The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

to build ships for the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at Kearny Point where the mouth of the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

meets

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, ...

in the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable wate ...

. The shipyard site is now part of River Terminal, a massive distribution facility that is partially a

foreign trade zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cust ...

. Federal built numerous

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

s, destroyer escorts and a handful of

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

s as well as merchant ships during and between the wars. Around 570 vessels were contracted for construction by Federal SB&DD Company with about 100 not delivered fully completed due to the end of the World War II. Federal also had a yard at

Port Newark A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

during World War II that built destroyers and landing craft.

History of the Federal Yard at Kearny

Aerial view of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company 01, Kearny NJ (USA) 1945

Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company was founded July 24, 1917 as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

United States Steel Corporation United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

to supply ships for the

during

. The site on Kearny Point was first surveyed during the summer of 1917. The shipyard was to consist of everything needed to fully complete a ship from a facility power plant to a wood joining shop. A steel plate mill and boiler shop were to be built as well. $10 million ($ today) was allocated for construction. The American Bridge Company was contracted to provide 10,000 tons of steel for the structures. E.H. Gary was president of Federal in August 1917. The ship-ways were completed by the fall of 1917 with keels being laid by November 1917. Federal completed a 9,600-ton ship around six weeks before World War I ended as well as two other ships before the close of 1918. 27 ships were delivered to the Emergency Fleet Corporation in 1919. Federal accounted for 5% of the steel merchant tonnage built in 1919. By June 1921, the Federal yard at Kearny had a boiler construction shop to build Scotch marine boilers, exhaust stacks, tanks, uptakes and other related items. 235 boilers had been constructed from September 1919 to June 1921. Boilers constructed there were mostly diameter or larger. At that time, 250 men were able to construct three boilers a week with a single 8-hour shift each day. By November 1921, Federal had shipbuilding ways for twelve 15,000-ton vessels and had constructed a 9,000-ton floating dry dock. The dry dock was first used June 23, 1921 when Transmarine corp's SS ''Suhulco'' docked. The Kearny yard was with of frontage on the Hackensack River. A wet basin was located at the southern end with a 100-ton 3-legged jib crane for fitting out new ships. On Sunday night, May 18, 1924, a fire destroyed the largest building at the Kearny yard causing an initially estimated $500,000 in damage. Other estimates were $1.6 million or as high as several million dollars in damage. Firemen used four mobile cranes to try to extinguish fires in the pattern building and the plate shop. Over a thousand workers were idled by the fire. The shipyard had around 5,000 workers at the time and was said to be one of the largest steel fabrication plants in the world. Fireboats and numerous firemen from around the area were called in to fight the fire which spread rapidly through the wooden structures at the Kearny yard. The Federal yard at Kearny remained operational during the difficult

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

and

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

when many shipyards across the country did not.

1940 to closure

Federal made national news when around 16,000 workers went on strike at Kearny from August 7 to August 25, 1941. Work was stopped on $493 million ($ today) in Navy and merchant shipbuilding contracts as the nation ramped up ship construction before entering World War II. The strike was ended when President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Navy to seize control of the facility. The final sticking point in negotiations had been the refusal of management at Federal to accept demands to require a "maintenance of membership" clause which would effectively make the shipyard a

closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fr ...

. Company president Lynn H. Korndorff offered the shipyard to the Navy rather than accept the demands to become a closed shop. When the Navy took over, the yard fell under the supervision of Rear Admiral Harold G. Bowen Sr. as Officer-in-charge. It was the first take over of an industrial plant by the Navy in that era. While the union was enthusiastic about the seizure, they did not get the response they were expecting when the Navy took control. According to Rear Admiral Bowen in his autobiography, while he was cordial with labor, he refused to acknowledge any union's right to collectively bargain for the workers at Kearny. He also refused to take steps to implement the "maintenance of membership" issue. By November 1941, the "maintenance of membership" clause was still not being enforced and the union sought relief from the Defense Mediation Board. After 134 days of operation by the Navy, control of the shipyard was returned to the company on January 6, 1942. Under Navy control the shipyard laid 12 keels, launched 10 and commissioned 7 ships.

