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36-533: In 1942, the Maritime Commission selected Fields Point for the location of an emergency shipyard. It was planned to be able to build ships on six different ways . The construction of the shipyard was financed as part of the country's Emergency Shipbuilding Program . Storekeepers and housewives, clerks and youths fresh out of school worked side by side, turning out ship after ship. Construction began on March 28, 1942. The shipyard construction swallowed

72-669: A history, see: 840 Zenobia 840 Zenobia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun . It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg on September 25 , 1916 . The origin of the name is uncertain, but it may be named after the Slavic god of the hunt. Photometric observations of the asteroid during 2006 at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado , were used to generate

108-714: A subsidy system authorized by the Act which would offset the differential cost between both building in the U.S. and operating ships under the American flag. Another function given to the Commission involved the formation of the U.S. Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ship's officers to man the new fleet. The actual licensing of officers and seamen still resided with the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation. President Roosevelt nominated Joseph P. Kennedy first head of

144-536: The 1960s and 1970s as more modern designs were developed and more efficient slow speed diesel engines introduced to replace the steamships which predominated those built by the Commission during the war years. Ships not disposed of through the Ship Sales Act were placed into one of eight National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) sites maintained on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. On several occasions in

180-545: The Battles of the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Although not sold outright to nations that were enemies during the war, U.S. merchant ships helped nations such as Japan, which had lost many hundreds of its merchant vessels to the Allies' submarine offensive in the western Pacific , recover their merchant shipping capacity via the loan of vessels and the carrying of relief cargoes to war ravaged Europe. Ships were also used in both

216-433: The Commission was to oversee the design and construction of the super passenger liner SS  United States which was intended to be both a symbol of American technological might and maritime predominance but also could be quickly converted into the world's fastest naval troop transport. The Maritime Commission was abolished on 24 May 1950, and its functions were divided between the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission which

252-537: The Commission's shipbuilding functions including the design and construction of the ships, developing shipyards to build them and companies to manufacture the complicated and highly specialized ship's machinery. As World War II drew closer, Vickery was very much at the forefront of putting into place the Emergency Shipbuilding Program which men like Henry J. Kaiser were so instrumental in developing into an industry which would perform some of

288-472: The Commission. Kennedy held that position until February 1938 when he left to become US Ambassador to Great Britain. After Kennedy's departure, the chairmanship was assumed by Rear Admiral Emory S. Land , USN (ret.), who had been the head of U.S. Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair prior to his appointment to the Commission on the behest of the President and where he had been a deputy commissioner since

324-687: The Maritime Commission was multifold as described in the Merchant Marine Act's Declaration of Policy. The first role was to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and then have built over a ten-year period 900 modern fast merchant cargo ships which would replace the World War I-vintage vessels which made up the bulk of the U.S. Merchant Marine prior to the Act. Those ships were intended to be chartered (leased) to U.S. shipping companies for their use in

360-558: The Nation's peacetime needs. In 1946, the Commission was chaired by Vice admiral William W. Smith and the Merchant Ship Sales Act was passed to sell off a large portion of the ships previously built during the war to commercial buyers, both domestic and foreign. This facilitated the rebuilding of the fleets of both allied nations such as Great Britain, Norway and Greece which had lost a majority of their prewar vessels to

396-469: The U.S. Merchant Marine and Merchant Shipbuilding under the Merchant Marine Act, the first vessel contracted for was SS  America . Owned by the United States Lines , she briefly operated in the passenger liner and cruise service before being converted into a high-speed transport, per her design. From 1939 through the end of World War II, the Maritime Commission funded and administered

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432-634: The World War I vintage vessels that comprised the bulk of the United States Merchant Marine , and to administer a subsidy system authorized by the Act to offset the cost differential between building in the U.S. and operating ships under the American flag. It also formed the United States Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ship's officers to man the new fleet. As a symbol of the rebirth of

