Tampa Shipbuilding Company, or TASCO, was one of a number of

shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. It operated from 1917 to after World War II, closing in 1947. The site is now Gulf Marine Repair which operates with

floating 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, ...

History

Origins

Originally Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, founded in 1917, the yard built ships under the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The co ...

's pre-war long-range shipbuilding program. It was also called the Tampa Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. It would use the facilities of the Tampa Foundry & Machine Co. Tampa Foundry that ceased to exist in 1916. The Tampa Foundry was established in 1892 and was later incorporated in 1905.

World War II mobilization

The company borrowed $750,000 in 1938 from the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...

to help pay for the construction of a 10,000-ton

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, ...

that was being built. After the dry dock was constructed, in 1939, they were awarded a contract worth $8 million to build four cargo ships. The growth in the shipyard resulted in about 2,000 new jobs being created and helped to combat unemployment in the city. The company ended up only producing one of the ships in the contract, as the company announced it was in bad financial shape. As a result of the company going into a bad financial state, the Maritime Commission and

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government that served as a lender of last resort to US banks and businesses. Established in ...

(that had assumed the PWA loan) tried to find new owners for the company, replacing Ernest Kreher. George B. Howell, who worked for the Exchange National Bank, was encouraged by this to buy the company for $500. Howell was charged by the US Accounting Office with illegally selling ships and overcharging 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 ...

, but was never prosecuted. The shipyard was renamed to Tampa Shipbuilding Company (TASCO) after it was sold.

World War II activities

During the war, TASCO was one of four other shipyards in Tampa. The other three being: Bushnell-Lyons; Tampa Marine; and Hooker's Point Yard, started by Matthew H. McCloskey, Junior. TASCO was the largest company that existed. A company newspaper published during World War II was titled the ''Tascozette''. African American workers who worked in shipyards were usually excluded from joining local unions as it was common during that time period to not accept them. Those in the shipyard who were African American usually worked as cooks, assistants, janitors and learners which were some of the only job positions they could take. The jobs available to African American workers were not unionized in general. The accomplishments of African American workers were rarely if never highlighted in the company newspapers of the shipyards in Tampa. 17% of workers at the shipyard were female making it twice the rate it was at the national level. Apart from doing work at the shipyard during World War II, recreational activities were also provided for workers there. A bowling, softball and basketball league was created at the shipyard. Eventually a swim club and fencing club would be established along with volleyball, tennis and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

would also being introduced. A radio program would be created by the management of the shipyard. An

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

recording would be broadcast from the Morale Department located in the yard originally being an hour long program at noon. The radio program would be expanded in October 1944 and would also include songs requested by employees.

Ships built during World War II

Immediately before and during the United States entry into the

Second World War 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 ...

the company built US Navy

auxiliaries Auxiliaries are combat support, support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular army, regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties ...

. Tampa Shipbuilding built: s and Type C2 cargo ships, like , and , which gained some note in a last attempt to deliver

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

planes to

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, though the twenty-seven crated

P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entr ...

s had to be destroyed after delivered to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. During the war TASCO also built s like , and . At its peak, it was the largest employer in Tampa, employing 16,000 people. Tampa Shipbuilding closed after the war in 1947, and few traces remain of its facilities. * 9 of 72 s ** ... ** plus 3 launched, cancelled and scrapped (772, 773, 774) * 24 of 123 ** ... ** ... * 3 of 5 s ** ... * 7 of 7 s ( C2) ** ... , , , * 1 of 10 s ** * 2 of 2 s ** , * 3 of 11 s ** ... * 4 of 11 s (conversions only) ** ... * (conversion only) * APL-53 to APL-56

References

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External links

Tampa Shipbuilding (TASCO), Tampa FL
{{coord, 27.943955, -82.441188, display=title Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Companies based in Tampa, Florida 1917 establishments in Florida American companies established in 1917