dolphins; and on

the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69,) where he served as Chief Engineer during two Fifth Fleet Deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

He also completed a tour as an Individual Augmentee in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to the Multi-National Corps - Iraq Headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.

Ashore, Markle served at Fleet Combat Training Center Atlantic, Dam Neck, Virginia as the division officer for Gunnery and Fire Control Divisions and as an instructor in the Tomahawk Watch Officer and Cruise Missile Command Course.

His engineering duty officer assignments include Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility where he served as a project superintendent, deputy project superintendent, ship safety officer, work integration leader and shipyard docking officer during maintenance availabilities aboard the nuclear-powered attack submarines USS Columbia (SSN 771), USS Buffalo

(SSN 715) and USS Key West (SSN 722).

Markle then transferred to Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command where he served as director, Shipyard Availability Performance Branch Shipyard Operations Division in SEA 04 and Factory Manager in PMS 392, Submarine In-Service Program Office.

Additionally, he was assigned to Norfolk Naval Shipyard as the deputy operations officer and deputy project superintendent on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69).

Markle has also served on the staff of United States Fleet Forces Command as the Carrier and Submarine Maintenance officer within the Fleet Maintenance Directorate (N43). Prior to reporting to his current assignment, he was assigned to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where he served as the production resources officer and operations officer.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Capt. Howard B. Markle, commander, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

fencing. Marines at the gate controlled access, but townspeople were allowed to use the boardwalk that ran along the yard’s waterfront between Bremerton and Charleston.

Young boys liked to enter the yard as it was a fascinating playground. Ray Raines, who grew up in Bremerton, described the fence was “too high for small boys to scale. However, like rodents, we found locations where we could tunnel under.”

By 1902, the yard’s system had a 150-horsepower engine that furnished electricity to the yard.

Fresh water was obtained from a well, 50-foot in diameter and 22 feet deep, and there were 23 hydrants in a saltwater system for fire protection.

During the first two years of the century, 22 ships came and went through the dry dock. An internal railway was constructed to move parts from the construction building to the repair shop.

The yard’s first hospital opened in 1903, and staff treated workers who were sick with scarlet fever, diphtheria and smallpox. But the staff also dealt with problems related to the abuse of alcohol. While the Prohibition movement was strong throughout the country, there were still problems in Bremerton.

When President Theodore Roosevelt visited the shipyard and toured the town, a message came from Washington, D.C., “Unless all saloons are closed, the yard will be shut down.”

Immediately, all saloons in Bremerton and Charleston closed. A later compromise allowed some of them to reopen.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Yard personnel and visitors welcome the USS Oregon at the opening of Dry Dock 2 on March 2, 1913.

In the beginning Shipyard, Bremerton histories are tied

By LESLIE KELLY

lkelly@soundpublishing.com

on the opposite shore.

Years earlier, in 1877, Lt. Wyckoff was assigned Navy Lt. Ambrose B. Wyckoff gathered with the task of locating a deep water protected harbor residents of the neighborhood and read his orders where the Navy could establish a shore facility above the 42nd Parallel. He and to take command of the USS a team of surveyors scouted the Nipsic. The date was April 1, 1892, and the Nipsic was the “Unless all saloons are Puget Sound from the San Juan Islands to Olympia. Sinclair first Navy ship to enter Sinclair closed, the yard will Inlet was identified as an ideal Inlet and call it home. Escorted be shut down.” location. by the USS Mohican, crowds cheered as she passed through – Theodore Roosevelt On Sept. 16, 1891, the Navy Elliott Bay. Boats then escorted finalized the purchase of 145 her to Sinclair Inlet. acres of land and formally dedicated the opening of Naval For residents of Sidney, the Station Puget Sound. Wyckoff small town across from where she would dock, it was a great occasion. It meant was appointed the station’s first commandant. the U.S. Navy was going to develop a naval station By 1892, Lt. Wyckoff had acquired additional

land, bringing the total to approximately 190 acres. That same year, in December, the Navy broke ground for the construction of the first dry dock that would be built at the yard. Byron Barlow, a Tacoma company, was awarded the contract to build the dry dock at a price of $491,465.

The first battleship to be dry docked was the USS Oregon in 1897.

1900s AND THE GREAT WAR In July 1900, a new commander, William T. Burwell took over. His arrival, and the re-designation of the Naval Station as Navy Yard Puget Sound in 1901, brought new excitement to the area, which had just incorporated as the city of Bremerton in 1891.

Burwell made improvements to the yard, including a high wooden fence to replace wire

In July 1905, the SS Dakota of the Great Northern Steamship Co., headed to Asia with cargo, had engine trouble. Because the shipyard was the only dock on the West Coast large enough to hold her, approval came from the Navy to give her the needed repairs.

In April 1906, local newspapers listed the following ships at the yard: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oregon, Wheeling, Boston, Princeton, Rowan, Goldsborough, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, St. Louis, Milwaukee, South Dakota, Saturn, Philadelphia and the Nipsic. The Central Power Plant began operating in May 1911.

Burwell was known to be a great supporter of the local community. On his birthday (July 19), he invited all the school children and their teachers to the Navy yard, saying that “one could never begin too early to teach patriotism.” The children toured the ships and enjoyed a picnic while the band played in their honor. Burrell was promoted to Admiral and a street and a park was named in his honor. He turned over command to Rear Adm. John Rodgers in 1908.

Under Rodgers, work began on a second dry dock. While under construction, the dry dock served as a movie theater. Men of the fleet and SEE BEGINNING, PAGE 8

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

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The U.S. sought more men to enlist. Within 10 days, more than 700 men from Oregon and Washington mobilized at Puget Sound. Men lived in tents because the barracks were full. As men in the work force left for military duty, school girls and housewives took their places. During the war, many women worked in the shipyard. In March 1917, the Navy approved women enlisting as Yeomen. More than 11,000 women, affectionately called Yeomanettes, enlisted.

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the USS Colorado watched movies of the MoranNelson championship fight projected on a large canvas stretched across an end of the dock site.

“Cheers from the audience could be heard for miles,” it was written.

For the second dry dock, loads of large blocks of granite arrived by barge from Index, Washington.

More than 50 stone workers spent a year shaping the 200,000 cubic feet of granite to line the dock.

Dry Dock 2 was dedicated March 1, 1913, as an estimated 3,000 people watched.

With new quarters built in 1912 for men and officers, the old barracks became the “disciplinary school” for military prisoners. More serious cases were sent to the Prison Ship, formerly known as the Nipsic. “All portholes and windows were barred over, and she was painted black from waterline to her stubby masthead,” wrote Raines.

As 1915 rolled in, the shipyard was gearing up for the possibility of “The Great War.” Although it was President Woodrow Wilson’s intentions to keep the U.S. out of war, a Navy report stressed the need for a third dry dock at the yard. An appropriation of $2.5 million was sought so that more ship building could take place. At this same

In 1918, the Navy reported that “there are at present attached to the Navy yard 101 enlisted females. These girls are living in houses in Bremerton and Seattle. In some cases the hygienic conditions under which they exist are bad, due to overcrowding and improper and insufficient bathing facilities.”

During World War I, the Navy yard constructed 25 sub-chasers, seven submarines, two minesweepers, seven sea-going tugs, and two ammunition ships, as well as 1,700 small boats.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

A tool room, circa 1919, where shipyard workers were issued tools. time, horse-driven carriages at the shipyard were replaced with automobiles. A 1916 gray Winston “6” auto was purchased.

THE GREAT WAR In early 1917, the U.S. declared war on

Germany, and the country began unrestricted submarine warfare. The very next day, the commander of the shipyard directed work “with no officer released of duty without the permission of the Commandant,” even on Sundays.

As the number of personnel increased, so did the need for more hospital space. At the height of the flu epidemic, 25 tents were erected to house the overflow of patients. The Yeomanettes received permission to help the overworked nurses. There were 2,937 admissions during the epidemic and Margaret Mary Fitzgerald, who was stationed at CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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YOUR PROJECT, OUR EXPERT ADVICE.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

USS Nevada being repaired after Pearl Harbor, June 26, 1942.

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the hospital, wrote to her parents on Oct. 8, 1918, “The influenza is raging pretty bad here. Forty-six have died at our hospital in the last two weeks, and one of our doctors died of it in the morning. The movies, barber shops, churches. etc., are closed in Bremerton.”

To prevent the spread of the disease, the government built a 45-unit apartment house at Warren Avenue and Seventh Street, and 250 individual homes were built throughout Bremerton and Charleston. Work began on a 350-room hotel adjacent to the shipyard. But the need for it disappeared due to the end of the war and it was converted into the Craven multi-purpose center.

The war ended on Nov. 11, 1918. The workforce at the shipyard stayed at 6,600 to complete contracts work. An apprentice program, that began in 1914, moved to larger more suitable space in Building 50 where it remained until 1954.

THE 1920s TO WORLD WAR II Children growing up in the yard received a practical education. They were familiar with the ship-building in the yard. Many of them went on to have military careers. Admiral Noel Gayler’s mother, Ann, wrote: “Little children living in the white houses on the hill dressed early and marched behind the Marines and the Navy band.

They were allowed to march on the return as far as the brink of the hill where it dipped down onto Marine Parade Grounds, and then home to breakfast and school. In the long summer twilight, they scurried home from play at the sound of the

sunset guns.”

Corpsman Alonzo Johnson remembered the Chinese culinary staff who worked in the commissary. “These Chinese were not under U.S. Civil Service and could be hired and fired by the Hospital Commanding Officer. Few were English speaking.”

Johnson said that Supervisor Lee Yok, who was foreign born but had an “uncanny command of English, including Navy expressions and slang, ran his crew with a strict discipline at all times and forced ‘siestas’ on (employees) when he wanted to insure strict physical fitness.”

In 1933, another well-known ship came to the yard. The Navy had announced its decision to scrap all wooden ships, but there was a nationwide outcry to save the USS Constitution, better known as “Old Ironsides.” Soon $300,000 was appropriated for its restoration. Additional funds were given by the public and school children throughout the country sent in their pennies.

Old Ironsides was recommissioned in Boston on July 1, 1931 and began a cruise to 90 ports on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts. She arrived back in Bremerton on July 1, 1933 and 28,092 people toured the ship.

A new machine and electric shop was built in 1935 and became the largest machine shop west of the Mississippi River. During this time 1,700 men were added to the shipyard’s rolls through the Works Progress Administration.

