43°39′3″N70°14′4″W / 43.65083°N 70.23444°W /43.65083; -70.23444
TheNew England Shipbuilding Corporation was ashipyard located in the city ofSouth Portland,Maine, United States. The yard originated as two separate entities, theTodd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation (a joint operation ofTodd Shipyards andBath Iron Works) and theSouth Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, which were created in 1940 and 1941 respectively, in order to meet the demand created byWorld War II. The two merged in 1943, then continued to produce ships as the New England Shipbuilding Corporation's East Yard and West Yard. New England Shipbuilding ranked 97th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.[1] Both closed at the end of the war.[2][3]
The two yards built 266 ships: 154 in the East Yard, 112 in the West Yard. The first 30 East Yard ships wereOcean classcargo ships built for the United Kingdom.[4] The remaining ships were of theLiberty ship design, derived from theOcean class, and were built for theUnited States Maritime Commission. Among them was theSSJeremiah O'Brien, a Liberty ship that is preserved as amuseum ship inSan Francisco. In contrast to many museum vessels, she is in seaworthy condition in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard and American Bureau of Shipping standards, making regular cruises on San Francisco Bay.[5]
Five of the British Ocean ships, hulls 19–24Ocean Wayfarer,Ocean Stranger,Ocean Traveller,Ocean Seaman, andOcean Gallant, were launched along with two destroyers,USS Conway andUSS Cony, and the Liberty ShipSS Natasha Allen at a record breaking mass launching on August 16, 1942.[6][7] The ships were launched and they raced to see which one was the fastest;Natasha Allen won.
At the peak of production, the yards employed 30,000 people.[5][8]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theLibrary of Congress.
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