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

Frank Knox William Franklin Knox (January 1, 1874 – April 28, 1944) was an American politician, newspaper editor and publisher. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936, and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during ...

returned the shipyard and asked that the company and union work out the remaining issue. Failing that, the two parties would use newly established national machinery to resolve the dispute. The "maintenance of membership" issue had still not been resolved. In May 1942, Federal finally gave in to demands to require membership in the CIO Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers. Company president Lynn H. Korndorff said Federal only complied with the order of the National War Labor Board because of the war emergency. The incident was viewed as one of the first major tests of the NWLB. According to John T. Cunningham in "Made in New Jersey," Federal "completely proved its might". On one day alone in May 1942, the company launched four destroyers in a 50-minute period. By 1943, Federal Shipbuilding was employing 52,000 people and building ships faster than any other yard in the world." Federal continued to set company construction speed records throughout the war. In July 1943, Federal claimed records of 170 days from keel to commissioning on the 2,050-ton destroyer and 137 days on the 1,630-ton destroyer . Federal also said Type C2 ships were being built in an average time of 82 days. In July 1943, destroyer escorts were being launched about once a week since spring of 1943. Between the Newark and Kearny yards, Federal launched a company record of 11 ships in 29 days during March 1943. After World War II ended, a number of destroyers were cancelled including some that were partially constructed. Federal had contracts to build several cargo ships for the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

. Five Type C3-class ships were for

Lykes Lines Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States. History In 1898 the sons of Dr. Howell Tys ...

and six for

American South African Line Farrell Lines Incorporated was a boat company named in 1948 after James A. Farrell, Jr., and John J. Farrell, sons of James Augustine Farrell, president of US Steel. The company was previously known as American South African Lines (ASAL). It was ...

. Two bulk carriers were built for National Gypsum and three Type C2 ships for Grace Line's "Santa" / South American passenger-freight service. Federal also converted from wartime service for Moore-McCormack starting in 1946. 4,000 shipyard workers at Federal joined 90,000 other east coast shipyard workers in a strike action on 1 July 1947. The strike at Federal ended in November 1947 after 140 days. On April 23, 1948, Lynn H. Korndorff, the President of Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company announced that the US Navy had agreed to purchase facilities at Kearny for around $2,375,000 ($ today), its depreciated book value. The Navy planned to hold the facility in a standby state for potential emergency reactivation.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

regarded this sale price to be "astounding low". In July 1948, Federal's large floating dry dock was towed 1,700 miles in 19 days to

Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation is a former shipbuilding corporation in Chickasaw, Alabama a few miles upstream of the Port of Mobile. Following the company's closure, the land became a part of the Chickasaw Shipyard Village Historic District Hist ...

Chickasaw, Alabama Chickasaw is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 6,457, up from 6,106 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. History Company town In the early 20th century bef ...

shipyard, which had been constructed during World War I by U.S. Steel, parent of Federal SB&DD. Around 465 ships were delivered by Federal SB&DD Company out of its 569 hull numbers allocated. 325 were delivered from the Kearny yard and 140 from Port Newark. Instead of building ships, the site eventually hosted a salvaging operation where numerous ships were scrapped. In 1975, the former Federal yard was described as one of the nation's largest

ship breaking Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extractio ...

yards. According to the 1975 head of the River Terminal Development Corp, the first ship to be scrapped at the yard was in 1959. Other carriers scrapped there included ''Essex'', ''Randolph'', ''Boxer'', ''Wasp'' and ''Antietam''. Battleships, battle cruisers, cruisers and submarines had also been scrapped at the former Federal yard as of the mid-1970s. Texas Tower 3 was also scrapped at the Federal yard by Lipsett Corp.

Ships built at Kearny

* Light Cruisers (of the small "7000-ton" category) ** 2 of 8 *** , ** 3 of 3 *** USS ''Juneau'' (CL-119) *** USS ''Spokane'' (CL-120) *** USS ''Fresno'' (CL-121) ** USS ''Buffalo'' (CL-84) and ** USS ''Newark'' (CL-88) – were cancelled 16 December 1940 * 13 of 97 destroyers of the interwar years ** 2 of 18 *** , ** 2 of 5 *** , ** 3 of 10 *** ... ** 2 of 12 *** , ** 4 of 66 *** , *** , * 69 of 415 World War II destroyers ** 22 of 66 *** ... *** ... *** ... *** ... ** 29 of 175 *** ... *** , *** ... *** ... *** ... ** 18 of 58 *** ... * 21 of 32 s ( C2-S-B1)

USSB, private contractors and MARCOM

The last ships for the

were delivered by January 1920. Federal Kearny built 30 of the 48 Design 1037 ships. These were the very first ships built at the site, with yard numbers 1 through 30. * USSB #955 ... #964 ** '' Wichita'', ''Federal'' -> '' Fukuzan Maru''. '' Piave'', '' Mercer'', ''Marne'' -> Yuzan Maru'', '' The Lambs'' ** '' Homestead'', '' Duquesne'', '' McKeesport'', '' Braddock'' * USSB #1422 ... #1441 ** ''Donora'', '' Lorain'' ** ''Waukegan'', ''Youngstown'', ''Ambridge'', '' Clairton'', ''Innoko'', ''Wytheville'' ** ''Belfort'', ''Westmoreland'', ''Bellbuckle'', ''Vincent'', '' Bellhaven'', '' Winona County'' ** ''Bellepline'', ''

Anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus '' Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used t ...