On Sept. 16, 1941, the shipyard reached its 50-year mark. The day was dedicated to the yard in local papers, but because of restrictions imposed by the national emergency, and the construction CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Women shipyard workers read a Seattle newspaper that tells of the end of WWII. of Dry Dock 5, there were no colorful ceremonies.

It was apparent that the U.S. would soon be fully embroiled in war.

Historic records show that at 10:25 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, shipyard workers began to hear about the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Machine Shop Foreman Fred Hicks, who was doing an emergency repair on a Sunday, recalled “someone rushed into the shop with the news that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by Japanese planes. We were aghast … I walked out on Pier 6 and it was ominously quiet. The calm before the storm. As I walked back to the shop, I saw men coming to work. It was not yet noon and no call had gone out.

None of these workers knew what was needed but they were ready to do something…Our world had changed dramatically that one spellbound morning, never to be the same again.”

Jim Downey heard the news as he was playing football at Suquamish. “A U.S. Navy truck pulled up to the field and several Shore Patrol men got out and called our game to a halt. They asked if any of us were in the Army, Navy, or Marines – regular or reserve. About four players indicated they were Navy Reserve. The SP’s said, ‘Not anymore. You are regular Navy now and are ordered to report for duty immediately.’ Of course, we all asked what was wrong and it was then that we learned of the Pearl Harbor attack.”

The West Coast braced for anticipated attacks.

The ships damaged at Pearl Harbor began to show up for repairs at the shipyard. Gas masks and protective clothing were issued and “What to do in case of an air raid” instructions were handed out. Anti-aircraft guns were installed on the USS Colorado to protect the shipyard. Rumors flew and some families packed up and headed over

the mountains to Eastern Washington. Soldiers came to defend the shipyard. Guns were installed to cover the Naval and Charleston avenue gates.

But the anticipated Japanese invasion of Kitsap County did not occur.

The first of the Pearl Harbor’s ships, the USS Tennessee, arrived on Dec. 29, 1941, followed by the USS Maryland the next day. These were the least damaged battleships. Work on those ships and others continued throughout the war, even in January 1943, when a winter blizzard covered the shipyard. The USS Saratoga was repaired three times during the war; she suffered massive damage when six Kamikaze planes hit her.

At this time, there was a need for 36,000 workers at the shipyard. The call went out. A nationwide campaign began to find 7,500 journeymen and helpers. During the first part of July 1943, as many as 300 people arrived daily. A housing shortage developed. “Duration Dormitories” for single men and women were built where Olympic College is today. When other housing was not available, garages and chicken coops were remodeled. Defense workers slept in cars, tents, basement and attics.

Among those who came to apply for work was an elderly, partially blind man who had driven his goat cart from Idaho to the shipyard. Entire families went to work at the yard. A receptionist noted, “If a man was rejected for any reason, he was given a return ticket to his point of origin. But it got so bad, we were so short of workers, he had to be one day from the grave to be rejected.”

Women, too, were a part of the defense effort.

In March 1942, there were 80 women on the CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

PSNS engineers in 1965 at the hull section design division in Building 78 B.

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rolls, but by December 1944, 4,266 women were

performing jobs formerly done by men. A dress code was issued for women. They were required to cover their hair and wear low-heeled shoes. Onepiece pocketless blue denim suits were available for $3.49, and safety shoes followed.

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During July 1944, workers ate 507,026 meals at local cafeterias at an average of 29 cents a meal.

President Roosevelt authorized enlistment and commissioning of women on July 30, 1942, and the Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services (WAVES) was born.

POST-WAR TO KOREAN WAR

To promote the purchase of War Bonds, USO tours came to the shipyard, including Bob Hope, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Jinx Falkenburg and Walter Pidgin. Even Eleanor Roosevelt visited the shipyard and hospital. On Aug. 14, 1945 at 4:04 p.m. an announcement was read to shipyard workers telling the war was over. They were told to all go home. It was shift change and second shift worker Ralph Smith recalled, “It was the biggest traffic jam you’ve ever seen with both shifts leaving at the same time. The bridge was wall-to-wall people and cars.”

President Harry S. Truman visited Bremerton and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1948.

Before entering the shipyard, the President addressed a crowd in front of the Elks Temple at Pacific Avenue and Fifth Street. Someone called out “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” a phrase that stuck with him.

Fire station sirens wailed downtown and people swarmed the streets in celebration, even in Bremerton. Hundreds of folks lined up to take the ferries home to Seattle.

But the work at the shipyard was not over.

There was a new mission called “Magic Carpet,” an operation where warships were converted into transports to bring the troops home from the Pacific war zone. Receiving barracks at the yard were turned into separation centers. Eventually the fleet was cut back and in January 1946, 970 employees were discharged. Three months later,

another 2,880 workers were dropped from the yard’s payroll.

Following World War II, Navy Yard Puget Sound was designated Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The shipyard engaged in an extensive program of modernizing carriers, including converting conventional flight decks to angle decks.

Rear Admiral Hugh E. Haven took command of the shipyard on May 17, 1950. The following month, the shipyard was again on a war-time footing as the so-called “police action” in Korea began.

Haven was quoted as saying, “To the shipyard workers who were here during the late 1930s when the nation was frantically arming for defense… the course of international events has an ominous ring of familiarity…a queasy feeling…a depressing feeling of having to go through that awful mess again. We know that although no war has been declared, we may be hovering on the borderline of SEE BEGINNING, PAGE 26

Happy 125th Anniversary Puget Sound Naval Shipyard!

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Williams, agreeing to pay close to $200 an acre for nearly 170 acres of land that Williams had sold to his son for $3 an acre not too many years earlier. The property was logged-off waterfront bordering Sinclair Inlet, right at the heart of the proposed navy base.

When Wyckoff came calling, Bremer and Hensel sold him 81 acres of the Williams property for $50 an acre, losing, on paper, over $12,000, but keeping property inland from the planned facility and on the point of the peninsula where Sinclair Inlet met Port Washington Narrows. On Sept. 16, 1891, Wyckoff was appointed the first commandant of what was then called the Puget Sound Naval Station, and by June 1892 he had completed the purchase of a little more than 190 acres at the prescribed price of $50 per acre.

WILLIAM BREMER’S TOWN While Wyckoff was busying himself buying up land for the naval base, Bremer, having obtained Hensel’s interests, set about building a town next door. In September 1891 the Navy raised the American flag over its land, and three months later, on Dec. 10, Bremer filed a 25-acre plat for a new town named, somewhat immodestly, “Bremerton.” The Navy base and the town thus came into the world together, and their fortunes have been linked, in good times and bad, ever since.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

A Bremerton main street showing the gate to the shipyard entrance, circa 1918.

A town to call home Bremerton in the years PSNS came to be

By LESLIE KELLY

lkelly@soundpublishing.com

EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION

region’s military potential. Upon returning to the East Coast in May 1880 he started what would become a long campaign to establish a naval base in the sheltered but roomy inland waters of Sinclair Inlet at the southern end of Port Orchard Bay.

The first official American survey of the waters around presentday Bremerton was conducted in 1841 by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the United States Exploring Expedition. It was Wilkes who named Point Turner, the peninsula where much of Bremerton and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard are now situated, and he was struck by the suitability of the area for naval use.

In the years following Wilkes’s survey, white settlers started appearing in Puget Sound in increasing numbers. Among the first to homestead near present-day Bremerton were William Littlewood and Daniel J. Sackman. Another early arrival was Captain William Renton, who built a sawmill on Alki Point in 1853 but relocated it to the Manette Peninsula the following year. His was the first industry of note in the area and the first sawmill, but many more were to follow, drawn by the seemingly endless expanse of virgin timber.

Within just a year or two of Wyckoff’s 1877 visit, rumors were circulating that there would be major federal land purchases made in the area for a naval base. Homesteading loggers who had struggled for years to make a living now hoped that their property was worth many times what it would have brought just months earlier. The rumors came true, but the hope of a windfall generally did not. Ambrose Wyckoff was sent to buy the land, but with strict instrucIn September 1891 tions to pay no more than $50 an acre.

the Navy raised the American flag over its land. Three months later, the town of Bremerton was platted.

– Kitsap History Museum

The chasm between what the settlers thought their property was worth and what the government was willing to pay created opportunities for men who had a longer view of things.

William Bremer and Henry Paul Hensel, both of Seattle, reasoned that once the Navy base was established – indeed, even while it was being established – it would need a town to support it, and that was where the real money would be

A NORTHERN NAVY BASE

made.

In 1877, Lt. Ambrose Barkley Wyckoff, a young lieutenant with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, piloted the schooner Yukon on a hydrographic mapping voyage in upper Puget Sound and Commencement Bay. Wyckoff, like Wilkes, recognized the

Bremer had the plan and Hensel, a Seattle jeweler and Bremer’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, had the money. In February 1891, one month before Wyckoff arrived on his land-buying mission, the two purchased the original homestead claim of settler Andrew

One year later, in December 1892, work began on the station’s first dry dock, a 650-foot-long “graving” dock capable of handling the Navy’s largest ships. While that was going on Bremer nurtured his new town by donating or selling at discount prices land for schools and churches. He also built Bremerton’s first wharf at his own expense and helped numerous businesses get off the ground. But the financial panic of 1893 slowed progress on the naval base, and this in turn slowed Bremerton’s development. Dry Dock No. 1 was finally completed in 1896, but things only got worse. Federal funding dried up, and both the base and the town staggered through the remaining years of the nineteenth century.

Health problems forced Ambrose Wyckoff’s early retirement in July 1893, but he returned to the area in 1899 as a civilian, disturbed by reports of plans to close and relocate the naval base.

Wyckoff enlisted the help of the Seattle business community, and the city’s Chamber of Commerce prepared and submitted to Congress a persuasive report stressing the yard’s importance to the regional economy. This had the desired effect; federal funding was greatly increased in 1900 and 1901, and the workforce at the base quickly grew from fewer than 150 to more than 600.

As the base prospered, so did Bremerton. Soon the town was sprouting businesses of all kinds. A weekly newspaper, The Bremerton News, started publication on June 8, 1901, and its first issue claimed that 24 new businesses and 70 homes had been built in the previous three months. The workforce at the Navy yard supported a half-dozen general stores, at least 15 saloons, and a post office. There were rooming houses, a barber shop, a hotel, a laundry, two cigar stores, even a “shooting gallery.” Culture was served as well, with the nearby Charleston Social Club featuring a performance by the “Bremerton Orchestra” (The Bremerton News, June 8, 1901).

Just a month later, in July 1901, a group of the town’s citizens petitioned the Kitsap County commissioners for incorporation.

