Consolidated Steel

The Consolidated Steel Corporation was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Formed on 18 December 1928, the company built ships during World War II in two main locations: Wilmington, California, and Orange, Texas. It was created by the merger of Llewellyn Iron Works, Baker Iron Works and Union Iron Works, all of Los Angeles. The company entered the shipbuilding business in 1939. In 1948, now a pioneer producer of large-diameter pipelines, Consolidated Steel was renamed Consolidated Western Steel and acquired by U.S. Steel and operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The San Diego–based Consolidated Aircraft Corp. is not related and neither is the Union Iron Works of San Francisco. The company did not produce steel (the Llewellyn Iron Works did so during 1916 to 1923), neither from iron ores nor from pig iron, but rather fabricated standard steel mill product (plates and bars) into steel products (buildings, ships, pipes). In the 1950s, the company contributed ground equipment to the Project Nike missile system. In 1964, Consolidated was merged into the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel.

Orange shipyard

The Orange, Texas, shipyard lay on the banks of the Sabine River at (), a few miles upstream of the Sabine Pass that grants access to the Gulf of Mexico ( Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc. in Beaumont, Texas, made use of it as well). Consolidated Steel bought the ''Orange Car and Steel Company'' (railcars) property in February 1940 with the original intention of going into the business of barge and tug construction. Before November 1922 this company was called the ''Southern Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company'', which operated five building ways for wooden hull construction for the United States Shipping Board, of which six were launched and at least one, ''Gonzalis (1918)'', was fitted with engines.

The modest facilities were expanded when Consolidated Steel was awarded destroyer contracts from the U.S. Navy in September 1940. After the war the site was sold to U.S. Steel together with Consolidated's assets in Los Angeles and whatever was obtained from the merger with Western Pipe and Steel elsewhere. However, the wholly-owned subsidiary and soon after the U.S. Steel corporate division both continued to operate as ''Consolidated Western Steel''. The government-owned shipyard facilities were eventually bought by Consolidated Western Steel for $1,001,000 in the Summer of 1949, but not to be used for shipbuilding beyond the obligations imposed as part of the deal, to maintain this capability for some time. Another pipe mill was built in Orange during the boom years. At its peak durning the war, it employed 20,000 people. The first ship launched was the destroyer on March 2, 1942. The last ship launched was the destroyer on December 28, 1945. United States Naval Station Orange was the overseer of the Navy projects.

Contracts for 12 ''Fletchers'' were authorized with the Two-Ocean Navy Act and awarded later in 1940
''Fletchers'' were produced no more than six concurrently. ''Gearings'' were produced no more than ten concurrently. There were six slipways that could build one destroyer or destroyer escort and there were two side launching ways that could each build two destroyers or 3 destroyer escorts. The stern-first launching ways must obviously have been there first, see also launch photographs e.g.

* 39 of 415 destroyers
** 12 of 175 s (built May 1941 – October 1942)
*** ...
** 27 of 98 s (built May 1944 – December 1945)
*** ...
*** ...
* 102 of 563 destroyer escorts and APDs
** 47 of 85 s (built June 1942 – December 1943)
*** ...
*** ...
** 12 of 148 s (April 1943 – December 1943)
*** ...
** 34 of 83 s (built October 1943 – August 1944)
*** ...
** 6 of 6 s
*** that were completed as APDs (instead of converted from finished DEs)
** 3 of 50 s
*** that were completed as APDs
* 106 of 923 Landing Craft Infantry (built 1942–1944)
** Hull numbers 61–96, 943–1012

Levingston Shipbuilding Company and Weaver Shipyards round up the landscape of WW2 shipbuilding in Orange.

Wilmington shipyard

The Consolidated Steel Wilmington shipyard () in Wilmington, California was an emergency yard built in 1941 in the Port of Los Angeles ''West Basin'' after Consolidated Steel was awarded Maritime Commission contracts. At its peak, it employed 12,000 people, working on eight shipways on the 95-acre facility at 1100 W Harry Bridges Blvd, Wilmington. Production peaked on May 29, 1944, when it launched three large ships in only a -hour period. The yard was built as a temporary facility and, like most such war plants, it was closed after the war ended.

Together, the shipyards ranked Consolidated 29th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.

Fifteen of the C1-B were built with steam turbines supplied by Joshua Hendy Iron Works ("JH") instead of those built by Westinghouse ("WH"). Hendy also provided the 36 triple expansion steam engines that went into the patrol frigates.

The yard changed to a 2-shift rotation (10.5 hours) on June 12, 1944.

