Peterson Builders Incorporated (PBI) was an American ship building company that constructed small to medium, naval and commercial ships and boats. The company mainly operated from a shipyard in

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Sturgeon Bay is a city in Door County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 9,646 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the bay of Sturgeon Bay for which it is named, it is the most populous city o ...

. Spare parts and logistics were managed from

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

and a ship repair operation in Ingleside, Texas made up part of PBI.

Products

The company built

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 ...

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, training craft, harbor security boats,

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s, diving tenders, personnel boats, torpedo retrievers, salvage ships and sailboats. PBI built ships for the navies of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the Netherlands, Burma, Iran, Ethiopia, Korea, Vietnam, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Peru, Turkey, Greece and Liberia as well as the United States Army and National Science Foundation. The company was one of the United States Navy's prime contractors. They also constructed

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

and

fireboat A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with ...

s for local and state governments. In 1974, PBI produced a unique floating aquarium for the

New England Aquarium The New England Aquarium is a nonprofit organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. The species exhibited include Harbor seal, harbor and northern fur seals, California sea lions, African penguin, African and southern rockhopper penguins, gia ...

. PBI built a crane barge for the Army Corps of Engineers in 1995. Peterson Builders laid the keel for the

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

'' Denis Sullivan'', a replica 19th century Great Lakes schooner that served as the flagship of Wisconsin from 2000 to 2022. During the company's 65 years, the company delivered nearly 300 vessels that started with a fishing vessel. PBI was best known for the

s constructed mostly during the 1950s and 1960s and in the late 1980s. While Peterson focused mainly on smaller vessels, they constructed several long roll-on/roll-off ships for the American Heavy Lift Shipping Company and salvage ships for the US Navy exceeding .

End of business

On June 16, 1995, second generation owner and CEO Ellsworth Peterson, announced that the company was for sale. On September 25, 1995, Larry Maples announced his intention to purchase and operate the company under the name Poseidon Shipbuilding LLC. By November, however, Maple was reported unable to secure the necessary financing. PBI closed down in January 1996. All that remains of the Sturgeon Bay shipyard is a historical marker in what is now Graham Park. A girl's little league baseball field at Graham Park is named after the company (PBI Field).Park Facilities
''City of Sturgeon Bay'', (Archived May 5, 2014)

References

{{Reflist Door County, Wisconsin Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1933 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct companies based in Wisconsin

Products

End of business

See also

References