The lengthy list of voting-age residents who signed the petition did not include William Bremer, who continued to reside in Seattle. On Oct. 2, 1901, the voters approved the incorporation of Bremerton as a city of the fourth class. The town’s first mayor SEE BREMERTON, PAGE 21

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

13

USS SARATOGA: was the second of four Forrestal-class supercarriers built for the Navy in the 1950s. Saratoga was the sixth Navy ship, and the second aircraft carrier, to be named for the Battles of Saratoga in the American Revolutionary War. Commissioned in 1956, she spent most of her career in the Mediterranean, but also participated during the Vietnam War, receiving one battle star for her service. One of her last operational duties was to participate in Operation Desert Storm.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

The USS Arizona at Puget Sound Navy Yard in 1941. She was named in honor of the 48th state. She sank at Pearl Harbor.

PSNS: Home to many

Famous ships that have been at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard USS NIPSIC: a gunboat in the Union Navy.

The ship was laid down on Dec. 24, 1862 by Portsmouth Navy Yard; launched on June 15, 1863, sponsored by Miss Rebecca Scott; and commissioned on Sept. 2, 1863, Lieutenant Commander George Bacon in command. In 1874 she was rebuilt as a new, and substantially larger, Adams/Enterprise-class gunboat.

USS CONSTITUTION: a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America. Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Constitution was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.

USS MISSOURI: a Navy Iowa-class battle-

ship; was the third ship of the Navy to be named in honor of the state of Missouri.

Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II. USS ARIZONA: USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania-class battleship built for and by the United States Navy in the mid-1910s.

Named in honor of the 48th state’s recent admission into the union, the ship was the second and last of the Pennsylvania class of “super-dreadnought” battleships. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Arizona was bombed, exploded violently and sank, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen.

USS TENNESSEE: the lead ship of her class of battleship, the third ship of the Navy

named in honor of the 16th state. During World War II in the Pacific Theater, she was damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 but was repaired and modernized. She participated in shore bombardments at the Aleutian Islands, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa among others.

USS MARYLAND: also known as “Old Mary” or “Fighting Mary” to her crew mates, was a Colorado-class battleship. She was the third ship of the Navy to be named in honor of the seventh state. She was commissioned in 1921 and, serving as the flagship of the fleet, cruised to Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.

She is most notable for her service in World War II. She was present on Battleship Row during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and was lightly damaged by Japanese bombs.

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USS CALIFORNIA: one of two Tennesseeclass battleships completed shortly after World War I, was the fifth ship of the Navy named in honor of the 31st state. She was the last American battleship built on the West Coast, and the only one to be a dreadnought type.

She served in the Pacific her entire career, and for 20 years was the flagship of the Pacific Fleet. She was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor but was salvaged and reconstructed.

USS TURNER JOY: one of 18 Forrest Sherman-class destroyers of the Navy. She was named for Admiral Charles Turner Joy. Commissioned in 1959, she spent her entire career in the Pacific. She participated extensively in the Vietnam War, and was one of the principal ships involved in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Decommissioned in 1982, she is now a museum ship in Bremerton.

USS ENTERPRISE: She was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed “Big E.”

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USS NEVADA: the second Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships; her sister ship was Oklahoma. Launched in 1914, the Nevada was a leap forward in dreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent U.S. battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal for fuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the “all or nothing” armor principle.

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

generations of women.”

In 1942, the shipyard’s industrial area had 80 female employees. By the end of 1944, however, there were 4,266.

Those women “personified the ‘Rosie the Riveter’ cultural icon of the area.”

Gender is not the only way diversity is growing at PSNS. In 2015, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gave their Roy Wilkins Renown Service Award to PSNS & IMF’s Diversity Program Manager Colleen Hamling for her “outstanding accomplishments in human relations, equal opportunity and civil rights,” according to a June 2015 article in the Bremerton Patriot .

“My vision for our diversity program is to work within our culture to strategically work and push boundaries so we evolve into a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment where we appreciate and value all forms of diversity, different points of view, ideas and unique abilities,” Hamling said.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

A shipyard employee (left) works with a female trainee welder in Shop 11 during World War II.

Diversity through the years Women, minority representation in the PSNS workforce

By MICHELLE BEAHM

mbeahm@soundpublishing.com

cation, level, trade and rating, in both Civil Service Positions and in the U.S. Navy, a vast difference from WWI-era employment.

In its 125th year of operation, the workforce Both world wars contributed a lot to the of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility consists of about 13,444 growing employment rate of women at PSNS. According to the civilian employees Puget Sound Navy and 680 military Museum’s online “My vision for our diversity program is to personnel.

“Beyond Rosie” work within our culture to strategically Of those thouexhibit (www. sands of employees, work and push boundaries so we evolve history.navy.mil/ about 16.9 percent into a welcoming, respectful and inclusive museums/psnm/ environment where we appreciate and are women.

BR /index .htm), “World War I drasWomen have value all forms of diversity, different been employed by points of view, ideas and unique abilities.” tically changed the face of America’s PSNS & IMF for – Colleen Hamling, PSNS & IMF workforce. As husmore than a centuDiversity Program Manager bands, sons and ry. In the beginning brothers left for of female integration into the shipyard workforce, women worked military duty, wives, daughters and sisters took as nurses, secretaries and seamstresses. Today, their places.” women hold positions in nearly every job classifi-

The exhibit goes on to explain that more than 200 women found jobs at the shipyard, not just as clerks or typists. “They also worked on the piers and in the shops as sewers in the sail loft, electric truck operators, crane and power machine operators, in lumberyard jobs and as rivet heaters, catchers and passers.”

Craftsman Radina Petersson Olsen was the first woman to retire from PSNS, in 1925, after working at the shipyard for 20 years.

The exhibit explains that women transitioning into the PSNS workforce was “far from easy,” but “discrimination, prejudice and harassment were met with courage, strength and determination, paving the way for future Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Marie Greer’s shipyard activity badge

Furthermore, the shipyard is home to numerous programs that work to promote diversity and inclusion policies, guidance and activities at the shipyard. These programs include the Diversity Leadership Council and eight Employee Resource Groups (ERG): the African American ERG; Cross Abilities ERG; Filipino American ERG; Hispanic Employee Resource Organizations; PRIDE ERG; Professional Women’s Employee Networking Group; Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Outreach; and the veterans’ ERG. ERGs are employee-led and consist of people who share a common background., culture or formative

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

15

Congratulations 125 Years Thank you PSNS

for helping keep America and Kitsap County strong!

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

A woman machine operator in the sail loft in 1918. experiences. ERGs assist PSNS & IMF in its commitment to grow employees, value individuals and promote inclusion at all levels within the shipyard.

“The command is a big place with people of various creeds and backgounds, and it is our goal to make it a more successful workplace,” said

Deborah Brown, PSNS mechanical engineer and African American Employee Resource Group cochair, in a Navy Public Affairs press release, “PSNS & IMF Celebrate Black History Month (Feb. 24, 2015).” “We can accomplish this by recognizing all of the individual pieces and backgrounds that make PSNS such a great place to work.”

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Congratulations Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on

125

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

A 1927 union meeting poster at the State Street gate.

Years of Growth & Progress in our Community

Thank You!

PSNS and unions: Labor relations

By MICHELLE BEAHM

mbeahm@soundpublishing.com

Employee unions exist to help improve the working conditions of employees and ensure they’re treated fairly.

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At the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, new employees have the option of two different unions.

The Bremerton Metal Trades Council “was chartered on July 22, 1918 for the specific purpose to represent workers in Bremerton at Naval Shipyard,” according to BMTC Vice President Sam Smith.

According to its website (www.bmtc.org) BMTC was established “to coordinate negotiating, organizing and legislative efforts of affiliated metalworking and related crafts and trade unions.”

In a prepared statement, Smith gave the following information on the timeline of BMTC’s relationship with PSNS: • In 1934 the Bremerton Metal Trades Council established the Navy Yard Metal Trades Credit Union, which serviced members of the affiliated unions.

www.edwardjones.com

Member SIPC

• In 1962, President Kennedy made an executive order granting federal employees the right to organize and join unions of their choice. It gave

employees the right to engage in union activities and established bargaining rights with grievance procedures.

• In 1969, President Nixon expanded the rights with a new executive order establishing two new entities: the Federal Labor Relations Council which oversaw the Unfair Labor Practice resolutions and established binding Arbitration to resolve grievances, and the Federal Impasse Panel which role was to help resolve bargaining disputes by an independent third party.

• In 1978, President Carter signed into the law the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) which title VII established the Federal Labor Relations Authority. This granted the union rights under the law to government workers.

“Since those days, the BMTC, with support from its affiliated unions, have been representing the interests of the majority of the work force at PSNS,” Smith wrote.

Smith said the benefit of joining the union is that members “have a voice. They have a right to talk about what goes on in the workplace and get help and assistance with issues, and they get a vote on the contract that covers them.”

While the union doesn’t negotiate employment with PSNS, after a new employee is hired, they do have the option to join that community of “brothers and sisters” of the union, Smith said.

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

1877

1891

Lt. Ambrose Wyckoff was assigned the task of locating a deep, protected harbor above the 42nd Parallel where the Navy could establish a naval station. He arrived in the Puget Sound area as part of a survey team and scouted the area from the San Juan Islands to Olympia. He saw the potential of Sinclair Inlet as an ideal location for a permanent shore U.S. Naval establishment.

By Sept. 16, 1891, Lt. Wyckoff acquired three parcels of land totaling 145.25 acres for $50 an acre ($9,587.25). On that same day, Lt. Wyckoff formally dedicated the opening of Naval Station Puget Sound and became the first commandant. During the ceremony, his daughter ran a U.S. flag up a denuded evergreen tree, which served as the Naval Station’s first flag pole.

P U G E T

S O U N D

N A V A L

17

1896 Construction of Dry Dock 1 was completed. It was built using a step design made of wood, costing $491,465. The design of Dry Dock 1 was flawed, and the wood dry dock did not last. In 1931, Dry Dock 1 was redesigned and rebuilt using concrete and cement to replace all the wooden parts. The rebuild cost about $450,000. On April 22, 1896, ceremonies marked the first use of Dry Dock 1 when the coast defense monitor USS Monterey marked the first time a ship was in dry-dock. the first battleship to be docked was the USS Oregon on April 11,1897.

S H I P Y A R D :

A

1909

1917

1917-1918

Dry Dock 2 construction started on June 4, 1909. Appropriations for this second dry dock, which could handle larger vessels than Dry Dock 1, were secured in 1901 ($2 million). During the construction of this second dry dock, 200,000 cubic feet of granite blocks from Index, Washington, lined the dock.

