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1999 SESSION

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995029368
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 486 Offered January 13, 1999 Prefiled January 4, 1999 Memorializing the United States Postal Service to issue a stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of the United States naval shipyards. ---------- Patron-- Moss ---------- Referred to Committee on Rules ----------

WHEREAS, following the creation of the Department of the Navy on April 30, 1798, Benjamin Stoddard, the first Secretary of the Navy, directed that efforts be made to obtain sites for government shipyards; and

WHEREAS, the first site purchased, on June 12, 1800, was an existing shipyard on the west bank of the Elizabeth River, known at the time as the Gosport Shipyard; and

WHEREAS, what became the Navy’s largest and oldest shipyard, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, actually predates the Navy by 31 years, serving as a colonial shipyard since its founding in 1767; and

WHEREAS, in the two centuries since its establishment as a naval facility, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, which is located in the City of Portsmouth, has been a central player in the history of the U.S. Navy; and

WHEREAS, the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) was repaired at Norfolk, and her sister ship, the USS Constellation, was built there; and

WHEREAS, Norfolk Naval Shipyard was the site of the first drydock in the western hemisphere and was the yard in which the CSS Merrimack was converted into the ironclad CSS Virginia; and

WHEREAS, the nation’s first battleship (the USS Texas) and first aircraft carrier (the USS Langley) were built at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard; and

WHEREAS, as vital parts of the nationwide naval shipyard system for 200 years, Norfolk Naval Shipyard and its thousands of workers have played an essential role in keeping the Navy strong and the United States free; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly memorialize the United States Postal Service to issue a postage stamp commemorating the bicentennial of the United States naval shipyards; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the United States Postmaster General, the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service, and the members of the Virginia congressional delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia.