NNS and Global Share Milestones

This year marks the 130th year of shipbuilding for Newport News. Collis P. Huntingdon, founded the shipyard with the intention of building and repairing steamships, vessels and boats in a place that he fell in love with in his youth, Newport News, Virginia. The yard completed construction of its first vessel, a tugboat named Dorothy, in 1891.

Over the next 130 years, Newport News has built over 800 ships, both naval and commercial. They have seen continuous success and have been steadfast in their mission to adopt the most up-to-date technologies to ensure their ships are the best in the world.

At Global/SFC Valve and Custom Hydraulic, we have been fortunate to share in a piece of this history by supplying valves, accumulators, fittings, hose reels, unrep equipment and various other vital components to be installed aboard many of the vessels built by Newport News Shipbuilding.

As we consider our contributions to this history, we take a look back at our own impressive and proud history here at Global, Inc.

Our founders, Joe and Jean Kirst, who were married on May 6, 1949, first began providing manufactured goods to the government over 30 years ago. On May 6th 1986, SFC Valve Corporation officially became the owner of Southern Fluid Controls and began to manufacture Level 1 valves. In 2007, Global purchased Custom Hydraulic to combine our missions of manufacturing nuclear flanges and fittings to the Navy and shipbuilders.

In the past 30 years, we have seen our products—ones that have been in our hands, in our thoughts and in our daily lives, make their way onto hundreds of Naval vessels. Our dedication to quality and process improvements ensure that the products we supply will meet the needs of our ultimate customer—our servicemen and women.

We are proud of these products, our employees, and we are proud to be a vital supplier to Newport News and other shipbuilders.

Nichole Sheets