Construction of Dry Dock 2 was completed on March 1, 1913.

It measured 827 feet long, 145 feet wide, and 38 feet deep.

On July 27, 1917, Puget Sound Navy Yard began constructing its first ship, Submarine O-2. She was completed and launched at a ceremony on May 24, Construction of Dry Dock 3 also began in August 1917.

During World War I, the Navy Yard constructed many new ships, including 25 sub chasers, two minesweepers, seven ocean-going tugs, seven submarines, two ammunition ships, and thousands of small boats.

1901 Naval Station Puget Sound was designated as Navy Yard Puget Sound, on July 22, 1901, by General Order 56, from the Navy Department, Washington, D.C. Capt. William Burwell was in command at the time.

T I M E L I N E

1919 Construction of Dry Dock 3 was completed on Jan. 31, 1919.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

1941 1933 The iconic Hammerhead Crane was built at Navy Yard Puget Sound. Capable of lifting 350 gross tons, this significantly improved the navy yard’s capability to perform battleship repair and allowed the navy yard to become the leading repair yard on the West Coast for such large warships.

P U G E T

1940 Construction of Dry Dock 4 was completed in October 1940.

S O U N D

N A V A L

1970

1979

The last ship built at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was USS Detroit, which was commissioned on July 31 at the Shipyard.

When the Shipyard stopped constructing ships, a total of 85 ships had been constructed.

USS Enterprise, the Navy’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on Jan. 15 for an intensive overhaul.

Throughout World War II, hundreds of U.S. and allied ships were repaired, overhauled and refitted at Navy Yard Puget Sound, including 26 battleships, 18 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers and 79 destroyers. Nearly one-third of the 1,006 ships in the U.S. Fleet were serviced by Navy Yard Puget Sound, among them were the “Pearl Harbor Ghosts,” the USS Tennessee, Maryland, Nevada, California, and West Virginia, all of which were damaged during the attack at Pearl Harbor.

They were called ghosts because the Japanese had declared them sunk.

S H I P Y A R D :

A

1981 Trident Refit Facility, Bangor was established July 31 as the primary maintenance facility for the West Coast Trident submarine fleet.

1943 During World War II the shipyard faced an increasing workload as well as a shortage of labor. The shipyard began a nationwide recruitment campaign in 1943 hoping to fill 7,500 journeymen jobs. “Duration Dormitories” were built to house the workers. Many women were hired to fill positions previously held by men, who went to war. At least 4,266 women worked at the shipyard during World War II.

T I M E L I N E

1991 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard’s centennial anniversary was celebrated.

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

1950-1959 The shipyard’s major effort during the 1950s was the program to convert aircraft carriers’ conventional flight decks to angled decks as the Navy entered the era of jet-powered aircraft. With the start of the Korean conflict, the shipyard was busy reactivating ships and constructing new USS Coontz (DLG-9) class guided missile frigates. In 1954, the famed USS Missouri was deactivated at the shipyard.

P U G E T

1961 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was designated as a repair yard for nuclear powered submarines, including the overhaul of fleet ballistic missile submarines. The keel was laid 30 June for the first ship built in Dry Dock 4, USS Sacramento. At that time, Sacramento was the largest ship to be built on the West Coast.

S O U N D

N A V A L

19

1962 The Navy completed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard’s Dry Dock 6, the Navy’s largest West Coast dry dock, on April 23, 1962.

Dry Dock 6 is capable of holding 88 million gallons of water.

To honor the occasion as the first ship to enter the new dry dock, USS Kearsarge entered Dry Dock 6, and the ship’s crew manned the rails and spelled out “PSNS DD-6” on the flight deck.

S H I P Y A R D :

A

2004

2006

2009

PSNS & IMF’s historic Building 50 (Naval Station Puget Sound’s original Administration Building (built in 1896) was finally moved to its current location just outside of the gate near Fountain Park. In 2007, it became the Puget Sound Navy Museum.

Apprentice Program School cuts ribbon for new (and current) facility in Building 460 on Sept 15.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility consolidated on May 15. Restoration work on iconic and historic Building 460 was completed. It cost more than $2 million to complete. A historic building, it was restored to look like it did on the outside when it was first built in 1943.

1967 Arrival of USS Truxtun on Sept. 1 marked the beginning of the shipyard’s work on nuclear-powered surface ships.

T I M E L I N E

2016 PSNS & IMF celebrates 125 years.

20

Major player

PSNS:125 1891-2016

Shipyard adds much to the local economy

By MARK BRIANT

mbriant@soundpublishing.com

The economic relationship between Bremerton and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard can be summed up in two words: Seattle and Boeing.

— like right now. “I don’t think you could separate the two,” said John Powers, executive director of the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance. “At the heart of it all is the Naval shipyard.”

According to a Maritime Cluster Economic Impact Study by the Puget “Oh yes, it’s that important,” Sound Regional Council, the said Bremerton Mayor Patty shipyard provides economic Lent. “Anyone old enough to “I can’t really imagine benefits that are difficult to remember the Boeing Bust of Bremerton without overstate. Some of the followthe shipyard.”

1970 will appreciate that.” ing statistics refer to statewide economic impacts, but to one In that event, the cancel- – Patty Lent, mayor degree or another, they all lation of a number of key either touch or are driven by aerospace and military projthe presence of the shipyard. ects brought the region to its knees — and chastened local political leaders to For example: develop a more diversified economy.

• In general, every maritime job in the state Since the founding of the surrounding city 125 years ago, the shipyard’s presence here has allowed the area to soften the blow from the inevitable economic downturns, and fuel a vibrant, growing economy during good times

supports an additional 1.6 family-wage jobs.

• Nearly a quarter of all maritime jobs in the state are located here in Kitsap County.

• There are more than 13,000 civilians

Armsfullfull of love.

A home freed from Aviolence.

Arms of love.

A home freed from violence. body nourished.

A sense of self-worth.

A spirit renewed.

A body nourished. A sense of self-worth. A spirit renewed.

Sincethe 1891, the members & IMF been keyato Since 1891, members of PSNS & of IMFPSNS have been keyhave to maintaining strong a strong fleet. lot has changed, theWhat tools, technolfleet. Amaintaining lot has changed, the tools, the Atechnology, the shipyard. hasthe remained constant are your talents, ability to adapt, can-do spirit and sense of community. ogy, the shipyard. What has remained constant are your talents, ability to adapt, can-do spirit and sense of community.

We salute you as you celebrate 125 years

We salute you as you celebrate 125 years of doing what matters for of doing what matters for our country. our country.

We are all interconnected. The strength of our united investments powers our Wethe are all interconnected, the strength of our united investments fight for Health, Education and Financial Stability of every person in Kitsap powers Health, Education and Financial Stability of County.

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employed at the shipyard.

• PSNS landed nearly $200 million in maintenance and repair contracts and technical services of this work performed in Washington.

• There are approximately 30,400 maritime jobs in the state, much of it performed at the shipyard, infuses the state economy with an additional $3.6 billion per year.

• Maritime work — most of it performed in the shipyard.

A key to interpreting these seemingly rosy statistics is that virtually all of the jobs created are family-wage jobs. For shipyard workers, the average wage is approximately $70,000 — and federal workers at PSNS earn an average of $79,000 per year. Ironically, at a time when other regions of the country are struggling economically, the shipyard’s recruiting office fights a constant shortage of welders, fabricators, electricians and other trades, all them well-paid.

Skilled, well-paid Kitsap County residents buy homes, cars, go out to restaurants, travel and enjoy all the other accoutrement of the good life. All of which helps add to the county’s coffers in the form of fees and taxes.

“I can’t really imagine a Bremerton without the shipyard,” said Bremerton Mayor Lent.

“That facility is woven into the very fabric of this area.”

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PSNS Number of civilian employees: 13,444 Civilian payroll: $1.1 billion (2015) Number of military positions: 680 Military payroll: $43 million (2015) Average employee annual pay: $67,927 Number of buildings at PSNS: 130 Size of PSNS: 179 acres Miles of railroad inside PSNS: 15 miles Combined plant value: $2 billion (estimate) Value of subcontract work in Kitsap County due to PSNS / Department of Defense contracts: $22.2 billion (2012, 2103 and 2014) Revenue generated in the community due to spending by employees of PSNS, and other military and defense workers: $6.6 billion Sources: Kitsap Economic Development Alliance; PSNS Public Affairs

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

BREMERTON CONTINUED FROM 12

was Alvyn Croxton. An election in January 1902 returned Croxton as mayor and seated A.P. Stires, Thomas Driscoll, J. J. Kost, F. W. Coder, and C. Hanson as the town’s first full five-member council.

In July 1902 a private company brought in Bremerton’s first piped water through wooden mains. In August the first official volunteer fire department was formed, and the following December phone lines came in. William Bremer’s plans seemed to be proceeding smoothly, but some serious trouble was brewing on the town’s rowdy Front Street.

AN OFTEN UNEASY AFFAIR

THIS TOWN FOR SALE The Navy’s overbearing attitude and charges of rampant immorality really bothered William Bremer, who had put his money and his good name into the town, and by early fall of 1903 he’d had enough. His reasoning was simple: “If the U.S. government wanted to dictate how Bremerton should be run, then the U.S. government should buy the damn town and run it.”

By Sept. 4, 1903, Bremer had obtained powers of attorney from nearly all of Bremerton’s commercial land owners and disclosed that his asking price was $350,000. Later that month he traveled to Washington, D.C., and offered Bremerton lock, stock and barrel to the Navy at the discounted price of $300,000. But the Navy thought the price was still exorbitant; Bremer came home disappointed, and never tried again. Nor did his widow, or his children.

Even today, a significant part of downtown Bremerton is owned by a trust established by William Bremer’s sons, John and Edward.

It was inevitable that Bremerton would attract businesses that catered to the lesssavory inclinations of young “If the U.S. The ban on saloons and sailors and transient workers. government wanted legal liquor sales stayed in Prostitution, gambling, drunk- to dictate how place for about two years enness, opium, muggings – the Bremerton should without significantly reducpanoply of human temptation be run, then the U.S. ing Bremerton’s overall sin and weakness – were present quotient. But the Navy was government should from the beginning. By late pacified, and quietly allowed a 1902 Bremerton had a popula- buy the damn town handful of liquor licenses to be tion of about 1,700, and there and run it.” issued. The entire state went were 16 saloons, all within a William Bremer “dry” in 1916, and nationwide short walk of the Navy’s front Prohibition started in 1919. gate. It was a wide-open town, Sailors still got drunk in and and less than a year after around Bremerton, and gamMayor Croxton was elected the Navy threatened bling and prostitution did not disappear, but to shut it down, warning that it would boycott the city’s leaders were no longer accused of being its own shipyard in order to save its sailors from complicit.

