Union Iron Works, located in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

History

Peter Donohue, an Irish immigrant, founded Union Brass & Iron Works in the south of Market area of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1849. It was later run by his son, James Donohue. After years as the premiere producer of mining, railroad, agricultural and locomotive machinery in

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 ...

, Union Iron Works, led by I. M. Scott, entered the ship building business and relocated to Potrero Point where its shipyards still exist, making the site on the north side of the Potrero the longest running privately owned shipyard in the United States. After Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the works in 1905, the consolidated company came to include the

Alameda Works Shipyard The Alameda Works Shipyard, in Alameda, California, United States, was one of the largest and best equipped shipyards in the country. The only building remaining from the yard is the Union Iron Works Powerhouse, which is listed on the National ...

, located across the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

in Alameda and the Hunter's Point shipyard to the south. In 1885, the Union Iron Works launched the first steel-hulled ship on the west coast, , built with steel from the Pacific Rolling Mills. In 1886, UIW was awarded a $1,000,000 contract to build the cruiser 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 ...

, which they completed in eighteen months. From the completion of ''Arago'' in 1884 to 1902, UIW built seventy-five marine vessels, including two of the most famous vessels of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, and . An 1892 description of the yards stated that between 1200 and 1500 men were employed and the yearly gross revenue was between $2,000,000 and $4,000,000. By the turn of the century, the shipyard had expanded in area and employment had more than doubled to 3,500. These industrial facilities used five types of power, distributed throughout; electricity, compressed air, steam, hydraulic and coal or gas fire. Union Iron works built a number of ships for the United States Navy. These ships include USS ''Oregon'' laid down in 1891, and s and which were launched in 1902 and 1903, respectively. The latter two were subcontracted from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, and were the first submarines built on the West Coast. In 1902, the Union Iron Works was absorbed into a combine called the United States Shipbuilding Company and was mired in three years of litigation. In 1905, the entire shipyard was purchased by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation for one million dollars. Charles M. Schwab stood on the steps of the UIW office building on 20th Street during the auction. At this point, he was the only bidder. Schwab was widely believed to have engineered the demise of the U.S. Shipbuilding Corporation in order to gain control of the industry. Whether or not that was true, he certainly benefited from the collapse of the US Shipbuilding combine. Capsized SS Columbia

OldBethelemSteelHeadquartersInSanFranciscoAt20thAndIllinois

At the time of the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

, the coastal passenger liner of the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company had been undergoing a refit at the yard's hydraulic

drydock 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, ...

. The earthquake caused the iron-hulled ''Columbia'' to shift off her supports and roll onto the drydock on her starboard side. This damaged the drydock, a key feature of the yard, beyond economic repair. ''Columbia'' on the other hand, despite being partially flooded and damaged, was repaired and returned to service in January 1907. In 1908, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the Hunter's Point drydocks. In the pre-World War I era, Union Iron Works built several navy ships that became internationally famous due to the Spanish–American War including Commodore Dewey's flagship the ''Olympia''. After 1905, the shipyard operated as part of

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

, and produced both warships and merchant ships. The shipyard was expanded in 1911 by purchasing Risdon Iron Works, the land next to the shipyard. Risdon Iron Works built

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s, this was closed and a new shipyard was built to build US Navy including

destroyers In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

and

submarines A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or info ...

. Risdon Iron Works was founded by John Risdon of Saline, Michigan in 1896. Risdon Iron Works started by building

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

s, iron pipes,

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s and

gas engine A gas engine is an internal combustion engine that runs on a fuel gas (a gaseous fuel), such as coal gas, producer gas, biogas, landfill gas, natural gas or hydrogen. In the United Kingdom and British English-speaking countries, the term is ...

s. From 1873 to 1909 Risdon Iron Works also built ships, tugs, ferries and barges. John Risdon held the patents for the first river mining dredge.

World War II slipways

12-1-4b-ua229 Beth-16thSt-SFran-SubRepair-25

Locomotives built

The named locomotives built by Union Iron Works were: * for the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad ** ''California'', ''Atlantic'', ''Union'' * for the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...

** ''A. A. Sargent'' * for the Pittsburg Railroad ** ''Mt. Diablo'', ''Boston'', ''Sampson'' * for the Black Diamond Coal Mining Railroad (also known as the "Black Diamond Railroad") ** '' D. O. Mills'' * for the California Pacific Railroad ** ''Calistoga'' * for the

Virginia and Truckee Railroad The Virginia and Truckee Railroad (stylized as Virginia & Truckee Railroad) is a privately owned heritage railway, heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is long. When first constructe ...

** ''Lyon'', ''Ormsby'', ''Storey'' * for the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad ** '' W. C. Ralston'', '' J. G. Downey'', ''Geyser'', ''Santa Rosa'', ''Ukiah'' * for the Battle Mountain and Lewis Railroad ** ''John D. Hall'', ''Starr Grove'' * ''S. H. Harmon'' for the Gualala Railroad * ''F. Camacho'' for the Acajutla and Sonsonate Railroad

Ships built

Some of the ships and ferries built by Union Iron Works include: * launched in 1893, still in service as of 2019 * launched in 1893 * launched in 1898 * Berkeley,

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

ferry 1898, constructed simultaneously with USS ''Wisconsin'' in an adjacent drydock. First complete ferry built by Union Iron Works * ''San Pablo'', Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad passenger ferry. 1899. Sold for scrap in 1937. Hull became first fish reduction plant on

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of the San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep wate ...

