Newport News Shipbuilding was started by Collis P. Huntington in 1886, as Chesapeake Dry Dock & Construction Company. Incredibly, within ten years of its foundation it was building battleships for the U.S. Navy. Through two world wars, it established itself as the world's most capable shipyard, outliving all the other great naval and merchant shipbuilders. It was fully operational at the start of the WWII emergency and expanded its capabilities for the war effort with the aid of $22mm from the Navy. At its peak, the yard employed 35,000 people and still found the resources to run North Carolina Shipbuilding, one of the best of the emergency shipbuilders. It continued as both a naval and merchant shipbuilder and repairer after the war and is today the largest U.S. shipbuilder.
Newport News was privately held until it was acquired by Tenneco in 1968. Tenneco spun it off as an independent company in 1996 and its stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange, but it was immediately a takeover target. General Dynamics tried to buy it in 1998 and Litton Industries had a go in 1999. GD tried again in 2001 but was beaten out by Northrop Grumman which closed the deal in December 2001. Then, in January 2008, Newport News was integrated with Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (Ingalls and Avondale). Then, in March 2011, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems spun off as Huntington Ingalls Industries and reorganized, with Newport News and Ingalls taking back their old names and Avondale closing.