Bremerton’s “gross immorality.” An Olympia Despite its somewhat raucous reputation, newspaper, under the headline “Too Bad for Bremerton continued to attract new residents Them,” reported: and businesses. The February 1909 issue of “An official report received today from Rear Coast magazine described the town: Admiral Yates Stirling ... details a deplor“Bremerton has a population of about 3,000 able state of affairs in Bremerton, and Acting souls, and is daily adding to its numbers. The Secretary of the Navy Darling today issued an business interests are large and increasing. On order that will have the effect of keeping naval every hand is seen the widest activities in all lines vessels away from that station in the future until of business.

A large saw mill, ice and cold storthe nuisance is abated. age, lumber yards are located here and groceries, Gambling resorts and disorderly houses, the dry goods stores, boot and shoe stores, bakeries, report says, flourish just outside the yard, espe- restaurants, hotels, saloons and all kinds of busicially when one of the war vessels is in port ...” ness departments are numerous and thriving.

(Morning Olympian, Dec. 31, 1902).

New, substantial brick and concrete business Mayor Croxton was quick to respond, issuing blocks, public halls, several hotels, one of which a statement on Jan. 1, 1903, that said, in part: is a large three-story structure, and countless “The report regarding Bremerton is an numbers of residences of a lasting and permaunqualified falsehood ... . There are no card nent nature are now under construction or just sharks, bunco men, or bawdy houses in the being completed.” town” (Morning Olympian, Jan. 1, 1903).

Source: www.historylink.com, Kitsap Historical Museum

21

CONGRATULATIONS PSNS ON 125 YEARS

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Contributing PSNS employees are part of the Kitsap community

By RICHARD WALKER

rwalker@soundpublishing.com

Stephen Mastel, PSNS Shop 51 marine electrician and K-12 STEM outreach volunteer, demonstrated a frequency generator to a future young scientist at a STEM showcase on May 19.

Sonar Technician (Submarines) 1st Class Ruben Villanueva stood by as Hailey Hunt, 10, used the controls of a manipulator on an Unmanned Undersea Vehicle to crush an apple during the fifth annual Remote Operated Vehicle Competition at Olympic High School in Bremerton, June 11.

Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Cory Asato/U.S. Navy photo

Corinne Beach, (PSNS & IMF) K-12 STEM Outreach Coordinator, explains a pressure gauge. Volunteering in the community is encouraged at the shipyard.

Corinne Beach, PSNS & IMF K-12 STEM outreach coordinator, showed a student why a pressure gauge must reach 40 PSI in order for his pneumatic rocket to launch, Aug. 12.

Chances are good you know a PSNS employee, and not just in his or her capacity as a PSNS employee.

With a workforce of more than 11,000 — a great majority civilian — PSNS & IMF is not only a bulwark in the defense efforts of the United States, it’s a force for good in the communities of Kitsap County.

Being involved in the communities in which PSNS employees live is part of the PSNS culture. Employees know that a strong country is built on more than ships and submarines.

“There’s an expectation that management will get involved,” retired supervisor Marjie Rowland said. “There’s very much a big push, more at PSNS than at other shipyards.”

And that spirit of involvement filters down to employees.

Happy 125th Anniversary PSNS

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

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PSNS employees contribute portions of their paychecks to charities; help teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to local students; and help fund scholarships at Olympic College.

PSNS employees present a Christmas party for residents of the Washington Veterans Home in Retsil, and buy turkeys to ensure that local families in need are able to have a holiday dinner at home.

On Earth Day, PSNS employees clear trails and plant bushes and flowers at schools. You’ll see PSNS employees in the annual Armed Forces Day parade.

Giving back to the community starts at the top. Capt. Howard Markle, commander of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & IMF, is co-chairman of the Greater Olympic Peninsula Combined Federal Campaign (www.cfc0921.org), through which PSNS employees can choose the causes they’d like to support through payroll deduction.

Fundraising events for the campaign in 2016 include a golf tournament and a car show and safety fair.

The Local Federal Coordinating Committee, comprised of military officers and enlisted personnel and civilian employees, oversees the Combined Federal Campaign here. The committee meets monthly during the year, then as frequently as weekly during the campaign, in the main conference room at the United Way

KEYPORT

of Kitsap County in Bremerton.

“In 2015, PSNS & IMF personnel contributed more than $589,893 to various charitable organizations through the Combined Federal Campaign,” according to Liane Nakahara, a civilian public affairs officer for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & IMF.

“PSNS & IMF personnel volunteered more than 2,000 hours during the last year to host STEM events within the community, reaching more than 1,000 students grades 2-12.”

– Liane Nakahara, PSNS

And then, of course, there’s the payroll that makes the PSNS workforce a major contributor to the local economy. Each month, $95.2 million are paid in wages — that’s more than $1.1 billion a year — that filters down into our communities.

“PSNS & IMF’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math outreach program works to foster youth interest in STEM and promote STEM education through engaging employee volunteers to support sponsoring events and activities that combine learning and play.

Activities include in-water remotely operated vehicle challenges, building bristlebots and other robots, and launching rockets.

“PSNS & IMF personnel volunteered more than 2,000 hours during the last year to host STEM events within the community, reaching more than 1,000 students grades 2-12. These STEM outreach events were held in various locations throughout the community, including local schools (Bremerton, North Kitsap, Central Kitsap, South Kitsap, and Bainbridge Island school districts), Kitsap Mall, Puget Sound Navy Museum and Naval Undersea Museum.

to end up coming into the Navy,” Capt.

Eugene LaCoste, commanding officer of Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, said at the ROV Competition at Olympic High School on June 11. “Or that

is going to design that new underwater cable or oil exploration item. Something that is going to be beneficial to the U.S. Navy or the U.S. as a whole.”

PSNS employees know that by being involved in their communities, they are helping to raise up a new generation that will continue PSNS’ innovation and service toward the 22nd century.

“You never know the one that is going

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Wendy Hallmark/ U.S. Navy photo

USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) departs the dry dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on April 25, 2014. This marks the conclusion of the nine-month dry dock portion of USS John C. Stennis’ Docking Planned Incremental Availability maintenance period.

“Personnel from Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport have also participated in STEM outreach activities alongside shipyard volunteers.”

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

chores,” Dee said. “I think [us being gone] did help with their responsibility.”

Dee described one on-the-job memory of a dispute in an authorization of a superior. She didn’t allow a lieutenant onto the base without the proper badge.

“My co-worker said to me, ‘Dee, don’t you know who that is?’,” Dee said. “I didn’t give a rat’s a** who it was, they weren’t getting in without the proper identification.”

Dee smiled as she said, “… and I got an ‘attaboy’ out of it. The lieutenant said later I did a great job.”

After more than 20-years combined working at PSNS, the Rileys retired and pursued other opportunities, such as working for Kitsap Transit and spending the holiday months as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

As they reminisce about their experience together at PSNS, they say they’ll always feel a connection to the shipyard and it’s affect on the Bremerton community.

Sophie Bonomi /staff photo

Together, Dee and Dave Riley have more than 20 years combined, working at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.

Working the night shift PSNS people: Dave and Dee Riley

By SOPHIE BONOMI

In 1992, Dee received an “early out” when she found out she was pregnant.

After the weapons were checked back in they were locked up for the night.

BREMERTON — Dave and Dee Riley, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard employees for more than 20 years combined, recall starting their day after the sun went down — not before it came up.

“Back then, you had to get out of the military if you were pregnant,” she said. “Now days things are different.”

Although the couple admits they rarely saw each other at work, they said that when they got off their shift they would have their “social meeting.”

sbonomi@soubpublishing.com

Walking to work from their house on Ninth Avenue in Bremerton, they started their shifts at 11 p.m. and after an eight-hour work shift, ended their “day” at nearly seven in the morning.

With guns and nightsticks on their hip, the couple worked as sergeant and guard at the shipyard.

The couple met during their service in the U.S. Navy in 1968. Dave was assigned to the photo lab aboard the USS John Kennedy and also worked at the photo supply lab onshore, where he first met Dee. “We were in the darkroom, just seeing what developed,” Dave said.

He recalled a time a lieutenant came over to the window where Dave and Dee were talking — “He asked if I had a chit for her,” Dave said of his date.

Two months later, the two were married.

After moving around the country, the couple settled in Bremerton in 1980 after the Navy and soon became civilian employees at PSNS. Dave, seeking out for a new career in law enforcement at the time, was hired at PSNS as a shipyard security guard and dispatcher. Dee was hired by PSNS shortly after as a sergeant supply guard.

“You came in, got your weapon and stood at the gate,” Dee said. “I checked badges while my partner checked vehicles. There were always two of us.”

Dave was the police sergeant and then worked dispatch for police and fire. They wore issued revolvers, handcuffs, and night sticks.

“Each day we were issued a 38-Smith and Wesson revolver and a block of bullets,” Dave said.

“We took the bullets out [of the block], and loaded them in [the guns]. We carried a loaded weapon.

Each night we were responsible for placing all of the bullets back into the block and signing out for those weapons.”

“We would get off work about seven in the morning, then head over to Bernie’s Bar and have a few beers and shoot darts,” Dave said.

The Rileys added that even though their household was unsupervised during their evening shifts, their children (teenagers at the time) remained responsible and resilient.

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“Most everybody out here in the civilian life has worked for PSNS from one time or another,” Dave said.

As he sipped his beer at the American Legion Post 149, he said, “It was a little bit of this, and a little bit of that,” Dave said. “The shipyard was a part of the ‘little bit of this.’”

Dave also volunteers at the Puget Sound Navy Museum and noted, even after all these years he’s still working at the same spot.

“The museum used to be called Building 50, located at the west end of the shipyard when it was first built at PSNS,” he said. “Then, they moved it to the front of the yard at the corner where the police station used to be. And now it’s the museum.”

Although Dee said they as a couple have been through a lot together over the years, she added, “Our job was to do what we were supposed to do, and that’s what we did.”

Around the world, the U.S. Navy displayed a recent status of more than 329,300 active duty employees, 54,852 officers, 209,671 civilian employees, and more than 3700 operational aircraft prepared to protect the seas (and skies) of the country.

