Sewell's Point

The Battle of Sewell's Point was an inconclusive exchange of cannon fire between the Union gunboat USS Monticello, supported by the USS Thomas Freeborn, and Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point that took place on May 18, 19 and 21, 1861, in Norfolk County, Virginia in the early days of the American Civil War. Little damage was done to either side. By the end of April 1861, USS Cumberland and a small number of supporting ships were enforcing the Union blockade of the southeastern Virginia ports at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay and had captured several ships which attempted to pass the blockade. USS Monticello's bombardment of the Sewell's Point battery was one of the earliest Union Navy actions against Confederate forces during the Civil War. While it has been suggested by some sources that the Monticello's action may have been the first gunfire by the Union Navy during the Civil War, a brief exchange of cannon fire between the U.S. gunboat USS Yankee and shore batteries manned by Virginia volunteer forces which had not yet been incorporated into the Confederate States Army at Gloucester Point, Virginia on the York River occurred on May 7, 1861.

The Commodore Levy Chapel, established in 1942 and renamed in 1959 in honor of Uriah P. Levy, is the United States Navy's oldest Jewish chapel, located at Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk, Virginia. It is part of a chapel complex in the Naval Station's Frazier Hall that also includes Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim Chapels. Commodore Levy Chapel is one of two Navy chapels named for the same person, the other being the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Chapel, at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Welding Shipyards was founded by American shipping businessman, Daniel K. Ludwig (1897–1992) in 1940 at Norfolk, Virginia on the Sewell's Point peninsula. Welding Shipyards build T3 tanker ships for World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Welding Shipyards had one construction berth with 600 workers. The shipyard built what Ludwig was known for Oil tankers. Welding Shipyards built five type T3-S-BF1 tankers, the largest at the time. Ludwig' Welding Shipyards used what is called block construction. To shorten keel to ship launching time due losses to German U-boats, block construction was used. Ships blocks were built as the keel was being laid and then the prefabricated parts were then put in place and welded. With this construction time was reduced dramatically. Welding Shipyards and Ludwig had an important role in this new type of construction. All of the tanker ships were operated by Ludwig's shipping company that he founded, the National Bulk Carriers in 1936 in New York. National Bulk Carriers owned and operated oil tanker ships and bulk carriers. Some of the ships were among the largest in the world at that time. In 1953 Ludwig moved the shipyard operated to the Kure shipyard in Japan. Ludwig leased the Japanese navy Kure yard for 10 years (1950 to 1960). The Welding Shipyards site today is part of the Naval Station Norfolk. In 1940 and early 1941, Welding Shipyards converted older World War I surplus cargo ships into oil tankers.

The Jamestown Exposition, also known as the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition of 1907, was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it was held from April 26 to December 1, 1907, at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads, in Norfolk, Virginia. It celebrated the first permanent English settlement in the present United States. In 1975, the 20 remaining exposition buildings were included on the National Register of Historic Places as a national historic district.

Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about 4 miles (6.4 km) of waterfront space and 11 miles (18 km) of pier and wharf space of the Hampton Roads peninsula known as Sewell's Point. It is the world's largest naval station, with the largest concentration of U.S. Navy forces through 75 ships alongside 14 piers and with 134 aircraft and 11 aircraft hangars at the adjacently operated Chambers Field. Port Services controls more than 3,100 ships' movements annually as they arrive and depart their berths. Air Operations conducts over 100,000 flight operations each year, an average of 275 flights per day or one every six minutes. Over 150,000 passengers and 264,000 tons of mail and cargo depart annually on Air Mobility Command (AMC) aircraft and other AMC-chartered flights from the airfield's AMC Terminal.

Navy Region Mid-Atlantic is one of eleven current naval regions responsible to Commander, Navy Installations Command for the operation and management of Naval shore installations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. It is headquartered on Naval Station Norfolk, and is commanded by RDML Wesley R. McCall.

