https://riverheadlocal.com/2025/05/30/navy-seeks-interviews-with-former-employees-at-grumman-facility-in-calverton/
Navy seeks interviews with former employees at Grumman facility in Calverton
Northrop Grumman buildings at the Enterprise Park at Calverton. RiverheadLOCAL/Denise Civiletti
By
May 30, 2025, 5:04 pm
The U.S. Navy is requesting interviews with former employees, or their surviving family members, who worked at the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Calverton, New York between 1954 and 1996.
“Your firsthand experience is vital to supporting our ongoing environmental cleanup efforts at the site,” the Navy said in a press release.
The Navy said it is particularly interested in employees’ knowledge of:
- Past operations and activities
- Waste management practices
- Building utilization
- Grounds maintenance
- Aircraft fabrication practices on site
- Any other relevant information, both on- and off-property.
The Navy owned the property in Calverton and contracted with the Grumman Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace and Northrop Grumman, which manufactured and tested fighter jets and other military equipment at the plant.
The Navy built manufacturing plants and ancillary buildings, roadways, runways, a control tower and other infrastructure including a sewage treatment plant and wells.
Grumman, which employed 23,000 Long Islanders at its peaking 1986, employed more than 3,000 people at the Calverton plant.
The Navy has been conducting environmental remediation at the site since Grumman vacated the premises in 1996. It conveyed most of the 2,900 acres inside the facility to the Town of Riverhead Community Development Agency in September 1998.
Th Navy decided to seek interviews with former employees to aid in its environmental restoration efforts at the suggestion of community residents, including members of the Calverton Restoration Advisory Board.
Participation is completely voluntary, and all information shared during the interviews will be kept confidential, the Navy said in the press release. Former employees’ insights will help to ensure a thorough and effective environmental restoration of the property, the Navy said.
Any former employee at Grumman’s Calverton facility interested in participating in an interview or learn more, is asked to email NAVFAC_ML_PAO_ALL@us.navy.mil or call (800) 906-9339.
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Denise is a veteran local reporter, editor and attorney. Her work has been recognized with numerous journalism awards, including investigative reporting and writer of the year awards from the N.Y. Press Association. She was also honored in 2020 with a NY State Senate Woman of Distinction Award for her trailblazing work in local online news. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website. Email Denise.
R.M.P Marotta Long Island 
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