List of contracts:

Ships built:
* 126 of 395 C1
** 47 of 95 C1-B (14 of 61 in the assigned ranges below were built in the nearby Long Beach yard, in addition to the original 4)
*** (MC-263) ... (MC-266)
*** (MC-486) ... (MC-511)
*** (MC-698) ... (MC-701)
*** (MC-1015) ... (MC-1028)
*** (MC-1042) ... (MC-1044)
*** (MC-1693) ... (MC-1695)
*** (MC-2073) ... (MC-2079)
** complete list of the 47 C1-B built in Wilmington
*** Comfort, launched 18 March 1943
*** Mercy, launched 25 March 1943
*** JH launched 27 January 1944 in Wilmington
*** WH launched 11 March 1944
*** WH 77th ship launched 7 March 1944
*** JH launched 22 February 1944
*** JH
*** WH launched 13 January 1944
*** WH launched 7 January 1944 (unpsec location)
*** WH launched 23 December 1943
*** JH 70th ship launched 11 December 1943
*** WH launched 29 June 1943, likely Wilmington
*** WH launched 18 June 1943
*** WH, launched 29 May 1943
*** WH
*** JH
*** JH
*** JH
*** WH 25th ship launched 16 February 1943 from slip No. 1
*** WH, launched 16 April 1943
*** WH, launched 5 April 1943
*** WH launched 17 March 1943
*** WH launched 3 March 1943; 27th C1
*** WH 26th ship launched 20 February 1943 in Wilmington
*** WH launched 3 February 1943
*** WH 29th in CA, launched 24 January 1943
*** WH 22nd C-1 launched 6 January 1943
*** WH 21st C-1 launched 28 December 1942
*** WH launched 18 October 1942
*** WH 19th C-1 launched 11 October 1942
*** WH 14th ship launched 27 September 1942
*** WH 13th C-1 in W. launched 20 September 1942
*** WH
*** WH 20th in W. launched 21 December 1942
*** WH 19th ship (unspec location) launched 12 December 1942
*** WH launched 27 November 1942
*** WH
*** WH 10th C-1 in W. launched 20 August 1942
*** WH 9th C-1 in W., built in 91 days, launched 10 August 1942
*** WH launched 21 July 1942
*** WH 7th ship launched 14 July 1942 for Lykes Brothers SS Line
*** WH launched 2 July 1942
*** WH 5th ship launched 20 June 1942 for Moore-McCormack Lines, keel laid 124 days ago
*** WH 4th ship launched 8 June 1942
*** WH - launched 1 June 42
*** WH - launched 22 May 42
*** WH - first ship launched at the yard on 11 May 1942 for Moore-McCormack Lines
** 13 of 13 C1-S-AY1
*** (MC-1029) ... (MC-1041)
*** all names in the form of "Cape X", all went to Britain as "Empire X"
*** ''SS Cape Girardeau'' 64th C-1 launched 7 November 1943
*** ''SS Cape Compass'' launched 24 July 1943
*** ''SS Cape Marshall'' launched 16 August 1943, presumably Wilmington
** 55 of 211 C1-M-AV1
*** (MC-2314) ... (MC-2331)
*** (MC-2461) ... (MC-2473)
*** (MC-2563) ... (MC-2586)
* 18 of 96 Tacoma-class frigates ( S2-S1-AQ1) in 1943

* 32 of 32 Gilliam-class attack transport (S4-SE2-BD1) in 1944 and 1945

* 10 of 121 C2-S-B1

Bethlehem San Pedro and California Shipbuilding were located nearby on Terminal Island.

Long Beach shipyard

The former Long Beach Shipbuilding Company yard was the first Consolidated Steel facility to become operational. It was located at the entrance of Channel No. 3 on the south side ().