P.O. Box 278, Poulsbo, WA 98370 19351 8th Avenue NE, Ste 106, Poulsbo, WA 98370 Office (360) 779-4464 www.soundpublishing.com Copyright 2016 Sound Publishing

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

25

A superintendent’s story

or achievement of like caliber in a noncombat situation.”

“At this point, I was a boss over other supervisors in my shop; I had four supervisors working under me on an average,” she said.

From single mom to high-ranking employee

By TERRYL ASLA

tasla@soundpublishing.com

This is the story of a 30-year-old single mother with a high school education who, through talent, hard work and determination, rose through the ranks from marine electrician trainee to superintendent of Marine Electricians, Electronic Technicians and Calibration Technicians with 700 people working for her.

It’s also the story about the workplace that she credits with making it possible: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

“Working at PSNS changed my life,” Rowland said. “I went from being a single mom struggling from paycheck to paycheck to having a career.”

Back in 1978, Jimmy Carter was president, the energy crisis was in full swing and newly divorced Marjorie Krotzer needed a job. (She would subsequently marry Brownsville Port Manager Jerry Rowland and change her last name, but that comes later.) Back then, she had two boys, ages 10 and 12, to feed and clothe. She needed to make money and she wanted to further her education.

“I had an in-law who was an apprentice at the shipyard and I saw that she was getting an education and getting paid for it,” Rowland said.

So, she started applying at PSNS. And re-applying. And re-re-applying. All the while working at a variety of jobs while she doggedly kept submitting her application.

“It took me two years of applying before I got in,” she said. In June 1980, Marjorie E. Krotzer, shop badge 051-154800, was hired as a marine electrician trainee. The following June, she and another employee submitted “Beneficial Suggestion No.

In 2001 she successfully completed nuclear manager’s college.

75192” to the Navy, after which the administrator of the Incentive Awards Program noted that she had gone “beyond the job expectations of an Electrician Trainee (WG-3).”

By 2008 she was a third-level supervisor, had a top secret rating, and was the assistant production superintendent overseeing work on a boat so secret she’s still not supposed to tell you its name.

“At the third level, I was only responsible for a single boat, but I was responsible for all of the trades, not just electricians,” she said.

Later that year she graduated to apprentice, graduating with scholastic honors. She continued to make suggestions, including one she recalls that cut the cost of a piece of electrical equipment from $253 apiece to $50.

In 2010, that project was completed and she went to work on other projects.

In 1982 and 1983, she was received “Highly Satisfactory Performance” awards. In 1984, she received the “Sustained Superior Performance Award” and in 1985 was promoted to journeyman marine electrician.

Always eager to advance her career and education, she went nuclear. She completed the nuclear reactor plant system course in 1987 and was subsequently promoted to the position of nuclear inspector. The following year she satisfactorily completed her radiological control instructor qualifications and became quality control/training leader for the electrical group.

In 1990 she was promoted to Electrician Foreman and became a supervisor in the electrical shop. She completed the Navy’s leadership, education, and development training and was invited to join the Federal Managers Association.

As part of her training for journeyman, she took classes at Olympic College in Bremerton. With her career on track, she returned to Olympic College and took the remaining classes she needed to receive her associate degree in 1994.

All the while in the early 1990s, she was raising two sons, and serving as a soccer coach or baseball coach, depending on the season. According to PSNS publications, at that time she was also

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In 2014, she was promoted to superintendent of Marine Electricians, Electronic Technicians and Calibrations Technicians.

Courtesy photo

Marjorie Rowland actively involved in encouraging more women to enter the shipbuilding trades. Somewhere in her busy schedule she found the time to meet and marry Jerry Rowland, too.

Back at PSNS, as a line foreman she worked on carriers and submarines, supervising crews of two to five electricians depending on the job.

Then in 1995 she became a second-level manager. She worked on a number of ships, including the carriers USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Along the way, the teams she was on received two Meritorious Unit Commendations. According to the Navy, “to justify this award, the unit must have performed service of a character comparable to that which would merit the award of a Bronze Star Medal,

“My job was taking care of the people,” she said.

“Being sure their rights were protected … and they had the training and were working in a safe environment. It also meant addressing any employee complaints and working with the unions and management. My biggest focus was on training workers and second-level managers because we were hiring new people and that meant current employees were being promoted.

“And attitudes toward people changed dramatically from the time I came on until I left,” she said.

“The Golden Rule became important. When I came in, it was common to discriminate. Now there’s not much emphasis on race and gender … all of the people are being treated pretty much the same.”

In 2015, she retired.

“I attained a lot of certificates and awards,” she reflected. “But those awards didn’t mean as much to me as my ‘shipyard family.’ The camaraderie — that’s what I miss the most. I still stay in touch with as many people as I can.”

Her advice to young people looking for a career: consider a job at PSNS.

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 Lawrence Welk musical family.

BEGINNING

During 1967-68, PSNS received 16 cranes from de-activated New York Naval shipyards. Also, during the early 1960s, the yard began using a valuable piece of equipment that could copy original drawings and other documents at a great speed. It was the Xerox machine.

CONTINUED FROM 11

World War III.” There was no World War III and by 1954 the yard was again involved in the inactivation of ships, the most notable being the USS Missouri.

An impressive ceremony on the Missouri took place on Nov. 11, 1954, at which 80 foreign-born men and women became citizens. National press covered the event.

The ship remained in Bremerton through 1981 and was often the site where school children and family from outside the area were brought on a sight-seeing venture. During the Vietnam War, beginning in 1963, security was increased and the Missouri was moved to a berth at the end of the yard, outside security perimeters to allow public visits. In spite of efforts to keep the Missouri in Bremerton, the ship was towed to Long Beach Naval Shipyard for modernization work and recommissioning in July 1981.

The Missouri had more than 6 million visitors during her years in Bremerton. And she was featured in several Hollywood films including “MacArthur,” and the “Winds of War,” television program. Gregory Peck was filmed in Bremerton on the Missouri for “MacArthur,” of which many locals were hired as extras.

1960s AND VIETNAM During the Korean conflict, the shipyard primarily activated new ships. In the late 1950s the shipyard entered an era of new construction with the building of a new class of guided missile frigates.

During the 1970s, the apprentice program grew to a record-breaking enrollment. More than 200 apprentices representing 23 trades reported to the shipyard in 1973, due to the call for apprentices.

There was a need for skilled and well-trained workers and test engineers. Along with that, PSNS began an Equal Employment Opportunity office and sought out minority workers.

1980 TO THE GULF WAR By 1988, date processing equipment and computers were in full use at the shipyard. Workers were impressed with their ability to track and order inventory. Welding became robotic in 1990.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Women have always been part of the PSNS workforce including 1969 female comptrollers. a reputation for doing good work on surface ships. It was the principal West Coast battleship yard when the battleship was supreme. As battleships faded into history, the yard took on carrier work. Now you are moving into submarine work.”

In 1965, the USS Sculpin became the first nuclear powered submarine worked on at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The USS Coral Sea was the largest conversion, measured in man hours of shipyard workers.

These ships were the first to carry the United States’ 50-star flag on their fantails.

Growth continued at the shipyard, including Dry Dock 6. For the dock’s dedication on April 23, 1962, the USS Kearsarge’s company (sailors) arranged themselves to spell out PSNS DD-6 on the flight deck.

Carriers continued to be built and repaired at the shipyard including the conversion of the USS Wright from a mothballed light aircraft carrier into the most advanced communications ship of the Navy. It was to be the President’s command ship in the event of war or nuclear attack.

During the 1960s, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard came into the nuclear age. Addressing the Bremerton Chamber of Commerce March 27, 1964, Vice Adm. Hyman Rickover said, “Puget Sound has

The workforce at the yard was 10,850 in August 1967, mostly because of the war in Vietnam. Many changes were taking place in the yard at the time, including expansion so it could repair nuclear subma-

rines. The shipyard adopted new working restraints because of the use of nuclear power. Workers attended classes in radiological safety and they wore new radiation detection film badges.

The first nuclear-powered ship to visit PSNS was the USS Halibut in February 1960. The shipyard’s first overhaul of a ballistic missile submarine began in August 1968 on the USS John Adams, the yard’s most extensive submarine overhaul to that date. The USS Truxtun arrived on Sept. 1, 1967 and was the yard’s first introduction to work on a nuclear powered surface ship.

The work on nuclear ships and subs required additional security because of the sensitive nature of the work. An eight-foot-tall barbed-wire topped, steel-link chain fence went up around the Controlled Industrial Area.

The yard celebrated its 75th year on Sept. 16, 1966. More than 10,000 people attended the two-day celebration. It began with a salmon bake and ended with music by former members of the

At the time, Bremerton was feeling the affects of regional growth and with the homeporting of the USS Nimitz and the Carl Vinson, the Navy began to be concerned about keeping sailors happy in their off-time.

Cmdr. John Gordon wrote, “the rapid growth of the shipyard and the decline of downtown Bremerton and associated recreational facilities provided the necessity to improving recreational and support services.”

In 1990, the Navy authorized a program to recycle nuclear-powered ships at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. This work involved inactivation, reactor compartment disposal, and recycling of ships.

The shipyard had pioneered an environmentally safe method of deactivating and recycling nuclearpowered ships. This process places the Navy in the role of being the world’s only organization to design, build, operate, and recycle nuclear powered ships.

In 1998, the shipyard stood up a detachment in San Diego, California to support work on nuclear powered aircraft carriers home-ported there. In CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Happy 125th Anniversary Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 February 1991 the Persian Gulf War began and the Nimitz left a few weeks later. All in Bremerton hoped that she would return before the yard’s centennial celebration on Sept. 16.

yard and most of what was going on only became know to the public through Navy public affairs officers. Still, today, there are no civilians allowed beyond the metal gates of the shipyard.

THE 21ST CENTURY

On May 15, 2003, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Naval Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Pacific Northwest (located at Bangor, Bremerton and Everett) consolidated into Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility” (PSNS & IMF).

Cathie Jett recalled that Sept. 11, 2001, seemed to be a normal September morning.

“I was working in the office and someone saw a new story on their computer about what was happening. We all gathered to look. We were all in total shock.”

Some employees were sent home, but the priority work continued. Jett was among those who stayed at work. No one was let inside the shipyard, not even vendors.

For the next several days, no buses were running to the shipyard and those employees that were working “had to walk a long ways to the main gate to get in,” Jett said.

“We always have to show our shipyard ID, but they were really checking them. And all bags were checked. If you brought your lunch, you had to put it in a clear plastic bag.”

