TheKaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on theWest Coast of the United States duringWorld War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.[1] The shipyards were owned by theKaiser Company, a creation of American industrialistHenry J. Kaiser (1882–1967), who entered the shipbuilding industry in order to help meet the construction goals set by theUnited States Maritime Commission for merchant shipping.
Four of the Kaiser Shipyards were located inRichmond, California, and were called theRichmond Shipyards. Three other shipyards were located in the Pacific Northwest along theColumbia andWillamette rivers: theOregon Shipbuilding Corporation and theSwan Island Shipyard inPortland, Oregon, and theVancouver Shipyard inVancouver, Washington.[2]
Henry Kaiser was known for developing new methods of shipbuilding, which allowed his yards to outproduce other similar facilities and build 1,490 ships, 27 percent of the total Maritime Commission construction. Kaiser's ships were completed in two-thirds the time and a quarter the cost of the average of all other shipyards.Liberty ships were typically assembled in a little over two weeks, and one in less than five days.[3]
Kaiser Shipyards shut down at the end of the war. TheRosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park was dedicated October 25, 2000, on the site of one of the shipyards in Richmond.
Henry Kaiser had been building cargo ships for theUnited States Maritime Commission in the 1930s, partnering withTodd Shipyards Corporation and theBath Iron Works. When orders for ships from the British government, already at war with Germany, allowed for growth, Kaiser established his first Richmond shipyard begun in December 1940.[4]
In April 1941 the Maritime Commission requested an additional Kaiser yard, to be used forLiberty ship construction, and after theattack on Pearl Harbor, Kaiser started third and fourth yards, buildingtroop transports andtank landing ships (LSTs), respectively. His son,Edgar Kaiser, Sr, was appointed Vice-President and General Manager of the shipyards.[5][6]
Together, these four Kaiser Shipyards produced 747 ships, including many of the famousLiberty ships andVictory ships—for carrying general cargo and military munitions, armaments and supplies, more than any other complex in the United States. Only one of these ships,Red Oak Victory, survives. Two other Liberty ships built in other American yards also exist as working museum exhibits:Jeremiah O'Brien moored inSan Francisco andJohn W. Brown inBaltimore. An additional Victory cargo ship also survives:Lane Victory.
Through 1943 The Kaiser shipyards producedCasablanca-classescort carriers. While promising 16 carriers by 1944, Kaiser encouraged employees to go above and beyond and make 18 instead, with the slogan "18 or more by 44".[7]
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