On Liberty Fleet Day, September 27, 1941, the yard launched SS ''Alcoa Polaris'', a C1-B type cargo vessel, as one of the fourteen ships launched nationwide on the same day to show the magnitude of the shipbuilding program.
* 18 of 95 C1-BThe Log, July 1941, p. 42
** (MC-75), launched as ''Cape Mendocino'' 14 November 1940
** (MC-76), launched 27 April 1941(or 27 March)
** (MC-77), launched 26 June 1941
** (MC-78), laid down 7 April 1941, launched 27 September 1941
** ...the two P1 hulls were built during 1942...
** WH 30th ship (23 in W) launched 31 January 1943
** JH 6th C-1 launched 20 April 1943, Wilmington has launched 32 C1-B.
** JH, launched 29 May 1943
** WH launched 22 July 1943
** Hope launched 30 August 1943
** WH launched 22 October 1943, 12th ship launched at the yard
** WH launched 11 December 1943
** Cape Martin 88th total launched 24 January 1944
** JH 15th ship launched 2 March 1944
** JH 16th ship launched on 9 April 1944
** JH launched 10 May 1944
** JH launched 15 June 1944
** JH 19th ship, 106th W+LB, launched 10 July 1944 (Cape Edmont)
** JH
* Two type p1 passenger ships, model P1-S2-L2. The P1-S2-L2 s were two ships. The first American assault military transports. Made with an aft ramp for the launching of small landing craft or for the unloading of tanks.
** , first in class
**
* several C1-M
** , launched 28 September 1944
** launched 18 December 1944
** launched 30 December 1944
** launched 13 January 1945
** launched 27 January 1945
* several C1-M probable (WIlmington occupied)
** , launched 12 October 1944

Maywood plant

On 26 June 1927 ''Union Iron Works'' formally opened the first unit of a new multi-million dollar plant on their 25-acre tract at Stauson and Garfield avenues ().

26 July 1930, Consolidated Steel purchased 50 acre at NE corner of Eastern and Stauson avenues ().

The Union, Baker and Llewellyn Iron Works were competitors prior to consolidation in the markets of steel fabrication and erection in the Los Angeles area.

In August 1930 plans were being implemented to erect the typical shops of a steel plant on the tract at Slauson and Eastern. The projected cost was $1,000,000 including machinery. Predecessor plants were to be dismantled and moved to the new location.

During World War II 761 Landing craft mechanized were constructed to completion in the plant and their motors and hull integrity tested on site in a large water tank.

Also built were 403 5-inch/38 twin mounts.

Consolidated built the first blast furnace of the Kaiser Fontana integrated mill in 1942.

In 1949 the plant was 60 acres in size with equipment for the manufacture and erection of heavy steel products. Including 26 to 36-inch welded pipe, structural steel for industrial and commercial buildings, bridges and railcar frames; cement kilns; penstocks; storage tanks (gas, oil, water, chemicals).

After the war

Shortly after the end of the war, in September 1945, Consolidated Steel bought the assets of the Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, another wartime shipbuilding firm, for $6,217,373. The property consisted of main plants at South San Francisco and Vernon and small plants serving local industries in Taft, Fresno and Phoenix.

In October 1946 a shipyard on Manicani Island off the coast of Samar in the Philippines came under the control of Consolidated and Bechtel interests under the name of Philippine Consolidated Shipyards. Initial contracts from the U.S. Navy for conversion, repair and construction of small craft, which was completed in August 1947 after which Philippine Consolidated carried on with similar work in Manila and Cavite.

Going into the legal proceedings surrounding the planned acquisition by the Columbia Steel Company (a U.S. Steel subsidiary), at the beginning of the year 1947 Consolidated Steel owned and operated plants in Los Angeles, Vernon, Fresno, Berkeley and Taft in California, and in Phoenix, Arizona and Orange, Texas.

The company name was changed to Consolidated Western Steel Corp. on 1 July 1948. A separate company with the same name was incorporated in Delaware on 31 August 1948, marking the acquisition for $12,481,221 by U.S. Steel.

In January 1949, Consolidated was contracted to build a new blast furnace at the Kaiser Fontana steel mill. This was furnace #2, blown on October 13, 1949.

October 1949, construction is planned of a new pipe mill in Houston near the ship channel with a projected capacity of 50 miles of large diameter pipe per month. The project is cancelled, the mill is instead built in Orange, Texas. A general purpose plate shop and an 85x900 feet pipe mill became operational in March 1950. Also during that time the Orange plant was fabricating the large 34 feet, 10 inches diameter pipe sections for the Baytown Tunnel that crossed the Houston ship channel.

September 1949, Consolidated is applying for a certificate to operate in Pennsylvania to assist in the construction of a new welded pipe mill in McKeesport.

Effective 31 December 1951, in an internal corporate restructuring, the subsidiary corporation became the ''Consolidated Western Steel Division'' of the ''United States Steel Company'' with Alden G. Roach as president, who was also president of the newly formed ''Columbia-Geneva Steel Division''.

In May 1955, a new pipe mill in Provo starts shipments for the ''Pacific Northwest Pipeline Corp.''. The relocation of all pipeline operations to Utah was first announced in September 1954.

