In the post-war years, Todd Shipyards performed building and maintenance work for, among others, theUnited States Navy andRoyal Australian Navy, theUnited States Coast Guard, and theWashington State Ferries. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1987 after years of financial struggles. It resumed operations in 1991 as theTodd Pacific Shipyards Corporation after closing all locations except for its shipyard inSeattle, Washington.[a]
The company continued more limited operations in thePuget Sound region of Washington until it was acquired byVigor Industrial in 2011. Todd Shipyards became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vigor and operated under the nameVigor Shipyards for a number of years.
From 1940 to 1945, during World War II, Todd Shipyards built or repaired 23,000 ships in many shipyards with 57,000 workers. Todd ranked26th among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts.[6][7]
In October 1977, the company created the Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary by combining itsSeattle Division andLos Angeles Division.[2][3]
Todd Shipyards filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy in 1987. The company came out of Chapter 11 protection in 1991 as the Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation after having shuttered all of its locations except for its shipyard in Seattle.[9]
In 1995 Todd branched out and started a radio subsidiary company called Elettra Broadcasting Corporation. Elettra Broadcasting operated three FM radio stations inCarmel.[10]
In February 2011,Vigor Industrial purchased Todd Shipyards for US$130 million.[11] This included Todd's shipyards in Seattle,Everett, andBremerton.[12] The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vigor and began operating as Vigor Shipyards after the acquisition.[13]
Todd Brooklyn. Todd Shipyard's first facility was acquired in 1916, inErie Basin in Brooklyn, New York, along the waterfront of theRed Hook neighborhood. As background,Erie Basin dry dock was the firstgraving dock in the United States, built at the site in 1866. J. N. Robins Company acquired it in 1869, then merged with Erie Basin Dry Dock Company, started by Delamater Iron Works, and was renamed the Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company.William H. Todd had worked for both Erie Basin Dry Dock and Robins Dry Dock. In 1916, Todd and some of his associates purchased Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company, the Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Company ofHoboken inWeehawken Cove, theSeattle Construction and Drydock Company on the West Coast, the Tebo Yacht Basin Company, and theGowanus shipyard in Brooklyn. The Erie Basin yard was sold in 1986 to Rodermond Industries, which closed in the 1990s.[14][15][16][17][9][18][19]
Vice President of Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation, Hans K. Schaefer, speaks during christening and launching ceremonies for the guided missile frigateUSS Reid (FFG-30) at the Todd Pacific Shipyards Corp., Los Angeles Division, in 1981
Richmond shipyard No. 1 was a new shipyard built to support the demand for ships for World War 2. Kaiser purchased the contact and the Richmond yard to build typeOcean ship from the Todd Shipyards in 1940. Todd then Kaiser built yard No. 1 to build the Ocean ships. Yard No. 1 was built on unoccupied land with construction starting in December 1940. In April 1941 the keel for the first British bound Ocean ship was laid. The next series of ships built were Liberty ships, with the first keel laid on May 15, 1942. Needing faster cargo ships the next series of ships built wereVictory ships, with the first keel laid on January 17, 1944. After the war, in 1946, the yard closed. Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard was at 700 Wright Ave, Richmond on the Parr Canal. The site now has general docks for construction supplies. Located at GPS37°55′15″N122°21′47″W / 37.920887°N 122.362920°W /37.920887; -122.362920.[25][26] Built at Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard:* Ocean ship, 30 cargo ships, 7,174 GRT. (sometimes credited to Todd Shipyards Corporation), * Liberty ship, 138 model EC2-S-C1 ships, 7,176 GRT., *Victory ship, 82 Model VC2-S-AP3 ships, 7,612 GRT.,Notable ships:Ocean Victory,Ocean Vigour,Chief Ouray,Logan Victory andNortheastern Victory.
Todd Tacoma Division,Commencement Bay,Tacoma, Washington opened in 1917 to buildDesign 1014 ship ships for the United States Shipping Board. It operated as part of Todd Dry Dock & Construction until shut down after World War I in 1924. The yard reopened in partnership withKaiser Shipbuilding in 1939 asSeattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation. The yard built 56Bogue andCommencement Bay-classescort carriers and various auxiliaries. In 1942 Todd bought out Kaiser's share and the yard eventually became part of Todd Pacific Shipyards. Sold to the Navy after World War II, further sold to the Port of Tacoma in 1959. The site today is the Commencement Bay Industrial Development District.[27]
Houston shipyard (right) andBrown Shipbuilding, later Todd Houston (left), in 1944
ToddGalveston, Texas (29°18′55″N94°47′38″W / 29.3154°N 94.794°W /29.3154; -94.794) opened in 1934. Todd took over theGalveston Dry Dock & Construction onPelican Island. In 1943 Todd took over the yard next door,Gray's Iron Works and renamed the yardsTodd Galveston Drydocks, Inc.. For World War II the yard built T1 TankersT1-M-A1. Post-war they built three ferries for Texas. In 1949 Todd moved the main operation to theBrown Shipbuilding yard inHouston that they had leased. The Pelican Island Galveston yard was used only for ship repair and in 1965 also started tanker conversions, asTodd Shipyards Corporation, Galveston Division. Todd Galveston builtType C6 ships. Todd Galveston yard went into Chapter 11 and closed in 1990. The yard was sold. The yard had two Panamax floating dry-docks that were moved to the Alabama Shipyard and Bender Shipbuilding. In 1993, the remainder of Todd Galveston on Pelican Island was sold to thePort of Galveston. It is now part of Newpark Marine, Gulf Copper runs an offshore repair yard there. Southwest Shipyard now operates a shipyard at the side.[35][36][37]
Todd Houston on theBuffalo Bayou (29°44′54″N95°10′37″W / 29.7483°N 95.177°W /29.7483; -95.177) was opened in 1949, when Todd took over theBrown Shipbuilding's yard at Green's Bayou.[36] Todd ran the yard as abarge construction and repair shop. Todd closed the operation in 1987 selling to Platzer Shipyard. The yard returned to Brown, which renamed it Brown & Root, a construction facility for theoffshore drilling industry, which closed in 2004. The site is now the Brown Shipbuilding Industrial.[41]
Todd New Orleans, in 1934 Todd joined with Johnson Iron Works inNew Orleans to build and repair shipyard calledTodd-Johnson Dry Docks. Todd took over the yard and in 1987 sold the yard toPort of New Orleans.[42]
^The Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation was originally created as a subsidiary of the Todd Shipyards Corporation in 1977, combining the company's divisions in Seattle and Los Angeles.[2][3]
Mitchell, C. Bradford; Linen, Edwin K. (1981).Every Kind of Shipwork: A History of Todd Shipyards Corporation, 1916–1981. New York: Todd Shipyards.OCLC9324781.
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