Jakobson Shipyard

The Jakobson Shipyard, Inc. was a shipyard involved in manufacture of tugs, ferries, submarines, minesweepers, yachts, fireboats and other craft, based in Brooklyn, New York from 1926–1938, and Oyster Bay, New York from 1938-1984.

History

Note: Ship names utilized are the Original Names with text in italics. The numbers in parentheses following the Original Name is the Hull Number.

The Jakobson Shipyard, Inc. traces its origins to founder Daniel Jakobson, who established the Jakobson & Peterson shipyard in Brooklyn, New York in 1895. Jakobson was a native of Sweden who immigrated to the United States in 1877. His son, Irving Jakobson, succeeded him as President in 1925. The elder Jakobson died November 28, 1931 at his residence on 370 Senator Street in Brooklyn.

The firm operated in Brooklyn until around 1938 when it was decided to move to Oyster Bay, New York. As many as 700 people worked at Jakobson's during the height of production around World War II.

Four diesel-electric tugboats were built and launched for the Lehigh Valley Railroad from 1948 and 1950. These include the Wilkes-Barre (327), Hazelton (328), Cornell (329), and Lehigh (330). Of these, the tugboat Cornell is the last in service. These diesel tugs were meant to replace steam driven tugs used by the railroad in New York Harbor for towing car floats and barges. Among the benefits that came from diesel were eliminating time lost for fueling.