The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the

United States Merchant Marine The United States Merchant Marine is an organization composed of United States civilian sailor, mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of ...

, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

, and other maritime concerns. 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 , and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the '' 4 Aces''.

History

It was founded in 1899 by Henry G. Morse (1850–2 June 1903),Not to be confused with architect Henry Grant Morse, Jr. (1884 – May 28, 1934). an engineer noted in connection with bridge design and construction and senior partner of Morse Bridge Company. The original plan was to build a shipyard on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, thus the name of the company, but plans to acquire a site there failed. The company then explored other potential sites as far south as Virginia, particularly in the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

area, and ultimately chose a location in the southern part of

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

. Site selection considered the needs of the planned application of bridge-building practices of prefabrication and assembly-line production of ships in covered ways. Construction of the plant began in July 1899; the keel of the first ship was laid in November 1900. That ship, contract number 1, was ''M. S. Dollar'', which was later modified as an oil tanker and renamed ''J. M. Guffey''.U.S. Navy as USS ''J. M. Guffey'' (ID-1279) commissioned 14 October 1918 at Invergorden, Scotland, decommissioned Philadelphia 17 June 1919 (DANFS). Two of the first contracts were for passenger ships that were among the largest then being built in the United States: #5 for and #6 for . Morse died after securing contracts for 20 ships. He was followed as president by De Coursey May. On November 27, 1916, a special meeting of the company's stockholders ratified sale of the "fifteen million dollar plant" to a group of companies composed of American International Corporation, International Mercantile Marine Co., W. R. Grace and Company and the

Pacific Mail Steamship Company The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett (American consul ...

.On page 510 of the reference notes that American International Corporation holds interests in the International Mercantile Marine Company, Pacific Mail Steamship, Grace Lines and other ocean transportation companies. The same journal in the October issue, page 440, states American International Corporation had "control of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company." From about 1933 to 1937 the shipyard was part of Errett Lobban Cord's business empire. New York Ship's unusual covered ways produced everything from

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s, and luxury liners to

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s and

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of Lighter (barge), lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it i ...

s. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

of 1,000 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

production included all nine light carriers (CVL), built on light cruiser hulls; the 40,000-ton

; all three of the six 30,000-ton Alaska-class cruisers that were built (, , and ), four 15,000-ton Baltimore-class

heavy cruiser A heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in calibre, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Treat ...

s, 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 The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an Government agency#United States, agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the United States Maritime ...

and the U.S. Navy. In 1959, the yard launched the NS ''Savannah'', the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship. The yard launched its last civilian vessel () in 1960, and its last naval vessel, , was ordered in 1967. The company's final completed submarine was , which had been ordered in the early 1960s, but construction was halted from 1963 to 1965 because of the loss of the . ''Guardfish'' was commissioned in December 1967. In 1968, lacking new naval orders, NYS ceased operations. , then under construction, was towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for completion. The yard's site is now part of the Port of Camden. The caisson previously used in NYS’s

graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

is still in use today in the former Philadelphia Navy Yard’s dry dock number 3.

World War II Slipways

Ships built

Ships built by New York Ship include: *

Aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s ** 1 of 2 *** , launched 7 April 1925 ** 9 of 9 light carriers *** *** , , , , , , *** ** 2 of 2 light carriers *** , ** 1 of 4 *** , launched 21 May 1960 *

Battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s ** 1 of 3 *** ** 1 of 3 *** ** 1 of 2 *** ** 1 of 4 *** * Colliers ** SS ''Plymouth'' served as USS ''Plymouth'' from 1918 to 1919, as an auxiliary cargo ship, then returned to civilian service as SS ''Plymouth'' ** SS ''Fairmont'' served as USS ''Fairmont'' from 1918 to 1919, as an auxiliary cargo ship, then returned to civilian service again as the SS Fairmont. In 1922 she was renamed ''Nebraskan''. For

she was renamed SS ''Black Point'' and was the last ship sunk by a

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

on May 5, 1945. ** SS ''Winding Gulf'' ** SS ''Tidewater'' did not serve in the US Navy. Renamed SS ''Isaac T. Mann'' in 1923 and was scrapped at Baltimore in 1954. ** SS ''Glen White'' served as USS ''Glen White'' from 1918 to 1919 then returned to civilian service as SS ''Glen White''. ** SS ''Sewalls Point'' did not serve in the US Navy. ** SS ''Franklin'' did not serve in the US Navy, became SS ''Nevadan'' in 1921, then SS ''Oakey L. Alexander'' in 1926. Was wrecked on the Maine coast on 3 March 1947. ** SS ''William N. Page'' *

Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s ** 1 of 2 heavy cruisers *** launched 7 November 1931 ** 3 of 9 light cruisers *** launched 8 May 1937 *** 2 October 1937 *** 19 March 1938 ** 4 of 14 heavy cruisers *** launched 2 July 1944 *** 13 August 1944 *** 15 October 1944 *** 6 May 1945 ** 3 of 3 large cruiser *** , , ** 8 of 27 light cruisers ** 1 of 1 nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers *** launched 23 June 1962 * 4 of 8 s * Fast combat support ship ** *** *

Oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

s ** SS ''Gulfoil'' ** '' Gulflight'' launched 1914. Center of a diplomatic incident when torpedoed in World War I. ** SS ''Sylvan Arrow'', launched 1918 ** (1921) sunk by Japanese submarine ''I-25'' in 1942 ** SS ''Dixie Arrow'' ** launched 1922 ** *

Submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

** ''Thresher''/''Permit''-class fast attack submarine (nuclear) *** *** *** ** fast attack submarine (nuclear) *** (completed at Ingalls Shipbuilding) ** ''Barbel''-class fast attack submarine (diesel): *** *

Nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

** * Passenger/cargo ship ** SS ''Panhandle State'': Also named: President Monroe, President Buchanan, (Iris), and Emily H. M. Weder. ** SS ''Munargo'': Also named Arthur Murray (Army but never used), USS ''Munargo'' (Navy), USAT ''Thistle'', USAHS Thistle (Army hospital)

* Other ships and boats *** —the biggest passenger-carrying riverboat ( Paddle steamer#Sidewheeler, paddle steamer) ever built.

Athletic

An athletic team for the 16,000 employees was created in the 1910s.

Footnotes

References

CV / CVL Class Carriers: Book; USS INDEPENDENCE CVL-22, A War Diary of the Nation's First Dedicated Night Carrier by: John G. Lambert

Bibliography

* * *

External links

New York Shipbuilding Company Historical SitesA Tribute to a Place Called Yorkship

A web exhibit of ship christening photos that includes twenty images of launching ceremonies at New York Shipbuilding
{{Authority control Shipyards of the United States Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Companies based in Camden, New Jersey History of Camden, New Jersey Industrial buildings and structures in New Jersey Defunct manufacturing companies based in New Jersey Shipyards building World War II warships