Since then and immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, security at the shipyard grew tighter. Civilians were rarely allowed on the

The shipyard’s consolidation with IMF (formerly the Trident Refit Facility, Bangor, and the Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity,) improved fleet readiness by allowing the Navy to accomplish the highest priority, real-time ship maintenance requirements while achieving the maximum maintenance effort possible.

In 2004, another opportunity arose to further increase efficiency and improve service to the fleet. Surface ship maintenance

organizations, including the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Puget Sound; portions of the Commander, Naval Surface Group, Pacific Northwest Maintenance Staff; and Fleet Technical Support Center, Pacific Detachment Everett joined PSNS & IMF in standing up the Northwest

Regional Maintenance Center.

In 2007, PSNS & IMF Facility established a detachment in Yokosuka, Japan to support maintenance on the Navy’s forward deployed aircraft carrier.

Today, the shipyard currently performs work in Bremerton, (Naval Base Kitsap – Bremerton); Silverdale, (Naval Base Kitsap – Bangor); Everett, (Naval Station Everett); San Diego, (Naval Air Station North Island); Yokosuka, Japan and Guam. As Ambrose Wyckoff wrote in a letter to Congress on Jan. 14, 1912, when he was requesting approval of Dry Dock 2, “God Almighty made that location for a Navy Yard.” One hundred and twenty-five years later, it’s still home to some of the best workforce in the country.

Public Affairs Office, and the Puget Sound Navy Museum.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

Recycle submarine program

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STAY & PLAY

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Many of the quotations in this article are from “Nipsic to Nimitz,” by Louise M. Reh and Helen Lou Ross, which was written for the PSNS 100th Anniversary. Copies are available at the Puget Sound Navy Museum bookstore. Other sources: PSNS & IMF

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Looking for lodging for your visit or Looking for lodging for your visit or out-of-town guests? Visit our website CONGRATULATIONS PUGET SOUND NAVAL SHIPYARD YOUR 125TH for rooms with a view, cozy B&B’s, out-of-townONguests?

VisitANNIVERSARY our website and children and pet friendly places Looking for lodging your visit out-offor rooms with aforview, cozyorB&B’s, to stay for the night or all week long! town Visit and our website for rooms with a andguests? children pet friendly places view, cozy B&B’s, and children and pet friendly to staytofor night ororallallweek long! places staythe for the night week long!

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Happy 125thAnniversary Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Thank you for supporting our schools!

meetings and events

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Offer valid for new event bookings that take place by December 31, 2016.

Must be a member of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to participate. Space available basis.

Blackout dates apply. Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts.

28

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Getting hired

Just how do you get a job at the shipyard?

By SARA MILLER

smiller@soundpublishing.com

As of 2016, more than 14,000 people are employed at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. From Navy officers to nuclear engineers and everything in between, many of Kitsap’s own depend on PSNS for work. In fact, 680 employees are of military personnel and 13,444 are civilian employees.

So, how does one delve into this line of work? First, a little history: Currently, 83.1 percent of employees are male and 16.9 percent are female. However, in 1901 when the Navy Puget Sound Apprentice Program School began, only young men were selected to enter the program. Now currently offered at Olympic College in Bremerton, the program is open to all students, with more than 2,500 workers at the shipyard graduating from the program.

By the end of World War II in 1945, the work force population at PSNS was more than 33,000, and a rotation of workers were on the clock 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

As time passed and needs began to change into recy-

cling nuclear ships and transportation across the sound, work became more efficient and priorities in the hiring process changed.

PSNS hires workers under requirements directed by the Department of Navy. Hiring requirement for Department of Navy include that the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, must be 18 years of age or older at the time of hiring, and must pass security and physical fitness screenings.

More information on production jobs can be found at www.usajobs.gov or by emailing psnsproductionjobs@ navy.mil.

Currently, PSNS and the Intermediate Maintenance Facility offers the following benefits: competitive salaries (more salary information can be found at www. opm.gov), health and life insurance, 13-26 days of paid vacation per year, 13 days of sick leave per year and a retirement plan.

Right now, there are engineering jobs in Japan; helper (trainee) and apprentice (trainee) in Washington; and an apprentice program (trainee) in San Diego. All openings can be found at www.usajobs.gov.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

End of the work day with “Show Your Badge” sign at main gate entrance, 1920s.

Thanks PSNS for 125 Years!

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

29

Being trained

Learning skills to be a PSNS employee can be done locally

By SARA MILLER

smiller@soundpublishing.com

The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and local schools offer many training opportunities for students and employees of Kitsap County.

PSNS, Olympic College and West Sound Technical Skill Center are three entities that offer such training.

“PSNS & IMF supports the professional development and personal growth of all employees and works to foster an environment where people work together and assist one another in their drive to become better skilled individuals,” the PSNS website states.

According to PSNS public affairs office, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility personnel work in multiple locations, including Bremerton, Silverdale, Everett, San Diego, California; Yokosuka, Japan; and Guam.

Those looking to be a part of the PSNS & IMF workforce should create an account on USAJOBS and build their resume within the USAJOBS system. People can search for job openings on the USAJOBS site as well. PSNS & IMF jobs can be found by inserting “U.S. Pacific Fleet” as a keyword, zip code or location will refine the search.

Some candidates may be eligible to apply under Excepted Service; examples would include an individual with a severe disability, a veteran, etc.

When a position becomes open, it is typically announced through USAJOBS at https://www.usajobs.gov/, as is done for other federal government jobs. The job announcement will give potential applicants a location of the position, description of job duties, the application period start and end dates, salary or wage information, and other information such application and qualification requirements.

People can apply for an open job through

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

The Shipfitter Manual PSNS. USAJOBS by submitting their resume along with any other required documents that are listed in the job announcement.

Of the resumes submitted for an open job, the resumes that best meet the requirements and qualifications of the job will be provided to PSNS & IMF for consideration. Generally, a selection panel is formed to review resumes and conduct interviews and contact references as necessary to aid them in selecting the individual best qualified for the position.

There aren’t any tips or tricks we can provide for how someone should prepare for an interview, said Liane Nakahara, public affairs specialist. Applicants should prepare for a job interview with PSNS &

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

TRAINING CONTINUED FROM 29

IMF as they would prepare for any other job interview.

Programs offered include: • Apprentice and Basic Skills Program: The Apprentice Program, which is designed to develop a center of highly skilled journey-level mechanics. It consists of an integrated-shop training and related classroom instruction program unique to the trade objective.

Each trade normally requires four years to complete the training, which is conducted during normal working hours.

• Technical Skills Programs: Employees receive specialized training necessary to update their skills or learn new skills required by technological changes. They may participate in this training at various PSNS & IMF activities, other government installa-

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

tions or non-government facilities.

• After-Work Academic Programs: Local evening programs are operated in conjunction with colleges and universities to provide opportunities for self-development in job related courses at all levels.

Furthermore, informal manager-toemployee and employee-to-employee mentoring is strongly encouraged and supported in every department to discuss involvement in such programs.

Those nearby schools include Olympic College and West Sound Technical Center, both of which offer such courses.

Olympic College also has an apprenticeship program.

Since 1901 the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard has relied heavily upon an apprentice program to satisfy its need for skilled trades personnel and shop supervisors.

Current apprentice enrollment is 762 students with another 228 enrolled in the Helper Program.

The apprenticeship program includes four years of intensive training in one of 28 skilled trades of interest to the shipyard, including business technology, engineering, manufacturing, etc.) The first three years of the program are divided between skill training and taking college classes, which leads to an Associate in Technical Arts (ATA) degree as an Industrial Trades Technician.

After successful completion of an ATA, emphasis shifts from academics to specific skill training, leading toward the apprentice achieving journey-level certifications through the Department of Labor. Upon completion, candidates are traditionally offered career employment status in the shipyard as a journey-level employee with full benefits.

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at PSNS. And thanks to such programs, graduation and school completion rates are currently upwards of 83 percent, as of 2016.

In addition to the program offered at PSNS, Olympic College supports apprenticeship programs in Electronics for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport.

For more information, go to www.olympic. edu.

West Sound Technical Skill Center offers classes in engineering and welding.

As an engineering student, he or she will work with various engineering disciplines in a hands-on lab while learning mechanical drafting and design, solid modeling design, 3D printing and print reading. Students use a variety of tools to correctly measure, prepare and complete fabrication projects. Students will learn the engineering and design process by creating 3D models and prototypes as well as entrylevel machining and assembly.

In welding classes, students learn to cut and join metal using gas torch, arc and wire-feed welding equipment; as well as repair broken metal parts on machinery, equipment, boats and structures. At the end of the program successful students will be able to: • Safely and accurately use a variety of electric arc processes, basic hand tools and shop equipment to fabricate durable goods.

• Safely and accurately use a variety of torches and fuel gasses to produce parts that are used to fabricate durable goods.

• Demonstrate teamwork, responsible/ dependable behavior in decision making and task performance.

• Apply and practice workplace safety policies and procedures in the course of learning welding and related skills.

For more information, visit www. bremertonschools.org/wstsc.

Thank you for helping build our community for 125 years!

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

31

Terrific trivia Twenty things you (probably) didn’t know about PSNS & IMF

By LUCIANO MARANO

corporation?

It doesn’t occupy the most space, but it employs the most people - nearly 14,000.

lmarano@soundpublishing.com

With more than a 100 years of history to consider, it’s no small wonder that some strange but true shipyard facts have slipped past the attention of most folks. Here then are 20 such terrific tidbits culled from the dusty files of yesteryear.

Are you a PSNS pro? A waterfront whiz?

How many of these notables are news to you? Read on and test your naval knowledge.

15. Did you know that PSNS & IMF is the only U.S. Navy shipyard to share a fence line with the city associated with it?

16. Did you know that the first buildings constructed at PSNS were finished in 1896?

The first ones built were five officer’s quarters and an administration building, since relocated and made into the Puget Sound Naval Museum.

1. Did you know the original price of the land purchased for PSNS & IMF in 1891 was just about $50 an acre?

The original parcels were purchased from just four different local families for a grand total of less than $10,000.

2. Did you know that the first battleship to enter the PSNS dry dock was the USS Oregon?

She pulled in to Dry Dock 1 on April 11, 1897. The USS Oregon was also the first ship to enter Dry Dock 2 once it was built.

3. Did you know Bremerton would almost certainly not exist without the shipyard?

The City of Bremerton did not incorporate until about a decade after PSNS was built. The first two mayors actually worked at the shipyard and conducted city business in their off time. This, obviously, wouldn’t fly today.

