View source for Kaiser Shipyards

{{Short description|Shipbuilding yards on the West Coast of the United States}}
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{{Use American English|date=March 2016}}
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|caption3 = [[Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation]]
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The '''Kaiser Shipyards''' were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the [[West Coast of the United States|United States west coast]] during [[World War II]]. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.<ref>[[Whiz Kids (Department of Defense)|Peck, Merton J.]] & [[Frederic M. Scherer|Scherer, Frederic M.]] ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962) [[Harvard Business School]] p. 619.</ref> The shipyards were owned by the '''Kaiser Shipbuilding Company''', a creation of American industrialist [[Henry J. Kaiser]] (1882–1967), who established the shipbuilding company around 1939 in order to help meet the construction goals set by the [[United States Maritime Commission]] for merchant shipping.

Four of the Kaiser Shipyards were located in [[Richmond, California]], and were called the [[Richmond Shipyards]]. Three other shipyards were located in the Pacific Northwest along the [[Columbia River|Columbia]] and [[Willamette River|Willamette]] rivers: the [[Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation]] and the [[Swan Island Shipyard]] in [[Portland, Oregon]], and the [[Vancouver Shipyard]] in [[Vancouver, Washington]].<ref>Herman, pp. 209, 269, 271, 275.</ref>

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 ship]]s were typically assembled in a little over two weeks, and one in less than five days.<ref>Herman, pp. 176–91.</ref>

Kaiser Shipyards shut down at the end of the war. The [[Rosie 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.

== History ==
[[File:With nearly 1000 (African-American) women employed as burners, welders, scalers, and in other capacities at the... - NARA - 535803.tif|thumb|A welder helping construct the [[SS George Washington Carver|SS ''George Washington Carver'']] at the Richmond Shipyards, April 1943]]
Henry Kaiser had been building cargo ships for the [[United States Maritime Commission]] in the 1930s, partnering with [[Todd Pacific Shipyards]] and the [[Bath 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.<ref>Herman, pp. 22, 123–24, 130–37.</ref>

In April 1941 the Maritime Commission requested an additional Kaiser yard, to be used for [[Liberty ship]] construction, and after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], Kaiser started third and fourth yards, building [[Troopship|troop transport]]s and [[tank landing ship]]s (LSTs), respectively. His son, [[Edgar Kaiser, Sr]], was appointed Vice-President and General Manager of the shipyards.<ref name=Kennedy>{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Shawn G. |title=Edgar F. Kaiser dies at age 73; headed vast family corporation |work=New York Times |date=December 13, 1981 |at=Sec. 1, p. 54 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/13/obituaries/edgar-f-kaiser-dies-at-age-73-headed-vast-family-corporation.html}}</ref><ref>Herman, pp. 132–34, 137, 178–89, 1914, 269, 271.</ref>

Together, these four Kaiser Shipyards produced 747 ships, including many of the famous [[Liberty ship]]s and [[Victory ship]]s{{nsmdns}}for carrying general cargo and military munitions, armaments and supplies, more than any other complex in the United States.  Only one of these ships, {{SS|Red Oak Victory||2}}, survives. Two other Liberty ships built in other American yards also exist as working museum exhibits: {{SS|Jeremiah O'Brien||2}} moored in [[San Francisco]] and {{SS|John W. Brown||2}} in [[Baltimore]]. An additional Victory cargo ship also survives: {{SS|Lane Victory||2}}.

Through 1943 The Kaiser shipyards produced {{sclass|Casablanca|escort carrier}}s. 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".<ref>{{Cite news|date=21 October 1943|title=A message from Edgar F Kaiser to the men and women of Vancouver Yard|work=Bo's'n's Whistle|url=https://digitalcollections.ohs.org/the-bosns-whistle|access-date=4 October 2021}}</ref>

== Other details ==
* Kaiser set several records:
** The [[Liberty ship]] [[SS Robert E. Peary|SS ''Robert E. Peary'']] was assembled in less than five days as a part of a special competition among shipyards.
** At the Oregon Shipbuilding Yard on the Columbia River, near Portland, the [[Victory ship]] [[List of Liberty ships (Je–L)|SS ''Joseph N. Teal'']] was built in ten days in fall 1942.
* The Oregon Shipbuilding Yards were responsible for 455 ships.
* Kaiser recruited from across the United States to work in his yards, hiring women and minorities.
* [[Fields Point]] in [[Providence, Rhode Island]], had a shipyard run as the [[Walsh-Kaiser Company]]<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/kwalsh.htm | title = Walsh-Kaiser Company, Inc., Providence RI | publisher = ShipBuildingHistory.com | access-date = May 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905163305/http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/kwalsh.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2008}}</ref> after former management ([[Rheem Manufacturing Company|Rheem]]) ran into difficulties. The shipyard was closed and sold after the war. A Swedish shipowner dismantled the shipyard and later erected it in the city of [[Uddevalla]] on the west coast of Sweden.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

== See also ==
* [[Kaiser Permanente]], an [[HMO]] founded by [[Henry J. Kaiser]]
* [[Marinship]]
* [[Shipyard Railway]], which transported workers to the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California
* [[Vanport, Oregon]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

=== References ===
* Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II'' (New York: Random House, 2012). {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Marilynn S.|title=The Second Gold Rush|date=1993|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0-520-08191-9}}
* {{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Warren F.|last2=Lee|first2=Catherine T.|title=A selective history of the Codornices-University Village, the city of Albany & environs : with special attention given to the Richmond Shipyard Railway and the Albany Hill and shoreline|date=2000|publisher=Belvidere Delaware Railroad Co. Enterprises|location=Albuquerque, NM|isbn=0-9675646-0-3}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.history.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0219.html History.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010052007/http://www.history.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0219.html |date=October 10, 2007 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051029084202/http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=00088A33-E7AE-1E91-891B80B0527200A7 Kaiser Vancouver (WA) & Portland (OR) Yards]
* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/shipbuilding.htm NPS article on Bay Area shipbuilding] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061211025545/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/shipbuilding.htm |date=December 11, 2006 }}
* [http://www.rosietheriveter.org/ Rosie the Riveter Trust]
* [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8pg1w4g/ A guide to the Permanente Metals Corporation photograph album, 1941-1945]

{{Liberty ships}}
{{Victory ships}}
{{MARCOMships}}
{{Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard}}
{{WWII US ships}}
{{History of Richmond, California}}
{{Oregon Modern History}}
{{Henry J. Kaiser}}

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[[Category:Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Henry J. Kaiser]]
[[Category:United States home front during World War II]]
[[Category:Liberty ships|.]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1940]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1940]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1946]]
[[Category:American women civilians in World War II]]