The Philadelphia Navy Yard is a fascinating location to discover and explore some of the great ships, machinery, and structures that built and maintained, some of the greatest war ships of all time.
The Navy Yard is located at the confluence of the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers on League Island and was active from 1871 to the 1990's.
Today we visit the USS JFK (CV-67) and have a look at a graving dock and some of the bits and pieces involved with shipbuilding and maintenance.
While most Navy operations have ceased here, the area is still used as a "purgatory" for retired or retiring Naval vessels. The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) is a facility owned by the United States Navy as a holding facility for decommissioned naval vessels, pending determination of their final fate. All ships in these facilities are inactive, but some are still on the Naval Vessel Register (NVR), while others have been struck from that Register.