NEWPORT NEWS, Va.—On a bright, frigid Saturday morning earlier this month, a crowd gathered at the gaping entrance to a 120-foot-high facility here to watch a pioneer of the civil-rights era christen the nuclear submarine USS Arkansas by smashing a bottle of wine near its bow.
Milling around beneath the massive black submarine were workers who build and refurbish warships, like Joshua Powell, an 18-year-old machinist. Powell had dropped out of college when he concluded pushing paper around wasn’t for him, and joined the shipyard where his father and brother work.
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“I wanted to be a part of something great, something big,” he said. “It’s hands-on. I can feel it physically, instead of mentally.” He is hoping to apprentice and pick up additional trades and, eventually, become foreman or superintendent.
The problem: There aren’t enough Joshua Powells. The Navy wants more ships, but shipyards face dire shortages of labor amid rising pay for less demanding fields…