On February 25, 1799, Congress approved an appropriation of $1,000,000 to build six large warships, creating a permanent Navy Department and to select and purchase grounds for six navy yards located in New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, Portsmouth, N.H., Norfolk, VA., and in Washington, D.C. The Washington Navy Yard was established on 2 October 1799, the date the original block of property was transferred to the Navy. It was built under the direction of Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy, under the supervision of the yard’s first commandant, Thomas Tingey. The main gate was designed by its namesake, neoclassical architect Benjamin Latrobe, who in 1804 became the Chief Engineer for the Navy. From its first years, the Washington Navy Yard became the navy’s largest shipbuilding and shipfitting facility, with 22 vessels constructed there, ranging from small 70-foot (2 gunboats to the 246-foot steam frigate USS Minnesota. The USS Constitution came to the Yard in 1812 to refit and prepare for combat action. rochestermilitary.com