Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Little Piece of German Heritage

Courtesy Photo | German Sailors show off the village they built on Norfolk Navy Yard to the community. Photo Courtesy of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum Collection.  

PORTSMOUTH, VA, UNITED STATES

10.05.2021

Story by Troy Miller 

Norfolk Naval Shipyard

Then President Ronald Reagan made a proclamation in Oct. 1983, designating Oct. 6 as German-American Day in honor of the first German immigrants who established Germantown, Pa., Oct. 6, 1683, now part of Philadelphia. This is a time for cities with a large German-American population, such as Cincinnati, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisc.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and St. Louis, Mo., to name a few, to celebrate their German heritage.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) has a little German heritage as well. When the Great War, also known as World War I, broke out in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress stating that the U.S. would remain neutral.

Meanwhile, Germany ordered its civilian ship crews to become pirates and loot allied merchant ships of their coal and supplies before sinking them. Two of these German ships were the Kronprinz Wihelm and the Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Upscale passengers considered these ships two the country’s finest luxury liners due to their speed and amenities.

After spending several months at sea without seeing a port call, the ships became in disrepair. The ships’ options were limited due to the nature of their mission. Most ports would not accept them. However, due to the United States’ neutrality, they were able to pull into Newport News Shipbuilding for much needed repairs. Due to legalities, the ships were not allowed to stay at Newport News Shipbuilding after the repairs were over; at this time, the two German vessels moved to NNSY, then known as the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Due to the British Fleet nearby, the ships were unable to make it back to Germany. The two captains, as unhappy as they were, decided to have the two vessels interned at NNSY which meant sitting out for the rest of the war.

Approximately 1,000 German Sailors were allowed to freely take leave and socialize with the people of Portsmouth. It wasn’t long before the German Sailors made national news. They were hosted by politicians, local officials and enjoyed time at the local beaches and attractions.

Some Sailors were not happy with the idea of sitting out the rest of the war. Therefore, there were several attempts to escape. One such escape was when six German officers purchased a yacht, the Eclipse, for “recreational” use. On the morning of Oct. 9, 1915, the Eclipse left Hampton Roads in plain sight, never to be seen or heard from again.

Due to the Eclipse escape and the German U-boat attacks and sinkings that claimed many American lives, the U.S. then confined the German Sailors to their ships and the immediate shoreline. The German Sailors decided to take a creative route to deal with their restrictions. They gathered scrap material and built themselves a small “German village” on the shipyard waterfront near the area of Dry Dock 4.

The German Village consisted of several small houses complete with window curtains and picket fences. They built a church, vegetable and flower gardens as well as tended to various animals that they had claimed from the ships they sunk in the past. There was never a shortage of fresh eggs.

By 1917, the U.S. could no longer remain neutral during the war. On April 6, the U.S. joined the war efforts, at which time the German Sailors became prisoners of war and sent to Fort McPherson near Atlanta, Ga. The Kronprinz Wihelm and the Prinz Eitel Friedrich were sent to Philadelphia Navy Yard to be converted into troop and supply ships.

The German Village was torn down because space was needed to support the war efforts. Dry Dock 4 was built in its place becoming one of the most complex concrete construction at the shipyard up to that point in time.

Although stories and photos of the German Village are the only things that remain in existence, it is those stories and photos that will remind future generations about a rare moment in the shipyard’s 250-plus year history when a German village was constructed at NNSY before the U.S.’s involvement in “the war to end all wars.”

Editor’s Note: Information for this article was garnered from NNSY’s Command Historian and Archivist Marcus W. Robbins and Portsmouth’s German Village: When Old World Europe Came to the Navy Yard written by Portsmouth Museums’ Curator of History Diane Cripps.

• Date Taken: 10.05.2021
• Date Posted: 10.06.2021 07:36
• Story ID: 406818
• Location: PORTSMOUTH, VA, US