468-486: The beginnings of the Emergency Shipbuilding program were laid. Together, all the Maritime Commission's shipbuilding program became known as Ships for Victory and great pride was taken in it by the many thousands of ordinary citizens went to work in the shipyards and joined the ranks of the shipbuilding workforce. From 1939 through the end of World War II, the Maritime Commission funded and administered

504-404: The design and construction of the super passenger liner SS  United States , which was intended to be both a symbol of American technological might and maritime predominance but also could be quickly converted into the world's fastest naval troop transport. The Maritime Commission was abolished on 24 May 1950, and its functions were divided between the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission which

540-465: The end of the war, the shipyard closed after laying off over 3,000 people in three months. In October 1945, it was reported that the Maritime Commission agreed to sell the property to the City of Providence for approximately $ 308,000. A drive-in theater with a 1,700 car capacity operated on the site of the yard from 1957 to 1976. In the late 1970s, there were plans to construct a cargo container port at

576-827: The era built) a Crown colony or British protectorate . Exceptions were Nyasaland and Somaliland , British protectorates in Africa. A July 1945 newspaper report stated that the Walsh-Kaiser Company had named each of its Artemis -class attack cargo ship after stars. However, this was questioned at the time, and appears to be in error. Most of the ship names correspond to the names of minor planets (asteroids): 105 Artemis , 881 Athene , 419 Aurelia , and so forth through 840 Zenobia . There are three exceptions, in which ships were named for constellations : Corvus , Hydrus , and Lacerta . United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission

612-466: The first step in the production process, burned to the ground. In February 1943, after the Rheem company showed difficulty managing the yard, Kaiser Shipyards was asked to manage the operation of the yard. As a result of the takeover, the size of the yard increased from 9,000 employees to over 14,000 just four months later. Eventually, 7 miles (11 km) of road wound about the yard. The first ships that

648-475: The foreign seagoing trades for whom they would be able to offer better and more economical freight services to their clients. The ships were also intended to serve as a reserve naval auxiliary force in the event of armed conflict which was a duty the U.S. merchant fleet had often filled throughout the years since the Revolutionary War. The second role given to the Maritime Commission was to administer

684-442: The founding of the body. The other four members of the Commission in the years before the beginning of World War II were a mix of retired naval officers and men from disciplines of law and business. The man most notable in the group Land brought to the Commission was Commander Howard L. Vickery , USN, who, like Land, was a naval officer closely involved in the construction of new Navy vessels. Vickery became responsible for overseeing

720-503: The greatest feats of wartime industrial production ever previously witnessed and never since matched. As a symbol of the rebirth of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Merchant Shipbuilding under the Merchant Marine Act, the first vessel contracted for was SS  America , which was owned by the United States Line and operated in the passenger liner and cruise service during 1940-1. Upon the U.S. entry into World War II, America

756-526: The influence that the American Federation of Labor (AFL) had in the area. Common laborers at the yard earned 85 cents an hour. The steady employment actually helped the local economy as the yard employed 18,767 on September 30, 1944. Three months later the payroll included 20,879. During the yard's peak in January 1945, 21,264 people were employed. Among these numbers were over 3,000 women. At

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792-507: The keel laying to delivery of the attack cargo ships. The fastest turnover took a mere 82 days. On September 1, 1945, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal wrote to T.   J. Walsh, the head of the company, praising the work of the local yard and saying that it was preeminent in building the great arsenal that helped save the world. Work was described as decent by the workers who labored there. Wages were also high due to

828-549: The largest and most successful merchant shipbuilding effort in world history, producing thousands of ships and other vessels, including Liberty ships , Victory ships , and others, notably Type B barges; Type C1 , Type C2 , Type C3 , and Type C4 freighters; Type R refrigerator ships; T1 , T2 , and T3 tankers , and Type V tugs. Most of the C2s and C3s were converted to Navy auxiliaries, notably attack cargo ships , attack transports , and escort aircraft carriers and many of