The small diameter pipe mill was moved from Berkeley to the new pipe plant at Provo after the large diameter portion had reached full production and the transfer was completed in January 1956.

20 December 1956, Alden G. Roach, the pilot and the co-pilot died in the crash of a company Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar near Tyrone, Pennsylvania.

During much of the 1950s, Consolidated was part of Project Nike, producing $146.2 million worth of launcher loaders, earning $9.3 million in profits. The first generation Nike-Ajax loaders were a Douglas Aircraft design, the enlarged Nike-Hercules loaders were Consolidated Western's design. Many thousands were produced at a price on the order of $20,000 to $30,000 each.

In March 1957 a design study for a heavy water reactor pressure vessel was released, prepared on behalf of the Atomic Energy Commission.

In 1964, in an internal corporate restructuring, the ''Consolidated Western Steel Division'' was merged with the ''American Bridge Division'' to form a single steel fabrication division within U.S. Steel (the ''American Bridge DIvision''). Occurrences of the former name in the press dropped sharply at that point.

Line Pipe

In September 1946 production was to commence on 214 miles and 60,000 tons of 30-inch pipe for the Southern California Gas Company for a contract value of $6m. This 214 mile section between Blythe and Santa Fe Springs was the western section of the first of the El Paso Natural Gas Company's pipelines supplying California from natural gas fields in Texas. Steel plates were provided by the Geneva Steel mill. The pipeline became operational on 13 November 1947. The source material for the process was 30 feet long, 92 inch wide plates, the welded pipe segments were hydraulically expanded (i.e. cold formed) in a closed die, yielding very straight pipe of improved strength. The capacity of the plant in 1947 was 9 miles of pipe per week. Shipped pipes were 60 feet in length, 2 sections welded together at the factory.

In early 1947 Consolidated was contracted to provide 980 miles of pipe for the Bechtel-built Trans-Arabian Pipeline (oil), the National Tube Company of Pittsburgh (a U.S. Steel subsidiary) was to supply another 70 miles. A second production line was installed at the Maywood plant for the construction of 31-inch pipe, which made up 50% of the order and this allowed the volume of shipping and shipping costs be cut in half with one pipe segment stored inside one larger pipe segment. The ''Trans-Arabian Pipe Line Co.'' underwrote the cost to increase production capacity to 3 miles per day. The January 1949 issue of ''U.S. Steel News'' stated a capacity of 3.5 miles of pipe per day at the Maywood plant. The with the first load of pipes (a little more than 5 miles) departed Long Beach for Ras Tanura on 7 November 1947., followed by the , , , and others.

During delays caused by failure of Tapline to obtain export licenses, 30 and 31-inch pipe was diverted to the Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. to loop the 661 miles between Victoria, Texas and Cornwell, West Virginia laid in 1947 and 1948 with 204 miles of 30/31-inch loop line.

In January 1949 CWS began fabrication of 1840 miles of pipe for the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company's Texas-New York pipeline (natural gas). ( FPC Docket No. G-704, certificate issued 29 May 1948) The plates for this pipeline came from Kaiser Fontana. The Basalt Rock Company at Napa (Bay area) also turned Kaiser plates into pipe for that project. The Fontana mill was making plates at an approximate rate of 20,000 tons per month for Consolidated in late 1949.

June 1949, contracts are awarded for Pacific Gas and Electric's 34-inch "Super-Inch" Pipe Line (natural gas) from Topock to Milpitas. Ditching started June 29, 1949 for the 80-mile section between Llanda (near Hollister) and Milpitas, which was to be used as an underground storage reservoir until completion of the whole line, to be ready for the 1949/1950 winter season. The pipe segments were produced in South San Francisco and joined in pairs or if conditions permitted in groups of three at a depot near Santa Clara. The depot was then moved to Barstow in late 1949 or early 1950 when the northern leg was about completed. Stockpiling began for the ensuing completion of the pipe, which started from the Arizona border at Topock, heading west.

September 1950, construction to begin on 30-inch pipe for the Kirkuk–Baniyas oil pipeline, which was to loop the existing 12-inch and 16-inch lines of the Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline. Diameters of 30 and 32 inches. Plates fabricated by Geneva Steel. First first shipment sails on 30 September 1950, Construction by Bechtel commenced in November 1950, shortly after the completion of the Trans-Arabia. Last shipment leaves the Port of Los Angeles February 1952 aboard the . The line went into operation in April 1952.

August 1952, fabrication of parts of a 953-mile 24-inch crude oil pipeline from Wink, Texas to Norwalk, California to begin in a few months.

