A ‘Wartime Factory’ in Brooklyn Is Fighting Coronavirus

During World War II, so many New Yorkers flocked to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to build warships that it was nicknamed the Can-Do Shipyard.

In recent years, it has become a hub of independently owned and innovative manufacturers that include artisanal distillers and industrial metal fabricators.

But with the coronavirus ravaging New York City, the old Navy Yard — one of few large manufacturing centers remaining in the city — is again pitching in during a national crisis as a hub for fighting the pandemic, producing desperately needed medical supplies, such as face shields, hand sanitizer and hospital gowns.