Harbor Boat Building Company was 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 ...

company on

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 ...

in San Pedro,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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 General Engineering built:

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 ...

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a type of small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. They encompass designs that are now largely obsolete, but which played an important role in the wars of the first half of th ...

s, and

air-sea rescue Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...

boats. In 1919 Romolo Rados founded Harbor Boat Building. After the war he renamed the company Harco Shipyard and built and sold a standard design

motor boat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard motor, inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, contain ...

. In 1959 he sold the company to LTV. The shipyard was closed and the company was sold again in 1971 to Omega-Alpha, Inc. The last ship built was in 1965 for the

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 ...

. The shipyard was located at 263 Wharf St, San Pedro.

''Adjutant''-class minesweeper

Harbor Boat Building Company built s, an

auxiliary motor minesweeper Auxiliary motor minesweepers were small wood-hulled minesweepers commissioned by the United States Navy for service during World War II. The vessels were numbered, but unnamed. The auxiliary motor minesweepers were originally designated yard min ...

s for the

United States 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 ...

and other counties in the 1950s. The ''Adjutant'' class had a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of light, full load, a length of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of . Power was from four

Packard Packard (formerly the Packard Motor Car Company) was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana, in 1958. One ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, total with two

screws A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

and a top speed of . Armed with two Oerlikon cannons

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

(AA) guns. Built: , , ''Aconite'' (M 640), ''Azalée'' (M 668), ''Camélia'' (M 671), ''Ulvsund'' (M 577), ''Vilsund'' (M 578), ''Geumsan''/''Kum San'' (MSC 522), ''Goheung''/''Ko Hung'' (MSC 523), ''Geumdok''/''Kum Kok'' (MSC 525), ''Yeongdong''/''Kyong Dong'' (MSC 529) and ''Okcheon''/''Ok Cheon'' (MSC 530).

''Pipit''-class coastal minesweeper

Harbor Boat Building Company built ''Pipit''-class coastal minesweepers. The ships had a displacement of , a length of , a beam of . Power of a diesel engine with one

shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

and a top speed of . Armed with two .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns. Built: , .

Yard patrol boat

Harbor Boat Building Company built two

yard patrol boat Yard Patrol craft are used by the United States Navy for training and for research purposes. They are designated as YP in the hull classification symbol system. They were nicknamed "Yippy boats" after the "YP" classification symbol. World War I ...

s, ''YP-617'' and ''YP-618''. Finished as

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 ...

s, small refrigerated cargo vessels to supply fresh food to small islands in the South Pacific. Over 250 tons of refrigerated cargo could be carried in ten wood and four steel refrigerated wells. The ship housed three officers and twenty men. The ships were converted to

tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bul ...

ships after the war. The boats had a length of , beam of , and a draft of . They were armed with three 20 mm AA gun mounts and propelled by a single propeller creating .

Air-sea rescue boat

Harbor Boat Building Company built in 1944 US Navy air-sea rescue boats, also called a crash boat (ARB), were: Model 314 at , length of , beam of , draft of . Powered by

Hall-Scott Hall-Scott Motor Car Company was an American manufacturing company based in Berkeley, California. It was among the most significant builders of water-cooled aircraft engines before World War I. History 1910–21 The company was founded in 1910 ...

Defender V12 petrol engines with a top speed of . They had a crew of 7 or 8 and were armed with two .50 cal.

M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered ...

machine guns. The boats had two rigid

United States Rubber Company Uniroyal, formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical weapons and op ...

bullet sealing fuel tanks. They were a speed boat used to rescue pilots, crew and passengers from downed aircraft in

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

missions.

Submarine chaser

Harbor Boat Building Company built

s that were of the design. They had a displacement of 94 tons with a length of , a beam of , a draft of , and a top speed of . They had a crew of 28. The sub chasers were powered by two General Motors, Electro-Motive Division, 16-184A diesel engines, and two propellers. They were armed with one

Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to models of 40 mm calibre automatic anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: * Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/43 - developed in the 1930s with market entry in 1934, wid ...

, two Browning M2 .50 cal. machine guns, 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 ...

projector "Y guns", and two depth charge tracks. Some of the submarine chasers were lent to

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

of the United States as part of the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

program.

Motor Torpedo Boat

Harbor Boat Building Company built Motor Torpedo Boats (BPT) in 1943. These had a displacement of 49 tons, a length of , and a top speed of . The BPTs were armed with two torpedoes, one 20 mm gun and two .303 cal

Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...

s. Power was from three Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines with three shafts. Built for the US Navy as BPT boats, they were reclassified to HM MTB for the use as British Motor Torpedo Boats.

Notable incidents

* SC 723 hull# 152, a US Navy sub chaser sank in a typhoon on its way to Taiwan on August 27, 1948. She was commissioned as the USS ''PC-723'' on December 7, 1942.NavSource, SC 723
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbor Boat Building Company American Theater of World War II 1940s in California American boat builders