Portsmouth

Portsmouth, independent city and port, southeastern Virginia, U.S. It lies on the south shore of the Elizabeth River, opposite the city of Norfolk (connected by two bridges). The Elizabeth River flows into Hampton Roads and forms part of a fine natural harbour there. Portsmouth was the seat of Norfolk county from 1803; the county ceased to exist in 1963, when it was divided into independent cities.

The land was first granted in 1659 to Captain William Carver, but his execution during Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) delayed the town’s establishment. The area was later granted to Colonel William Crawford, then justice of Norfolk county, who founded it in 1752 and named it for Portsmouth, England. The town was occupied alternately by British and American troops during the American Revolution. A shipyard, built in 1767 by Andrew Sprowle, a wealthy Scottish merchant, was reestablished in 1801 as the Norfolk Navy Yard by the U.S. government. In 1861, at the beginning of the American Civil War, Union troops evacuated the navy yard and burned it. The South fell heir to great stores of equipment there and built the Confederate ironclad Virginia from the hull of the scuttled USS Merrimack. The yard was recaptured by Union troops in 1862. In response to American needs in the war against Spain in 1898, the navy yard converted to using steel and steam for shipbuilding. It subsequently produced the USS Texas, the navy’s first commissioned battleship, and the USS Langley, the navy’s first aircraft carrier.

Portsmouth forms part of the important U.S. military complex at Hampton Roads. Shipbuilding and repairing in the port’s navy yard, officially called the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, are the main economic activities. The city has varied manufactures, including chemicals, fertilizers, plastics, and railroad equipment, and Tidewater Community College (1968) is located there. Naval relics are displayed in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. The Portsmouth Naval Hospital (1830) is near the site of old Fort Nelson (a former British stronghold). Many colonial buildings have survived in the city, including Trinity Church (1762; Episcopal) and Monumental United Church (1772; Methodist). Inc. town, 1752; city, 1858. Pop. (2000) 100,565; (2010) 95,535.