Above: USS Truxtun (DLGN-35). As contract #540, she proved to be the last of more than 100 destroyers built at New York Ship, being completed in May 1967. Resdesigned as a cruiser in 1975, Truxtun served more than 28 year as the U.S. Navy’s fourth nuclear propelled surface warship, decommissioning in 1995.

Home History  End of an Era

The Last Ships

As naval contracts for new construction or conversion work dried up in the mid-1960’s, the shipyard found it increasingly hard to maintain its employee base of skilled yard workers.

As government contracts continued to dwindle, along with increased competition from foriegn shipyards for scarce private merchant construction, “The Yard” was forced to begin laying off skilled yard employees by the mid-1960’s.

The last nuclear submarine built at New York Ship, USS Pogy (SSN-647), was launched in June 1967, and towed across the Delaware River for completion at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Like her sister boats USS Pollack (SSN-603) and USS Haddo (SSN-604) which were completed later, all served with distinction through the Cold War and into the 1990’s.

The last ship completed at New York Ship was a large replenishment oiler, appropriately named USS Camden (OE-2). With her completion, New York Shipbuilding Corporation closed its doors in October 1967.