Consolidated was contracted for 20 miles of 30-inch pipe for an expansion of the California portion of the Texas Pipeline (natural gas) in November 1952, the project expected to be finished in March 1953.

The Provo pipe mill produced 241 miles of 30-inch pipe to be laid in the first half of 1957 between Needles and Newhall, Pacific Lightning Corp subsidiaries (conjecture: SoCalGas), total project cost $24,000,000.

Baker Iron Works

The Baker Iron Works had its start at Los Angeles, California, about 1874, when Milo Stannard Baker (1828–1894) acquired a small machine shop there. The business, begun on a small scale as M.S. Baker & Company, grew quite rapidly. A much larger facility was erected in 1886 and in June of that year the business was incorporated as the Baker Iron Works with capital stock of $75,000. Five directors were named: Milo S. Baker, E.H. Booth, Charles F. Kimball, Fred L. Baker (Milo's son), and H.T. Neuree. Less than a year later, Baker erected a $15,000 building on Buena Vista Street near College.

Baker Iron Works had a great many different products, manufacturing mining, milling, pumping, hoisting, oil and well drilling machinery, streetcars, boilers, oven and heating furnaces, as well as a line of architectural iron. It seems to have been especially noteworthy for steam boiler fabrication, installation and maintenance. According to one authority, in 1889 Baker produced the first locomotive built in Los Angeles, designed by Milo's son Fred, vice president of the firm.

Another authority says Baker built horse cars and perhaps street cars for Los Angeles, Pasadena and other communities in the Los Angeles area and that they built some larger cars for the Santa Ana & Orange Motor Road in 1898. According to this authority, after Pacific Electric bought this line, the cars were revamped and continued in service until 1920. It is claimed that in the early 1890s, ''Street Railway Journal'' reportedly ranked Baker "among the principal car builders on the Pacific Coast."

In 1887, Baker constructed six street cars for the City & Central Street Railway.

According to an article in the 1 January 1890 issue of the ''Los Angeles Times'', the Baker Works then occupied some and provided employment to 75 men. A large variety of manufacturing was being done. The foundry was making iron and brass castings to fit nearly all kinds of machinery for mining and milling purposes, besides pumping plants for large and small waterworks, and steam plants for all the variety of uses to which steam was put. They manufactured their own boilers. They were also manufacturing oil-boring tools and rigs, and constructing elevators—both passenger and freight—in all varieties: hydraulic steam or hand. It was claimed by the newspaper that Baker had installed nearly all the first class passenger elevators in Southern California. The article said they manufacture street-cars and did other railroad work to order and claimed to make the best gang plows and road and field rollers that could be obtained anywhere. They also installed heating and ventilating plants for public buildings, both steam, hot water and hot air. And they did architectural iron-work. Milo S. Baker was then president, J.E. Sills was vice-president and treasurer, and Fred L. Baker (Milo's son) was secretary and plant superintendent.

In 1891, Baker was awarded the contract to build the Santa Ana Water Works. In six months, for a total price of $58,000, Baker put in of street mains, sixty fire hydrants and gates valves, one reservoir , build one fire-proof power house, two boilers and brick stock, two compound condensing engines of capacity every 24 hours, All this complete and functioning: truly a "turn-key" operation.

After the turn of the 20th century, Baker seems to have specialized in steel fabrication and elevator building. Fred L. Baker headed the company as president after his father's death. Over the next 30 years they did the steel work and/or elevators for—among many others— Los Angeles' first skyscraper, the twelve-storey Union Trust Building, the Public Service Building, the Queen of Angels Hospital, the YWCA Hotel, the United Artists-California Petroleum Building, the University of California at Westwood, The Masonic Temple at Glendale, the Los Angeles-First National Bank at Glendale, the Los Angeles-First National Bank at Hollywood and the University of Redlands at Redlands.

Erection of the Hotel Alexandria from prefabricated materials.

Fred L. Baker acted as president of the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. The keels for the first three ships hastily laid down in the yard in July 1917 were fabricated in the Baker Iron Works shops.

Baker had a machine shop on North Broadway near Castelar street ().

See also

* California during World War II
* Maritime history of California

Footnotes

References

Wilmington, California shipbuilding record

External links

{{Commons category, Consolidated Steel Corporation

youtube.com, World War II Shipyards: Orange, Texas

youtube.com, Launch of Cape Mendocino
(the last few seconds look like they might be in Texas)

youtube.com, Oil Across Arabia (at 11:00)

Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States
Former defense companies of the United States
Shipyards building World War II warships