The
Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the
U.S. west coastThe "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
industrialist
Henry J. KaiserHenry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel...
, who established the
shipbuildingShipbuilding is the construction of ships. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history....
company around 1939 in order to help meet the construction goals set by the
United States Maritime CommissionThe United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the US Federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936 and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I...
for merchant shipping.
Four of the Kaiser Shipyards were located in
Richmond, CaliforniaRichmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
in the
San Francisco Bay AreaThe San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Yay Area, is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and...
(see
Richmond ShipyardsThe four Richmond Shipyards, located in the city of Richmond, California, United States, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the Kaiser Shipyards, and were responsible for constructing more ships during World War II than any other shipyard in the country. The shipyards are part of the Rosie...
). Together, these four Kaiser Shipyards produced 747 ships (including many of the famous
Liberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s and
Victory shipThe Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines...
s), more than any other complex in the United States.
The
Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the
U.S. west coastThe "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
industrialist
Henry J. KaiserHenry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel...
, who established the
shipbuildingShipbuilding is the construction of ships. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history....
company around 1939 in order to help meet the construction goals set by the
United States Maritime CommissionThe United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the US Federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936 and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I...
for merchant shipping.
Four of the Kaiser Shipyards were located in
Richmond, CaliforniaRichmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
in the
San Francisco Bay AreaThe San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Yay Area, is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and...
(see
Richmond ShipyardsThe four Richmond Shipyards, located in the city of Richmond, California, United States, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the Kaiser Shipyards, and were responsible for constructing more ships during World War II than any other shipyard in the country. The shipyards are part of the Rosie...
). Together, these four Kaiser Shipyards produced 747 ships (including many of the famous
Liberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s and
Victory shipThe Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines...
s), more than any other complex in the United States. Only one of these ships, the
Red Oak VictorySS Red Oak Victory is a World War II Victory ship preserved as a museum ship in Richmond, California. It was one of 534 Victories built during World War II, but one of only a few of these ships to be transferred from the Merchant Marine to the United States Navy. It was named after Red Oak, Iowa,...
, survives. Kaiser also produced the s.
The other three shipyards were located across the
Columbia RiverThe Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
from each other at Ryan Point in
Vancouver, WashingtonVancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Clark County. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's estimate in April of 2008, the city has a population of 162,400, making it the fourth largest city in...
, and at Swan Island in
Portland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
(
Oregon Shipbuilding CorporationOregon Shipbuilding Corporation was a World War II emergency shipyard located in Portland, Oregon, United States, that built over 1000 Liberty and Victory ships between 1941 and 1945...
).
Kaiser was known for developing new methods of ship building, which allowed his yards to outproduce other similar facilities and build 1,490 ships, 27 percent of the total Maritime Commission construction. Kaiser's ships were completed in two-thirds the time and a quarter the cost of the average of all other shipyards. Liberty ships were typically assembled in a little over two weeks.
Kaiser Shipyards shut down at the end of the war. The
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical ParkRosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park is located in Richmond, California, near San Francisco. The park encompasses an array of historic properties in the city which were constructed during the 1940s to support America's entry into World War II.The park is a "partnership...
was dedicated October 25, 2000 on the site of one of the shipyards in Richmond.
History
Henry Kaiser had been building cargo ships for the Maritime Commission in the 1930s, partnering with
Todd Pacific ShipyardsTodd Pacific Shipyards Corporation was founded in 1916 as the William H. Todd Corporation through the merger of Robins Dry Dock & Repair Company of Erie Basin, Brooklyn, New York, the Tietjen & Long Dry Dock Company of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Company...
and the
Bath Iron WorksBath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
. When orders for ships from the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
government, already at war with
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, allowed for growth, Kaiser established his first Richmond shipyard begun in December 1940.
In April 1941 the Maritime Commission requested an additional Kaiser yard, to be used for
Liberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
construction, and after the
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
, Kaiser started third and fourth yards, building troop transports and
LSTLanding Ship, Tank was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore....
s, respectively.
Other details
- Kaiser set several records:
- The Liberty Ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
SS Robert E. PearySS Robert E. Peary was the Liberty ship which was built in the shortest time. Named after an American arctic explorer, she was launched just 4 days and 15 hours and 29 minutes after the keel was laid as a publicity stunt at a time when most ships of this type took around two months.She was built at...
was assembled in less than five days as a part of a special competition among shipyards.
- At the Oregon Shipbuilding Yard on the Columbia River, near Portland, the SS Joseph N. Teal was built in ten days in fall 1942.
- The Oregon Shipbuilding Yards were responsible for 455 ships.
- Kaiser recruited from across the United States to work in his yards, hiring women and minorities.
See also
- Shipyard Railway
The Shipyard Railway was an electric railroad line, rapidly constructed during World War II to transport workers to and from the Kaiser Shipyards located in the city of Richmond, California....
, which transported workers to the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California
- Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
, also founded by Henry J. KaiserHenry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel...
- Vanport, Oregon
Vanport City was a hastily constructed city of public housing located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States, between the contemporary Portland city boundary and the Columbia River. It is currently the site of Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway.It was constructed in 1943 to house...
External links