Fore River Shipyard

The Fore River Shipyard, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from the late 1800s until 1986.

History

Started by Thomas A. Watson in 1884, the shipyard was located on the Weymouth Fore River near East Braintree, Massachusetts. In 1901, the site was moved closer to Quincy, Massachusetts, and currently straddles the town line, part of the Quincy Point neighborhood. By the time that the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904 the company was operated under the direction of former Navy Admiral Francis T. Bowles, who had become the company's President in a late 1903 reorganization, displacing Thomas Watson who assumed the title Chairman of the Board. Watson was pleased with how the yard was operated under Bowles and stepped aside in 1904 thus ending his shipbuilding career. [cite web |url=http://thomascranelibrary.org/shipbuildingheritage/history/historyindex.html |publisher=Thomas Crane Public Library |title=A History of Shipbuilding at Fore River |accessdate=2008-09-03 |author=Rines, Lawrence S. |coauthors=Sarcone, Anthony F.]

In 1913, Bethlehem Steel purchased the yard. It was notable for building many renowned warships and liberty ships during World War II; John J. Kilroy, the apparent originator of the famous "Kilroy was here" graffiti, was a welding inspector at Fore River during the war years.

Fore River changed hands again in 1964, when it was purchased by General Dynamics Corporation. The shipyard became General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division, and General Dynamics invested $23 million to improve the shipyard in order to make it more competitive in the shipbuilding industry. The yard constructed several ships for the US Navy, including nuclear-powered submarines, ammunition ships, replenishment oilers, and dock landing ships. [http://www.hazegray.org/shipbuilding/quincy/fore3.htm HazeGray.org: "Fore River Shipyard Production Record"] ] [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/quincy.htm "Quincy Shipbuilding Division"] ] The shipyard converted to building LNG tankers during its final years, but closed for good in 1986.

In 1994, USS|Salem|CA-139 — the last all-gun heavy cruiser ever built — returned to the Quincy yard, becoming the centerpiece of the United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum. Following several abortive attempts to restart the shipyard as a shipbuilding center, the property was bought by Daniel Quirk, a local auto dealer in 2004, to use as a motor vehicle storage and distribution facility, but is still a port for commuter boats to Boston and Hull run by Harbor Express for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The yard also is used by Jay Cashman, Inc., for heavy construction and marine equipment services, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, as a sewage sludge heat-drying and pelletizing facility and by Quincy Bay Terminal Company, for a short line freight rail service to CSXT South Braintree.

Goliath crane

, including a proposed $60,400 fine. [ [http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=11478 U.S. Department of Labor OSHA News Release] , July 11 2005.]

Notable Ships

Warships

Numerous famous warships were built at the Fore River Shipyard. A partial list is below. The date in parentheses indicates the date the ship was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

Aircraft carriers

*Silverstone(1968)p.38] (1927) Battle of the Coral Sea
*Silverstone(1968)p.42] (1940) Guadalcanal Campaign
* (1943) Battle of the Philippine SeaTillman(2005)pp.301-306] - Philippines campaign (1944-45)
* (1943) Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Battle of Okinawa
* (1943) Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45)
*Silverstone(1968)p.46] (1944) Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Battle of Okinawa - Vietnam War
* (1946) Korean War

Battleships

* (1906)
* (1906)
* (1907)
* (1910)
*Silverstone(1968)p.16] (1916) World War I - Attack on Pearl Harbor - Invasion of Normandy and invasions of Southern France and Okinawa
*Silverstone(1968)p.28] (1942) invasion of North Africa - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - invasion of Okinawa

