All About Bremerton

The shipyard that basically built Bremerton (and still runs it)

Here’s something worth knowing about the city most people drive past on their way somewhere else: Bremerton didn’t just get a naval shipyard. The shipyard is why Bremerton exists.

Back in 1891, two businessmen — William Bremer and Henry Hensel — spotted a Navy lieutenant named Wyckoff trying to buy land on Sinclair Inlet for a repair facility. The Navy had a budget of $50 an acre. Locals were asking $200. So Bremer and Hensel bought the land at the inflated price, sold some of it to the Navy at $50, and convinced neighboring landowners to do the same. They took a loss on the land deal and made it back on everything else — because now there was a town, and they owned a lot of it. Bremerton was literally named after the guy who helped sell the Navy its own dirt.

The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard started as a dry-dock and repair facility — the first in the Northwest capable of handling large ships. It nearly died in its first decade when Navy leadership decided Puget Sound was a poor location and wanted it moved. It survived anyway, which is very on-brand for Bremerton.

By World War II it was absolutely indispensable. After Pearl Harbor, five of the six surviving battleships were sent to Bremerton for repairs. During the war, over 30,000 shipyard workers were running 24-hour shifts, with 35 ferry trips a day bringing workers over from Seattle. That’s not a footnote in history — that’s a major operation keeping the Pacific Fleet alive.

The shipyard’s identity kept evolving with the Navy itself: battleship era, it was the battleship yard. Carrier era, it became the carrier yard. Nuclear era, it became the nuclear shipyard. It’s been the largest employer in Kitsap County for most of its existence — and it’s still the only facility in the United States certified to recycle nuclear-powered ships.

Oh, and that big green hammerhead crane you can see from the water? Built in 1933, 250 feet tall, retired in 1996 — still standing. It’s basically Bremerton’s skyline.

So next time someone asks what Bremerton is “about” — it’s about a Navy lieutenant spending $9,500 on 190 acres of shoreline and accidentally building a city.

Sources:

• HistoryLink.org — Puget Sound Naval Shipyard • Wikipedia — Puget Sound Naval Shipyard • U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, February 1982 • Basewatch / Evergreen State College 

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