Birthplace of USS New Jersey Saved by Shale Production
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The shale boom and the Jones Act are saving shipbuilding at the 213-year-old Philadelphia Navy Yard.
On a part of the grounds now operated by Aker ASA, workers apply a coat of gray paint to the deck of a new 800,000-barrel oil tanker in one dock. The hull of another tanker sits in the adjacent berth. Blue sparks fly from welding torches in the warehouse-sized shop where workers assemble sections known as grand blocks. Blue-green sheets of steel that will make up the skeleton of future ships are piled throughout the yard.