Cruisers

* (1908)
*Silverstone(1968)p.85] (1924) Attack on Pearl Harbor
* (1923) Attack on Pearl Harbor
*Silverstone(1968)p.67] (1930) Doolittle Raid - Battle of Midway - Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands - Battle of Tassafaronga
*Silverstone(1968)p.71] (1933) Battle of the Coral Sea - Battle of Midway - Battle of the Eastern Solomons - Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands - Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - Battle of Surigao Strait - invasion of Okinawa
* (1936) Battle of Savo Island
* (1937) Doolittle Raid - Battle of Midway - Battle of Savo Island
*Silverstone(1968)p.89] (1941) Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - Battle of the Philippine Sea - invasion of Okinawa
* (1941) Guadalcanal Campaign - Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands - Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Battle of Okinawa
*Silverstone(1968)p.94] (1943) Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Battle of Okinawa
* (1943) Battle of Okinawa
* (1944) Battle of Okinawa
* (1944) Battle of Okinawa - Vietnam War
*Silverstone(1968)p.79] (1942) Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Battle of Okinawa
* (1942) Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Vietnam War
* (1943) Battle of the Philippine Sea - Vietnam War
* (1943) Invasion of Normandy and invasion of Southern France
[
Baltimore class cruiser providing gunfire support for ground forces.]
* (1944) Battle of Okinawa
* (1944) World War II - Korean War - Vietnam War
* (1944)
* (1945) Korean War
* (1944) Vietnam War
* (1946) Korean War
* (1945)
* (1945)
* (1945) Korean War
*Silverstone(1968)p.82] (1946)
* (1949)
* (1953)
* (1961) Vietnam War

Destroyers

* (1909)
* (1910)
* (1911)
* (1913)
* (1915)
* (1916)
* (1916)
* (1916)
* (1918)Fahey(1941)pp.16-17] World War I - Guadalcanal campaign
* (1918) World War I
* (1918) World War I - Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1918) World War I - Guadalcanal campaign
* (1918) World War I - Guadalcanal campaign - Battle of the Philippine Sea - Battle of Okinawa
* (1918) World War I
* (1918) World War I - Guadalcanal campaign
* (1918) World War I
* (1918) World War I
* (1918) World War I
* (1918)
* (1918)
* (1918) World War I
* (1918)
* (1918)
* (1918)
* (1919) invasion of North Africa - Philippines campaign (1944-45)
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919)
* (1919) Guadalcanal campaign - Philippines campaign (1944-45) - Battle of Okinawa
* (1919)
* (1919)
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Philippines campaign (1944-45)
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) World War II
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
* (1919)
* (1919) Battle of Okinawa
*Silverstone(1968)p.112] (1934) Attack on Pearl Harbor - Battle of the Coral Sea - Battle of the Eastern Solomons - Battle of the Philippine Sea
*Silverstone(1968)p.114] (1935) Attack on Pearl Harbor - Battle of the Coral Sea - Battle of Midway
* (1935) World War II
* (1935) World War II
* (1936) Doolittle Raid - Battle of Midway - Guadalcanal campaign
*Silverstone(1968)p.124] (1936) Guadalcanal campaign - Battle of the Philippine Sea - Philippines campaign (1944-45)
* (1937) Battle of Vella Gulf - Battle of the Philippine Sea
*Silverstone(1968)p.126] (1939) invasions of Sicily, Italy and Southern France
* (1940) invasion of Italy
*Silverstone(1968)p.129] (1941) World War II
* (1942) Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands - Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
* (1942) invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Southern France
* (1942) invasion of Sicily
* (1942) invasions of Sicily and Southern France
* (1942) invasions of Sicily and Southern France
*Silverstone(1968)p.152] (1945) Korean War
* (1945) Korean War - Vietnam War
* (1946) Korean War - Vietnam War
* (1946)

ubmarines

* First five Imperial Japanese Navy submarines, known as the Holland Type VII's, built (in relative secrecy) at Fore River in 1904. These submarines were the first to be built at Fore River for the Electric Boat Company under the supervision of naval architect Arthur Leopold Busch. Fact|date=July 2008 Lawrence York Spear took over EB's operations at Fore River while Busch was in Japan - prior to the launching of the USS "Viper" (SS-10)] .
* USS "Viper" (SS-10) (1907)
* USS "Cuttlefish" (SS-11) (1907)
* USS "Tarantula" (SS-12) (1907)
* USS "Octopus" (SS-9) (1906)
* USS "Stingray" (SS-13) (1909)
* USS "Tarpon" (SS-14) (1909)
* USS "Bonita" (SS-15) (1909)
* USS "Snapper" (SS-16) (1909)
* First Spanish submarine "Isaac Peral" (A-0) (1916)

