Al Larson Boat Shop or Al Larson Boat Building is a

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

and

dry 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, ...

repair company in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as , is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington, Los Angeles, Wilmington and San Pedro, Los Angeles, San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles ...

. To support the

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 ...

demand for ships Al Larson Boat Shop built:

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Sub chasers and

Minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s. Al Larson Boat Shop was started in 1903 by Peter Adolph (Al) Larson, a Swedish immigrant. Larson started by building boats by hand from

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

lumber. As the shop grew, he moved to its current location in Fish Harbor, in the

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "Amer ...

. Adolph Larson's son sold the boat shop in 1960 to Andy and Gloria Wall. The shop was small at this time with only five employees. The Wall family is still running the shipyard in the Port of Los Angeles. The shipyard is the only one in the Port of Los Angeles now operating and able to work on ships of all sizes with its 100 employees. The shipyard is at 1046 South Seaside Ave, Terminal Island, with 2.35 acres of land and 5.35 acres of waterways. The shipyard also runs a marina, Al Larson Marina.

Notable ships

* YMS-1-class minesweeper: and . * Converted to Minesweeper and

reefer ship A reefer ship is a refrigerated cargo ship typically used to transport perishable cargo, which require air conditioning, temperature-controlled handling, such as fruits, meat, vegetables, dairy products, and similar items. Description ''Types ...

: , and * ''SC-734'' US Navy Sub Chaser, Patrol Boat, Keel laid 4/15/42. Launched 7/18/42. Commissioned 12/28/42. Transferred to Foreign in 4/25/47. * ''SC-735'' US Navy Sub Chaser, Patrol Boat, Keel laid 4/20/42. Launched 8/29/42. Commissioned 3/12/43. Transferred to China in 6/30/48. The two

SC-497-class submarine chaser __NOTOC__ The ''SC-497''-class submarine chasers were a class of 438 submarine chasers built primarily for the United States Navy from 1941–1944. The ''SC-497''s were based on the experimental submarine chaser, USS ''SC-453''. Submarine chasers ...

s had one 40mm AA gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two

depth charge projector A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarines by detonating in the water near the target and subjecting it to a destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosives with a fuze set to deto ...

"Y Guns," and two

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

tracks. Powered by two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines. * ''AB-67'' renamed CG-56306, harbor tug built in 1937. Were 32 tons, top speed 11-knots. 56 feet long, a beam of 14 feet, a draft of 4.5 feet, powered by a 150 H.P diesel, was stationed in San Francisco. * AB-68 renamed CG-56307, harbor tug was stationed in Seattle. Specs same as AB-67.Coast Guard Tugs, ''cg-tugs.org''
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Larson Boat Shop American Theater of World War II 1940s in California American boat builders Al Larson Boat Shop

Notable ships

See also

References