- Marinship
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Marinship Corporation Industry Shipbuilding Fate Dissolved Founded 1942 Founder(s) Kenneth K. Bechtel Defunct 1945 Headquarters Sausalito, California, U.S. Products Liberty ships
T2 tankers
Fleet oilersEmployees 20,000 (1945) Parent W.A. Bechtel Company Marinship Corporation was a shipbuilding company of the United States during World War II, created to build the shipping required for the war effort. Founded in 1942, the shipyard built 93 cargo ships and oil tankers, before being wound up in 1945.
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Wartime demand for more ships
In February 1942 a directive from President Roosevelt demanded an increase in shipbuilding: the previous objective of 18 million tons of new shipping during 1942-1943 was raised to 24 million tons, this being 9 million tons in 1942 and 15 million in 1943.[1]
In order to fulfill this seemingly impossible target one of the nation's largest ship builders, W.A. Bechtel Co., realized that that they would require new manufacturing facilities. Much of the San Francisco Bay was already congested with wartime activity, so Bechtel chose to develop a stretch of Marin County's relatively uncluttered shoreline as a new shipbuilding center.[2]
Selection and development of site
On 3 March 1942 Kenneth K. Bechtel of the Bechtel Corporation, working with Marin County residents Harry Allen, Ted Panton, and Fred Boole, selected a stretch of mudflats on the shores of Richardson's Bay to build a shipyard. The site which had been known as "the old Northwestern Pacific Railroad site near Sausalito" was quickly purchased.[2]
The site was located at the north end of Sausalito, California and was just three miles (5 km) north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Six ship launching ways were planned, but the old Northwestern Pacific Railroad repair yard, purchased from Southern Pacific Railroad, and located at the base of Spring Street, was found to have inadequate space to accommodate this need. The loss of some ships in the Pacific by the Navy triggered the emergency need for even more ships by their customer the Maritime Commission. Using this as their legal reason, the new company took government war powers condemnation actions against local property owners, in order to add the additional land they needed to expand the shipyard.
With only two weeks notice, the many residents of Pine Point, a picturesque knoll located along the edge of the bay, were forcibly evicted by 28 March 1942. About 42 homes and buildings were be removed. At least 12 homes avoided demolition by being rapidly moved elsewhere in Sausalito before the rest were razed and Pine Point was dynamited. Records show that an estimated 838,763 cubic yards (641,280 m3) of earth and rock were excavated from Pine Point, Waldo Point and nearby areas. The resulting fill was spread using heavy equipment across the shoreline and tidal mudflats to create new land on which the various buildings of the shipyard were rapidly constructed. Some of these buildings are still in use today, including as the Industrial Center Building (ICB) at 480 Gate Five Road (originally the Yard Office and Mold Loft Building) and the Schoonmaker Building at 10 Libertyship Way (originally the General Shop).
Building the shipyard
To accomplish the rapid construction of the 210-acre (0.85 km2) shipyard, 2,000 workers worked in shifts around the clock. Approximately 26,000 pilings were driven into the bay mud to create the shipways and to support the new warehouses and fabrication workshops. A 300-foot (91 m) wide by 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long deepwater ship channel was dredged in Richardson Bay to allow the newly launched vessels to reach the main portion of San Francisco Bay. Creating this channel required the removal of 3,000,000 cubic yards (2,300,000 m3) of bay mud.
In a related effort, the creation of Marin City, adjacent to the north end of the shipyard and just across Highway 1, was brought about by the need for the rapid construction of guest worker housing. Housing for 6,000 was created in Marin City, along with supporting schools, stores and churches. Workers eager to take advantage of the well-paying wartime jobs, flocked to the West Coast from all over the United States to work at the various shipyards, including Marinship.
Shipbuilding
SS Tomahawk (AO-88) - a type T2-SE-A2 fleet oiler built at Marinship, Sausalito (1943-1944)
After only three months from the onset of construction on the shipyard, the first ship keel was laid for the Liberty ship William A. Richardson on 27 June 1942.[3]
Five Liberty ships had been launched from Marinship by the first anniversary of the declaration of war. The Liberty ship, designed as an "emergency" type cargo ship, was 441 feet (134 m) long and 56 feet (17 m) abeam. President Roosevelt nicknamed them his "ugly ducklings." After 15 Liberty ships were launched at Marinship, the shipyard was retooled to produce the larger T2-SE-A2 tankers, which were 523.5 feet (159.6 m) long, and 68 feet (21 m) abeam. On 16 June 1945, Marinship set a world record by constructing and delivering the tanker SS Huntington Hills in a mere 33 days, with 28 days on the way and 5 days of fitting out after launch. At its peak, 20,000 workers were employed at Marinship. In the 3½ years that Marinship was active, it launched 15 Liberty ships, 16 fleet oilers, and 62 tankers — a total of 93 ships.
The end of the war
After the end of World War II the shipyards were decommissioned almost as rapidly as they had been built, taking with them almost all of the jobs that so many had moved to the Bay Area to take during the war. The area subsequently became home to an enlarged Sausalito houseboat community.
References
- ^ "Project Liberty ship". www.liberty-ship.com. http://www.liberty-ship.com/html/yards/marinship.html. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ a b "ICB HISTORY". www.icbbuilding.com. http://www.icbbuilding.com/frames/history.php. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ "Marinship". shipbuildinghistory.com. http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/marinship.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
See also
External links
- Project Liberty ship
- The T2-SE-A1 Type Tanker
- ICB and Marinship History
- Sausalito, California Official Site
Coordinates: 37°51′47.6″N 122°29′35.8″W / 37.863222°N 122.493278°W
Categories:- Companies based in Marin County, California
- Shipyards of the United States
- Defunct companies based in California
- Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States
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