New York Shipbuilding
Encyclopedia
The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was founded in 1899 and opened its first shipyard in 1900. Located in Camden
, New Jersey
on the east shore of the Delaware River
, New York Ship built more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine
, the United States Coast Guard
, and other maritime concerns.
New York Ship's unusual covered ways produced everything from aircraft carrier
s, battleship
s, and luxury liners
to barge
s and car floats
. At its peak during World War II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the world. Its best-known vessels include the destroyer , the cruiser , the aircraft carrier , the nuclear-powered cargo ship NS Savannah
, and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the Four Aces.
During World War I
, New York Ship expanded rapidly to fill orders from the U.S. Navy and the Emergency Fleet Corporation. A critical shortage of worker housing led to the construction of Yorkship Village
, a planned community of 1000 brick homes designed by Electus Darwin Litchfield and financed by the War Department
. Yorkship Village is now the Fairview section of the City of Camden.
New York Ship's World War II
production included all nine light carriers (CVL), built on light cruiser hulls; the 35,000-ton battleship
; and 98 LCTs (Landing Craft, Tank), many of which took part in the D-Day landings at Normandy.
After World War II, a much-diminished New York Ship subsisted on a trickle of contracts from the United States Maritime Administration and the U.S. Navy. The yard launched its last civilian vessel in 1960, and its last naval vessel ordered in 1967. The former yard's site is now part of the Port of Camden, handling breakbulk cargo.
The last completed submarine to be delivered to the U.S. Navy was and was commissioned December 1967. Although USS Camden was the last ship ordered, Guardfish had been ordered years before, but construction was halted from 1963 to 1965 because of the loss of the . was under construction, and towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding
in Pascagoula, MS in 1968 for completion, and NYS went bankrupt due to lack of orders from the Navy. This was in part due to the shipyard's substantial contributions to the Nixon campaign for president, and orders dried up with New York Ship soon after Kennedy was elected.
Submarines built here had the most perfectly round hulls ever produced (Thresher Class) because of the largest steel rollers used in the construction of the pressure hulls using HY-80 steel.
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fast attack submarine (nuclear)
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Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
on the east shore of the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, New York Ship built more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
, the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
, and other maritime concerns.
New York Ship's unusual covered ways produced everything from aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s, battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s, and luxury liners
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
to barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s and car floats
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
. At its peak during World War II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the world. Its best-known vessels include the destroyer , the cruiser , the aircraft carrier , the nuclear-powered cargo ship NS Savannah
NS Savannah
NS Savannah, named for SS Savannah, was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million, including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core, funded by United States government agencies as a demonstration project for the potential...
, and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the Four Aces.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, New York Ship expanded rapidly to fill orders from the U.S. Navy and the Emergency Fleet Corporation. A critical shortage of worker housing led to the construction of Yorkship Village
Yorkship Village
Yorkship Village was a Federally funded World War I planned community of approximately 1000 homes located near New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey, and intended to provide housing for the shipyard's workers and their families...
, a planned community of 1000 brick homes designed by Electus Darwin Litchfield and financed by the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
. Yorkship Village is now the Fairview section of the City of Camden.
New York Ship's World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
production included all nine light carriers (CVL), built on light cruiser hulls; the 35,000-ton battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
; and 98 LCTs (Landing Craft, Tank), many of which took part in the D-Day landings at Normandy.
After World War II, a much-diminished New York Ship subsisted on a trickle of contracts from the United States Maritime Administration and the U.S. Navy. The yard launched its last civilian vessel in 1960, and its last naval vessel ordered in 1967. The former yard's site is now part of the Port of Camden, handling breakbulk cargo.
The last completed submarine to be delivered to the U.S. Navy was and was commissioned December 1967. Although USS Camden was the last ship ordered, Guardfish had been ordered years before, but construction was halted from 1963 to 1965 because of the loss of the . was under construction, and towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries...
in Pascagoula, MS in 1968 for completion, and NYS went bankrupt due to lack of orders from the Navy. This was in part due to the shipyard's substantial contributions to the Nixon campaign for president, and orders dried up with New York Ship soon after Kennedy was elected.
Submarines built here had the most perfectly round hulls ever produced (Thresher Class) because of the largest steel rollers used in the construction of the pressure hulls using HY-80 steel.
Ships built
Ships built by New York Ship include:- Oil tankerOil tankerAn oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
s- GulflightGulflightThe American 5,189 ton tanker Gulflight, was built by the New York Shipbuilding Co. of Camden, New Jersey for the Gulf Refining Company . It was launched on 8 August 1914. The ship became famous when it was torpedoed early in World War I and became the center of a diplomatic incident which moved...
launched 1914. Center of a diplomatic incident when torpedoed in WWI.
- Gulflight
-
- , launched 21 May 1960
-
- , launched 7 April 1925
- South Dakota–classSouth Dakota class battleship (1939)The South Dakota-class was a group of four fast battleships built by the United States Navy. They were the second class of battleships to be named after the 40th State; the first class was designed in the 1920s and canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The class comprised four...
battleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
}
- Alaska-classAlaska class cruiserThe Alaska-class cruisers were a class of six very large cruisers ordered prior to World War II for the United States Navy. Although often called battlecruisers, officially the Navy classed them as Large Cruisers . Their intermediate status is reflected in their names relative to typical U.S....
large cruiserBattlecruiserBattlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
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- Thresher/Permit-classThresher/Permit class submarineThe Thresher/Permit-class was a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy from the 1960s until 1994. They replaced the class...
fast attack submarine (nuclear)
}
}
}
fast attack submarine (nuclear)
} (not completed)
- Barbel-class fast attack submarine (diesel)Barbel class submarineThe Barbel class of submarines, the last diesel-electric propelled attack submarines built by the United States Navy, incorporated numerous, radical engineering improvements over previous classes...
:
}
- Washington IrvingWashington Irving (sidewheeler)The PS Washington Irving was a sidewheel day boat and the largest flagship of the Hudson River Day Line that operated on the Hudson River from 1913 to 1926....
—the biggest passenger-carrying riverboat ever built.