* ''Tamalpais'', 1900 Northwest Railroad passenger ferry. Burned for scrap 1947 * launched in 1901 * launched in 1891 * launched in 1900 * launched in 1897 * launched in 1897 * launched in 1888 * launched 26 October 1889 * launched in 1892. Admiral Dewey's flagship at the

Battle of Manila Bay The Battle of Manila Bay (; ), also known as the Battle of Cavite, took place on May 1, 1898, during the Spanish–American War. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey engaged and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squad ...

* a launched in 1903 * a launched in 1904 * launched in 1898 * s and for the United States Navy in 1902 and 1903 * ''San Pedro'', 1910 Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad passenger ferry. Renamed ''Treasure Island'' when it joined Key System in 1938 * ''Napa Valley'', 1910 Monticello Steamship Company passenger ferry. Sold and resold until scrapped at Portland, Oregon in 1956 * Tanker SS ''Acme'' for the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was a corporation established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting ...

in 1916 * s , and for the United States Navy between 1900 and 1902 * steel tanker for

Standard Oil of New Jersey Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was formed ...

, launched 8 August 1917 * 3 tankers for Union Oil of California ** ''Olinda'', '' La Brea'', ''Los Angeles'' * 6 tankers for Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company (1917-1920) ** George G. Henry, Wilhelm Jebsen, S. M. Spalding, Paul H. Harwood, William H. Doheny, Franklin K. Lane * 6 of 27 ''R''-class submarines ** first keel laid: R-16, 26 April 1917, last: R-19, 23 June 1917 ** first launch: R-15, 10 December 1917, last: R-19, 28 January 1918 ** ... * 12 of 51 ''S''-class submarines ** ... * 26 of 111 s for the United States Navy between 1917 and 1919 ** first keel laid: ''Ringold'', 20 October 1917, last: ''Stansbury'', 9 December 1918 ** first launch: ''McKee'', 23 March 1918, last: ''Stansbury'', 16 May 1919 ** 8 are launched on 4 July 1918 ** ... ** ... ** ... * 40 of 156 s for the United States Navy between 1918 and 1921 ** ... * 3 ferries for Six Minute Ferry Co. auto ferry. Short-lived ferry company funded by "Sunny Jim" James Rolph ** ''San Mateo'', ''Shasta'', ''Yosemite'' * 3 ferries for the Richmond–San Francisco Transportation Company in 1924 ** ''El Paso'', ''New Orleans'', ''Klamath'' * 3 of 6 ferries for the

in 1927 ** ''

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

'', '' Stockton'', '' Mendocino'' * 2 of 4 s ** , for the United States Navy in 1937 and 1938 * 5 of 95 C1-BPacific Marine Review, January 1941, p. 95Pacific Marine Review, February 1941, p. 71Pacific Marine Review, March 1941, p. 72Pacific Marine Review, October 1941, pp. 106Pacific Marine Review, August 1941, p. 52 ** contract date: 18 Sep 1939 ** ''Cape San Martin'', launched 6 Aug 1940, delivered 3 Feb 1941 to Grace Line ** ''Alcoa Pioneer'', launched 4 Oct 1940, delivered to Alcoa Steamship Company ** ''Alcoa Pilgrim'', laid down 8 Aug 1940, launched 10 Jan 1941 ** ''Alcoa Patriot'', laid down 9 Oct 1940, launched 12 March 1941 ** '' Alcoa Puritan'', laid down 15 Jan 1941, launched 3 July 1941 ** detailed description of the design of these vessels in ** two 450 psi 740 °F

water tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-generat ...

s ** 4,000shp Bethlehem Quincy cross compound steam turbine, double reduction gears, one shaft * following the

Two-Ocean Navy Act The Two-Ocean Navy Act, also known as the Vinson–Walsh Act, was a United States law enacted on July 19, 1940, and named for Carl Vinson and David I. Walsh, who chaired the Naval Affairs Committee in the House and Senate respectively. In what ...

* 4 of 8 s; for the United States Navy between 1941 and 1945 ** , , , * 36 of 415

** 9 of 30 s for the United States Navy in 1941 and 1942 *** , *** ... ** 18 of 175 s for the United States Navy in 1942 and 1943 *** ... *** , ** 6 of 58 s for the United States Navy in 1944 and 1945 *** ... ** 3 of 98 s *** ... *** in addition: , cancelled, launched incomplete * 12 of 563 destroyer escorts and APDs ** 12 of 148 s for the United States Navy in 1943 and 1944 *** ... Ships reconstructed by the Union Iron Works include: * - Refitted unsuccessfully due to heavy damage caused by the

. Refit and repairs completed elsewhere.Belyk, Robert C. Great Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print.

References

*Bethlehem Steel Company Shipbuilding Division. ''A century of progress, 1849–1949: San Francisco Yard''. San Francisco, 1949 *Mains'l Haul - Journal of Pacific Maritime History - Fall 1998

External links