864-410: The largest and most successful merchant shipbuilding effort in world history. By the end of the war, U.S. shipyards working under Maritime Commission contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant and naval ships and many smaller vessels. A huge postwar contraction followed, with massive sell-offs to foreign militaries and commercial fleets. The last major shipbuilding project undertaken by

900-472: The popular Kerwin's Beach, which drew thousands to the shores of the Providence River before it was covered over. Although 1 million square yards (840,000 m) of fill from a nearby hillside was dumped onto the mud flats, this still failed to stabilize the area. The total cost of the shipyard was $ 26 million. On December 31, 1942, the first of many misfortunes hit the plant. The plate shop,

936-584: The postwar years ships in the reserve fleets were activated for both military and humanitarian aid missions. The last major mobilization of the NDRF came during the Vietnam War . Since then, a smaller fleet of ships called the Ready Reserve Force has been mobilized to support both humanitarian and military missions. The last major shipbuilding project undertaken by the Commission was to oversee

972-558: The rebuilding programs under the Marshall Plan and the transport of food aid sent during the desperate winter of 1945-46 when famine loomed large over much of the European continent. For the next 25 years, in ports all around the world one could find dozens of ships which had been built during the war but which now were used in peace. Many of those same ships continued to sail until the early 1980s but most had been sold for scrap in

1008-461: The site, but efforts fell through and two cranes are all that remained. The area has subsequently been reused by a few companies. Circa 1999, Johnson & Wales University had taken over a portion of the yard for their culinary arts program. Most of the Colony-class frigate names corresponded to an island or archipelago—such as Anguilla , Antigua , Ascension , and so forth—that was (in

1044-508: The tankers became fleet replenishment oilers . The Commission also was tasked with the construction of many hundred "military type" vessels such as Landing Ship, Tank (LST)s and Tacoma -class frigates (PF)s and large troop transports for the Navy and Army Transportation Corps . By the end of the war, U.S. shipyards working under Maritime Commission contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant and naval ships. In early 1942 both

1080-534: The training and licensing was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard for administration, but then late in the fall of 1942, the Maritime Service was transferred to the newly created War Shipping Administration which itself was created for the purpose of overseeing the operation of the fleet of merchant ships being built by the Emergency Program for the needs of the U.S. Armed Services. The WSA

1116-439: The yard produced were Liberty ships . After 10 ships were completed, 21 frigates were built. After those ships were finished, 32 attack cargo ships (Navy hull designation AKA) were constructed and launched. In the three years that the yard was in operation, 63 ships were eventually launched and completed. After learning from their initial mistakes, workers became more skilled with the building of ships. It took only 136 days from

Walsh-Kaiser Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-614: Was added to the list of wartime agencies created within the Roosevelt Administration and was intended to relieve the already full plate of responsibilities of the Commission, yet they shared the same Chairman in Admiral Land and so worked very closely together. With the end of World War II, both the Emergency and Long Range shipbuilding programs were terminated as there were far too many merchant vessels now for

1188-587: Was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 , which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The commission replaced the United States Shipping Board which had existed since World War I . It was intended to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and build five hundred modern merchant cargo ships to replace

1224-415: Was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and became USS  West Point . In the prewar years, several dozen other merchant ships were built for the Commission under its original 500 ship Long Range Shipbuilding Program but it was not until the late fall of 1940 the critical importance of the Commission to the defense of the lifeline to Great Britain and to the national mobilization for war became apparent when

1260-603: Was responsible for regulating shipping trades and trade routes and the United States Maritime Administration , which was responsible for administering the construction and operating subsidy programs, maintaining NDRF, and operating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy which had been built and opened during World War II and which continues to be funded and operated today as one of the five Federal Service Academies. Responsibility for U.S. merchant shipping has been held by many agencies since 1917. For

1296-440: Was responsible for regulating shipping trades and trade routes and the United States Maritime Administration , which was responsible for administering the construction and operating subsidy programs, maintaining NDRF, and operating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy which had been built and opened during World War II and which continues to be funded as the nation's federally operated maritime academy under 46 USC 310. The purpose of

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