4. Did you know that the PSNS & IMF Apprentice Program began in 1901 with a group of just six trainees?

5. Did you know that fish used to get stuck in the dry dock every single time water was pumped out?

Before technology improved, every time the dry dock was flooded, fish would come in. When the caisson was put in place and the water was pumped out, they would be left high and dry. Shipyard workers had to actually go in and pick them up.

6. Did you know that the PSNS & IMF newsletter, the Salute, has been in print since 1941?

In 2006, the publication was briefly rebranded as the “Northwest Regional Maintenance Currents,” but was returned

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard/courtesy photo

The 250-ton fitting out crane holds a test load, built in 1933. to its original name again in 2009.

7. Did you know that more than 30,000 people worked at the shipyard during WWII? About 33,000 people were employed there during the war – so many that temporary housing was set up all around the county.

8. Did you know the shipyard was once camouflaged?

Well, the houses in Officer’s Row were, anyway. The roofs of the houses were covered with dark green paint and sandboxes during World War II in the hopes that any attacking Japanese pilots would be unable to spot them among the trees. After the war, the homes were repainted.

9. Did you know that the iconic hammerhead crane was built in 1933?

It is capable of lifting 350 tons, an important asset when repairing battleships. It was so useful and unique, in fact, that it quickly lead PSNS & IMF to become the leading battleship repair spot on the West Coast. It was, in fact, the only battleship repair yard on this side of the country until World War II. 10. Did you know that Dry Dock 6 is capable of holding 88 million gallons of

water?

It is the largest dry dock on the West Coast. Its four gigantic pumps can have it filled in just a few hours.

11. Did you know that when PSNS & IMF ended their shipbuilding program a total of 85 vessels had been constructed there?

The last one was the USS Detroit in 1970.

12. Did you know that the iconic Building 460 – a National Historic Landmark itself – has 27,800 windows?

The building boasts some seven acres of interior space. Building restoration took 4,155 gallons of paint, and each window needed to be tapped over first.

Refurbishing efforts finished in 2003. The building was built in 1943 and is now used by the Apprentice Program school and is also home base for the welder and shipfitter trades.

13. Did you know the USS Parche sail on display outside the shipyard gate is actually real?

More than once visitor has tried to tell museum staff that it is not, but NAVSEA has the documentation to prove it.

14. Did you know that PSNS & IMF is the largest repair facility in the NAVSEA

17. Did you know that some Marines were once stationed at PSNS? The Marines arrived there in 1896 and established a “Marine Reservation.” For many years they provided security for the base, but were relocated in the 1970s to Bangor.

18. Did you know the first dry dock built at PSNS was made mostly out of wood?

It was constructed in 1896, but marine bacteria that feed on wood greatly reduced its life expectancy. The wooden parts were replaced with cement and concrete in the 1930.

19. Did you know Lt. Ambrose Wyckoff was the first PSNS commandant?

His daughter raised the flag on a bare evergreen tree as he read his orders during the dedication ceremony in 1891.

20. Did you know that PSNS & IMF was originally called Naval Station Puget Sound?

In 1901, the base was re-designated “Navy Yard Puget Sound.” Following World War II, it was again re-designated as Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Bonus Question: Did you know that in 1935 PSNS & IMF’s Building 431 was the largest machine shop west of the Mississippi River?

It has approximately 12 acres of space inside and was built in 1934. *Source: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility Public Affairs

32

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Dreams + Hard Work = Success

Thank you, PSNS, for keeping Kitsap working for generations.

Your innovation has transformed our communities, our region and the world.

Here’s to the next 125 years!

REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND

PATRIOT BREMERTON

HERALD REPORTER INDEPENDENT NORTH K ITSAP

CENTRAL KITSAP

PORT ORCHARD

PSNS:125 1891-2016

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

33

Four generations Working at PSNS is all in the family

By LESLIE KELLY

work to make a good wage, have job security and benefits.”

They never set out to make it a family affair. But for the better part of the last 70 years, someone in the Robert Scott family has been an employee at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

It took her three years to get in, and in 1968 she entered the PSNS apprentice program a welder.

lkelly@soundpublishing.com

“It just sort of happened that way,” said William Barr, Scott’s 40-year-old great-grandson, who is a current employee at the shipyard. “It’s not like we set out to do this.”

Scott, his daughter Mary Pitt, her daughter Donna Park, and her son “Billy” Barr all have worked at the shipyard. That makes four generations of the Scott family that have clocked in and out and proudly claimed PSNS their careers.

As Pitt tells, her father began working at the shipyard during World War II. Her mother, Mildred Scott, also worked at the shipyard during the war.

“I left high school when I was 15 and got married,” she said. “So I never graduated from high school. But I was the first person in the state to take and pass the GED test.”

Normally, she would work day shift, sometimes swing shift. She loved the work because “every day was different.”

“I take pride in my work, Especially when working on the subs.

I know I have the lives of those who are serving on these subs in my hands, and I want everything to work as it should.”

– “Billy” Barr

“Dad was there during World War II and then he was laid off,” Pitt said. “But he went back to work at the shipyard during the Korean War.” She recalled her father working the graveyard shift as an outside machinist in Shop 38 — a marine machinery mechanic. Her mother was a ship fitter’s helper during WWII. Pitt grew up in Mason County and Puyallup.

She married and eventually had five daughters.

When her husband’s health went bad, Pitt decided that she needed to go to work to feed her family.

“I applied at the shipyard several times (in the 1960s),” she said. “I knew it was the place to go to

“There was even one day when I started in the depths of the dry dock in the morning and was working on the mast (of a ship) in the afternoon,” Pitt said.

But her work at PSNS wasn’t without struggles. Although she was well accepted as a female welder in the 1960s and 1970s, after the four-year apprentice program, she was “riffed” – laid off due to a reduction in force.

She took the next year to try other jobs and other places to live, but found herself coming back to the shipyard as a journeyman welder in 1974. Most of the time, she worked on ships, “so many of them I can’t remember all the names,” she added. For a few years in the late 1970s, she worked as an engineering technician in an office environment, mostly drawing, but went back to the shop as a pipe welder.

“I found that (office) work boring,” she said. “I needed to be out doing things, on the waterfront, and in the shop.”

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Lockheed Martin Salutes the Men and Women of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for 125 Years of Exemplary Service to our Country! Congratulations!

Leslie Kelly/staff photo

Mary Pitt, left, Donna Park and William Barr pose outside the shipyard.

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PSNS:125 1891-2016

She retired from PSNS in 1982, and moved to Eastern Washington with her husband, to become cattle ranchers.

month after completing it I was riffed,” she said. “I spent the summer at home with my kids and then in October, my husband asked me, ‘Are you going to go back to work?’ That month, I got called back as a travel clerk.”

Pitt’s daughter Donna Park started at PSNS, the first time, in 1979 as a clerk typist. She’d been trying to get her foot in the door for three She found she liked the office setting better or four years. Meanwhile, she than being in the shops or on was working part-time jobs, at the waterfront working on the Kentucky Fried Chicken and at “All employees play ships. She arranges travel for Montgomery Ward’s. anyone affiliated with PSNS. an important part, She also worked with those “You had to take a test and It’s all about getting in the next office who cut the do 80 words per minute,” she things done right and checks to pay for travel. She said. “As a single parent with two on time so the ships will retire with 30 years of seryoung boys, I knew it would be a can get out on time.” vice. Twenty-eight of those have great job with benefits. It was a been in the travel area and she blessing to have medical (insur- – Mary Pitt is now branch head, with 19 ance). With those two boys, I employees reporting to her. needed it.”

There were no computers at first and when they were installed, Park said she learned a valuable lesson quickly.

“Nobody told me to save my work every so often,” she said. “I lost an entire document that I’d typed. I knew what ‘save’ meant after that.”

She met her current husband at work and in 1984, she left to have her daughter. Then in January 1989, she came back, this time as a pipe fitter trainee.

“I went through the apprenticeship, and then a

Her son, William Barr, came to work at PSNS in 2003. After serving in the Army, he started school at Olympic College to become a mechanical engineer. But soon he had a family and needed to get a good paying job.

“I never set out to work at the shipyard,” he said.

“Growing up around here, it was the last thing I wanted to do. But I knew it was good, solid work, so I applied.”

He was given a position as a radiological control technician, which is one of the jobs at PSNS that

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

can’t really be described in detail, because of security reasons. He added a six-month apprenticeship in Virginia and came back to PSNS, doing that job for four years. Then he went to Shop 38 as a marine machine mechanic. He graduated from that apprentice program with honors. And in 2014 he became a nuclear mechanic and inspector.

His typical days start at 7:20 a.m., with lunch at 11:20 a.m. The day ends at 4:02 p.m. He works in an office setting, but makes trips to the subs under repair to inspect the nuclear areas. He also writes manuals and oversees the paperwork that gives the mechanics the authority to go ahead and begin working on nuclear systems.

His office currently has four employees, but has ranged from two to 15. Generally they eat lunch at their desks, and he brings his from home.

But sometimes they venture out. At PSNS, he is provided parking, but because parking is limited, there’s a waiting list. Many employees prefer transit programs for shipyard workers, or are in van pools.

The three living generations of PSNS workers say the work is good and is steady.

“At Boeing, if people aren’t buying planes, there’s no work,” said Pitt. “But there are always ships to fix and update.”

Sometimes, she said, those fixes aren’t easy.

“When they decide that an old part needs to be

replaced with a new one, like three-inch pipes going to four-inch pipes, I’d follow the pipe fitters through the ship and weld the pipes they put together. Sometimes that meant crawling into very small places.”

Pitt thinks a career at PSNS & IMF these days is a great thing to shoot for. But she thinks all 20 year olds should experience other things and other places before going to work at the shipyard.

And, all three say having pride in what they do is a must.

“I take pride in my work,” Barr said. “Especially when working on the subs. I know I have the lives of those who are serving on these subs in my hands, and I want everything to work as it should.”

Park said her work was satisfying because of its importance to the defense of the nation.

“I know I have to get people where they need to be in order to fix things that may go wrong,” she said. “I’m not on the frontline. But like they say ‘Not everybody can be in the parade. You have to have people on the sidelines to cheer them on.”

Her mother agreed.

“All employees play an important part,” Pitt said. “It’s all about getting things done right and on time so the ships can get out on time.”

Could a next generation of the family come to work at PSNS? “I have 25 great-grandchildren,” Pitt said. “You never know.”

Congratulations to PSNS.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2016