USS Dale (DD-5) in Richmond, VA

“At first the idea of building warships at this city was received with skepticism not to say ridicule, especially by the seashore cities," wrote the Richmond Dispatch in 1901. But Richmond, Virginia-native and industrialist William R. Trigg was out to prove the "seashore cities" wrong. Trigg set up the William R. Trigg Company on the James River in 1898. Shown here is the Torpedo Boat Destroyer Number 5, USS Dale, near completion by Trigg's workers. We are currently working on a Daybook article about the life and death of an ambitious attempt to build U.S. Naval warships hundreds of miles inland from the ocean.