c.1915 USA Portsmouth Virginia Norfolk Navy Yard Battleships Cage Masts Postcard For Sale

Title
c.1915 USA Portsmouth Virginia Norfolk Navy Yard Water Front Battleships Cage Masts Postcard

Front Description
A colour-tinted halftone postcard of the waterfront at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, seen from across the Elizabeth River. A line of US Navy battleships is moored side by side against the long wooden wharf. Their tall lattice cage masts rise high above the yard, linked by wireless aerial wires. Rows of tall funnels give off dark smoke, and the grey hulls show gun turrets, superstructure and boat cranes. Several large derrick cranes and more masts stand among the ships. At the left are low dockyard buildings, and two small white launches are tied up at the wharf in the foreground.

The sky has soft pink and blue tones, as at dusk, and the calm river water reflects the ships and masts.

Caption printed below the image: \"WATER FRONT, NAVY YARD, PORTSMOUTH, VA.\"

White-border card. Condition: light toning, minor edge and corner wear, and slight soiling to the border. Colours are still good. See scans for exact condition.

Back Description
Printed in green:
\"POST CARD\"
Round logo in the centre: \"LOUIS KAUFMANN & SONS – PUBLISHERS OF LOCAL VIEWS – BALTIMORE MD.\"
\"ADDRESS ONLY ON THIS SIDE\"
Stamp box: \"Place the Stamp here – ONE CENT For United States and Island Possessions, Cuba, Canada and Mexico. TWO CENTS For Foreign.\"

Caption and text at left:
\"WATER FRONT, NAVY YARD, PORTSMOUTH, VA.
The Norfolk Navy Yard, located on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, is esteemed by the U.S. Government to be the most important, strategically and otherwise, on the Atlantic Seaboard. Here there are three dry docks, the largest of which will accommodate any battleship now afloat. An invested capital of $9,000,000 is now represented by this Navy Yard which employs nearly 3,000 workmen.\"

\"C.T. AMERICAN ART\" printed vertically along the centre divider.
\"PUBLISHED BY LOUIS KAUFMANN & SONS, BALTIMORE MD. MADE IN U.S.A.\" printed vertically along the left edge.
Production number at lower centre: \"R-49402\".

Unused and unposted: no stamp, postmark or handwriting. Light even toning with faint marks. Clean overall.

History
The Norfolk Navy Yard is actually in Portsmouth, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. It was founded in 1767 as the Gosport Shipyard and is the oldest shipyard still operating in the US Navy. In 1833 it opened one of the first dry docks in the country. It was burned twice: by retreating Union forces in 1861 and by the Confederates in 1862. The ironclad CSS Virginia (built on the hull of the Merrimack) was converted there. In the early 20th century it grew quickly to service the new Atlantic Fleet\'s battleships, and employment rose sharply during the First World War. It was renamed Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 1945. This card was printed by Curt Teich of Chicago under its \"C.T. American Art\" imprint for the Baltimore publisher Louis Kaufmann & Sons, like the Hampton Roads card in this group.

Estimated Era
About 1914–1917. Curt Teich\'s \"R-\" production numbers in the 49000 range date to around 1914. The white-border format, which became standard from about 1915, and the green divided back with one-cent domestic and two-cent foreign rates fit this period. The back text describes about 3,000 workers, which is the pre-war figure before the yard expanded greatly in 1917–18. The cage-masted, coal-burning battleships moored at the yard are typical of the US Atlantic Fleet just before America entered the First World War.

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