FOUR FLAGS CHAPTER, NSDAR, so named by our chapter’s founders for the four flags that flew over the entrance of what is now the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

On November 1, 1767, Gosport Shipyard was founded by Andrew Sprowle. In 1775, at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Sprowle stayed loyal to the Crown and fled Virginia, which confiscated all of his properties, including the shipyard. The shipyard was operating in 1779 by the newly formed Commonwealth of Virginia when it was burned by British troops.

In 1794, United States Congress passed “An Act to Provide Naval Armament” which allowed the federal government to lease the Gosport Shipyard from Virginia. In 1799, the keel of USS Chesapeake, one of the first six frigates authorized by Congress, was laid, making her the first ship built in Gosport for the U.S. Navy. The shipyard changed hands only once during the American Civil War and was destroyed again in 1862. It was rebuilt and given its current name, Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

Originally, four flags flew at the shipyard’s entrance to represent the four flags flown over the shipyard gates during its 253-year history; the British flag, Virginia state flag, Confederate flag, and the United States flag. The flags represented progress in shipbuilding, repair, and defense of our country. Today, there are still four flagpoles at the entrance of the shipyard, each flying the flag of the United States of America. The stars and stripes of our country’s flag represent the statement “We are America’s Shipyard! United we stand under one flag.”

In naming our chapter “Four Flags,” we honor those who fought not only in the American Revolutionary War, but in every conflict since then. We also honor the men and women, many of them former military, who serve again in civilian life, maintaining our ships in readiness, to keep our country safe and prepared, as we are truly Americans who stand under one flag.