'', ''Bellerose'', ''Kearny'', '' Bellflower'', '' Bellemina'' For private contractors * 18 cargo ships for the parent company U.S. Steel / the Isthmian Steamship Company ** '' Steel Age'', ''Steel Maker'', '' Steel Voyager'', ''

Steel Worker Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

'', ''Steel Mariner'' (6,000t, 1920) ** ''Steel Trader'', ''Steel Exporter'', ''Steel Engineer'', ''Steel Inventor'', ''Steel Ranger'' (6,000t 1920) ** '' Steel Seafarer'', '' Steel Scientist'', '' Steel Navigator'' (6,000t, 1921) ** ''Steel Traveler'' (7,000t, 1922) ** ''Steel Motor'', ''Steel Vendor'' (1,700t, 1923) ** ''Steel Chemist'', ''Steel Electrician'' (1,700t, 1926) ** See also: related work done in Chicksaw * 11 tankers for Standard Oil of New Jersey ** '' Walter Jennings'', ''E. T. Bedford'',https://vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/Search; covers name, approximate tonnage, launch year, original owner ''J. A. Moffet Jr.'' (9,600t / 9,800t, 1921) ** , '' T. C. McCobb'' (7,500t, 1936) ** ''Esso Bayonne'', ''Esso Bayway'' (7,700t, 1937) ** '' Esso Houston'', '' Esso Boston'' (7,700t, 1938) ** ''Esso Montpelier'', ''Esso Concord'' (7,700t, 1940) * 4 passenger ships for the Grace Line (9,100t) ** , (1932) ** '' Santa Lucia'', ''Santa Elena'' (1933) * 5 tankers for Pan-American Patroleum ** ''Pan-Maine'', ''Pan-Florida'' (7,200t, 1936) ** ''Pan-New York'', ''Pan-Maryland'' (7,700t, 1938) ** ''Pan-Rhode Island'' (7,700t, 1941) * 2 tankers for Imperial Oil in 1921 (11,000t, 1921) ** ''Vancolite'', ''Victolite'' * tanker ''Gulfpride'' for

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

in 1927 (12,500t) * passenger ''

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cove ...

'' for the Southern Pacific SS Line 1928 (8.200t) * 2 tankers for Standard Shipping in 1930 ** ''G. Harrison Smith'', ''W. S. Farish'' Several ships for the Maritime Commission were built before the war broke out. * 3 T3 in 1939 ** ''Markey'', ''Neosho'', ''Esso Trenton'' * 6 C2 in 1939 and 1940 ** , , , , * 6 C3 in 1940 and 1941 ** , , , , , * 5 C1-B in 1940 and 1941 ** , , , ,

Federal Yard at Port Newark

In January 1942, Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company announced they were expanding their facilities to increase capacity and employ an additional 10,000 workers. They expanded to the site of the former

Submarine Boat Corporation Submarine Boat Company (Submarine Boat Corporation) was a large-scale World War I ship manufacturing shipyard, located at Newark, New Jersey's Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, Port of Newark. Submarine Boat Company operated as a subsidi ...

(). After nine months of construction to rebuild the facility, the first ships were launched at the Port Newark yard on October 10, 1942. All of the Gearing-class destroyers built at Federal were built at the Newark yard. The Port Newark yard closed after the war and the site gained some notoriety in late 1947 during a dispute over the scrapping of the battleship and two others by Lipsett Corp. The site was an automobile terminal parking lot in the 2010s. * 36 of 923 LCI(L) ** #161 ... #196 * 52 of 563 destroyer escorts and APDs ** 36 of 72 s (built October 1942 - January 1944) *** ... ** 16 of 83 s (built November 1943 - August 1944) *** ... *** ... * 10 of 415 destroyers ** 10 of 98 *** ... *** – completed by Bath Iron Works *** – scrapped incomplete *** – scrapped incomplete * 42 of 558 Landing Ship Medium: LSM-253 - LSM-294

References

External links

Detailed record of all ships built at Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny and Newark
* * - Yard background and photographs from 1945 and 2003 * - A web exhibit of ship christening photos that includes half a dozen images of launching ceremonies at the Kearny Yard * - on the site of the shipyard. {{commons category, Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Kearny, New Jersey Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Companies based in Hudson County, New Jersey Military installations in New Jersey 1917 establishments in New Jersey Shipyards of New Jersey Shipyards building World War II warships