The Battle of Craney Island was a victory for the United States during the War of 1812. The battle saved the city of Norfolk, and the adjacent city of Portsmouth, from British invasion. Especially important to Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, the region was a major hub for American commerce.

The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (rebuilt and renamed as the CSS Virginia) or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War. The battle was fought over two days, March 8 and 9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade. At least one historian has argued that the Confederacy, rather than trying to break the blockade, was simply trying to take complete control of Hampton Roads in order to protect Norfolk and Richmond.This battle was significant in that it was the first combat between ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia. The Confederate fleet consisted of the ironclad ram Virginia (built from remnants of the burned steam frigate USS Merrimack, newest warship for the United States Navy / Union Navy) and several supporting vessels. On the first day of battle, they were opposed by several conventional, wooden-hulled ships of the Union Navy. On that day, Virginia was able to destroy two ships of the federal flotilla, USS Congress and USS Cumberland, and was about to attack a third, USS Minnesota, which had run aground. However, the action was halted by darkness and falling tide, so Virginia retired to take care of her few wounded—which included her captain, Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan—and repair her minimal battle damage.Determined to complete the destruction of Minnesota, Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan's absence, returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9. During the night, however, the ironclad Monitor had arrived and had taken a position to defend Minnesota. When Virginia approached, Monitor intercepted her. The two ironclads fought for about three hours, with neither able to inflict significant damage on the other. The duel ended indecisively, Virginia returning to her home at the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs and strengthening, and Monitor to her station defending Minnesota. The ships did not fight again, and the blockade remained in place.The battle received worldwide attention, having immediate effects on navies around the world. The preeminent naval powers, Great Britain and France, halted further construction of wooden-hulled ships, and others followed suit. Although Britain and France had been engaged in an iron-clad arms race since the 1830s, the Battle of Hampton Roads signaled a new age of naval warfare had arrived for the whole world. A new type of warship, monitor, was produced on the principle of the original. The use of a small number of very heavy guns, mounted so that they could fire in all directions, was first demonstrated by Monitor but soon became standard in warships of all types. Shipbuilders also incorporated rams into the designs of warship hulls for the rest of the century.

The Elizabeth River is a 6-mile-long (10 km) tidal estuary forming an arm of Hampton Roads harbor at the southern end of Chesapeake Bay in southeast Virginia in the United States. It is located along the southern side of the mouth of the James River, between the cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Chesapeake. Forming the core of the Hampton Roads harbor, it is heavily supported by its tributaries which depend upon it. Through its Southern Branch and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, the Elizabeth River also is a gateway to points to the south for the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, an inland path from the ocean providing a more sheltered navigable waterway to Florida for commercial and recreational boating.

The United States Navy Brig, Norfolk Virginia was one of the United States Navy's detention facilities. It had a capacity to hold 145 prisoners. Notable inmates included Yaser Esam Hamdi, captured in Afghanistan, then transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, who was transferred to Norfolk when it was realized he was an American citizen.The Brig was closed and its prisoners and staff moved to the Consolidated Navy Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia. The Norfolk Brig facility was subsequently demolished.

The Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC), located in Norfolk, Virginia, was established as the Armed Forces Staff College in 1946 and incorporated into the National Defense University in August 1981. It educates and acculturates joint and multinational warfighters to plan and lead at the operational level. Military operations increasingly require the Armed Services to work jointly, and JFSC provides students the tools to operate in a joint environment. JFSC is composed of three schools, each with different student populations and purposes.

The Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel (HRBT) is a 3.5-mile-long (5.6 km) Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 64 (I-64) and US Route 60 (US 60). It is a four-lane facility comprising bridges, trestles, artificial islands, and tunnels under the main shipping channels for Hampton Roads harbor in the southeastern portion of Virginia in the United States. It connects the historic Phoebus area of the independent city of Hampton near Fort Monroe on the Virginia Peninsula with Willoughby Spit in the city of Norfolk in South Hampton Roads and is part of the Hampton Roads Beltway.