O class

* USS "O-3" (SS-64)Silverstone(1968)p.179] (1917)
* USS "O-4" (SS-65) (1917)
* USS "O-5" (SS-66) (1917)
* USS "O-6" (SS-67) (1917)
* USS "O-7" (SS-68) (1917)
* USS "O-8" (SS-69) (1917)
* USS "O-9" (SS-70) (1918)
* USS "O-10" (SS-71) (1918)

R class

* USS "R-1" (SS-78) (1918)
* USS "R-2" (SS-79) (1918)
* USS "R-3" (SS-80) (1918)
* USS "R-4" (SS-81) (1918)
* USS "R-5" (SS-82) (1918)
* USS "R-6" (SS-83) (1919)
* USS "R-7" (SS-84) (1919)
* USS "R-8" (SS-85) (1919)
* USS "R-9" (SS-86) (1919)
* USS "R-10" (SS-87) (1919)
* USS "R-11" (SS-88) (1919)
* USS "R-12" (SS-89) (1919)
* USS "R-13" (SS-90) (1919)
* USS "R-14" (SS-91) (1919)

class

* USS "S-1" (SS-105)Silverstone(1968)p.180] (1918)
* USS "S-18" (SS-123) (1918) 8 World War II Pacific patrolsBlair(1975)pp.875-957]
* USS "S-19" (SS-124) (1920)
* USS "S-20" (SS-125) (1920)
* USS "S-21" (SS-126) (1920)
* USS "S-22" (SS-127) (1920)
* USS "S-23" (SS-128) (1920) 7 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-24" (SS-129) (1922)
* USS "S-25" (SS-130) (1922)
* USS "S-26" (SS-131) (1922)
* USS "S-27" (SS-132) (1922) 1 World War II Pacific patrol
* USS "S-28" (SS-133) (1922) sank 1 ship in 7 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-29" (SS-134) (1922)
* USS "S-42" (SS-153)Silverstone(1968)p.183] (1923) sank 1 ship in 6 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-43" (SS-154) (1923) 3 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-44" (SS-155) (1923) sank 3 ships in 5 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-45" (SS-156) (1923) 4 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-46" (SS-157) (1923) 5 World War II Pacific patrols
* USS "S-47" (SS-158) (1924) 7 World War II Pacific patrols

Other ships

* "Thomas W. Lawson", a seven-masted, steel-hull schooner, the only ship of her kind ever built.
* "William L. Douglas", a six-masted, steel-hull collier
* and SS|Independence|3=2, sister transatlantic liners built for American Export Lines.
* Sankaty (steamboat), a propeller-driven steamer that served as a ferry to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and as a Canadian minelayer during World War II.

Reading list

*Palmer, David. "Organizing the Shipyards: Union Strategy in Three Northeast Ports, 1933-1945". Cornell University Press 1998. ISBN 978-0801427343
*Drummond, Dave. "The Shipyard: Will It Float?". iUniverse 2003. ISBN 978-0595275328

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/quincy.htm GlobalSecurity.org website] Page focusing on facts surrounding Fore River Ship and Engine Company/General Dynamics Shipbuilding Division in Quincy MA
* [http://thomascranelibrary.org/shipbuildingheritage/history/historyindex.html History of Shipbuilding at Fore River] Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy MA
* [http://thomascranelibrary.org/shipbuildingheritage/theplant/theplantindex.html "The plant of the Fore River Ship & Engine Company",1902 article] Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy MA
* [http://thomascranelibrary.org/shipbuildingheritage/ Quincy's Shipbuilding Heritage] Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy MA
* [http://www.uss-salem.org/ United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum] Official site
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNKN9J-FMhM&feature=related Goliath Video] YouTube amateur video of the Goliath crane and surroundings, including views inside the structure and panoramic views of the former shipyard, Quincy Bay, Weymouth Fore River and Quincy from atop the crane. Posted on YouTube 24 February 2008.

Notes

References

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