Editing Norfolk Naval Shipyard (section)

===American control===
In 1794, [[United States Congress]] passed "An Act to Provide a Naval Armament," allowing the Federal Government to lease the Gosport Shipyard from Virginia. In 1799 the [[keel]] of {{USS|Chesapeake|1799|6}}, one of the first six [[Sailing frigate|frigates]] authorized by Congress, was laid, making her the first ship built in Gosport for the [[U.S. Navy]].{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

The federal government purchased the shipyard from Virginia in 1801 for $12,000. This tract of land measured {{convert|16|acre|m2}} and now makes up the northeastern corner of the current shipyard. In 1827, construction began on the first of what would be the first two [[dry dock]]s in the United States. The first one was completed three weeks ahead of similar projects in both [[Boston]] and South America, making it the first functional dry dock in the Americas. [[Drydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Dry Dock One]], as it is referred to today, is still operational and is listed as historical landmark in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]]. [[Quarters A, B, and C, Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Officer's Quarters A, B, and C]] were built about 1837. Additional land on the eastern side of the Elizabeth River was purchased in 1845.{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

[[File:Regulations for Gosport Navy Yard 1800 written by Josiah Fox.jpg|thumb|These regulations for the operation of the Gosport [Norfolk] Navy Yard were composed by [[Josiah Fox]], Navy Constructor and Superintendent Gosport Navy Yard 1800]]

The shipyard and neighboring towns suffered from a severe [[yellow fever]] epidemic in 1855, which killed about a quarter of the population, including [[James Chisholm (priest)|James Chisholm]], whose account was published shortly after his death in the epidemic.<ref>''The United States Navy's Response to the 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic'', National Museum of the United States Navy, https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/nmusn/Pamphlets/usn-response-1855-flu-epidemic/United%20States%20Navy%20Response%20to%20the%201855%20Yellow%20Fever.pdf</ref>[[File:Norfolk Navy Yard, station log entries, 19 -20 August 1850.jpg|thumb|United States Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, station log, entries,19-20 August 1850.The Log provided a record of weather data, daily work assignments for white and black employees, naval and commercial vessels entering and departing shipyard. Black employees during the antebellum era were often enslaved laborers.]]