New York Shipbuilding Corporation

Fate| Bankruptcy
Founded| 1899
Defunct| 1968
Headquarters| Camden, New Jersey

The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United States Coast Guard, and other maritime concerns. At its peak during World War II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the world.[citation needed] Its best-known vessels include the destroyer Engineering:USS Reuben James (DD-245), the cruiser Engineering:USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the aircraft carrier Engineering:USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), the nuclear-powered cargo ship NS Savannah, and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the Four Aces.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Ships built
* 3 See also
* 4 Footnotes
* 5 References
* 6 Bibliography
* 7 External links

## History

It was founded in 1899 by Henry G. Morse (1850—2 June 1903),[note 1] an engineer noted in connection with bridge design and construction and senior partner of Morse Bridge Company.[1] The original plan was to build a shipyard on Staten Island, thus the name of the company.[2] Plans to acquire a site failed and, after exploration as far south as Virginia with special attention being paid to the Delaware River area, a location in the southern part of Camden, New Jersey, chosen instead.[3] Site selection specifically considered the needs of the planned application of bridge building practices of prefabrication and assembly line production of ships in covered ways.[4] Construction of the plant began in July 1899 and was so rapid that the keel of the first ship was laid November 1900.[1] That ship, contract number 1, was M. S. Dollar, later to be modified as an oil tanker and renamed J. M. Guffey.[5][note 2] Two of the first contracts were for passenger ships that were among the largest then being built in the United States: #5 for Mongolia and #6 for Manchuria.[6] Morse died after securing contracts for 20 ships. He was followed as president by De Coursey May.[1]

On November 27, 1916, a special meeting of the company's stockholders ratified sale of the "fifteen million dollar plant" to a group of companies composed of American International Corporation, International Mercantile Marine Company, W. R. Grace & Company and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.[7][note 3]

New York Ship's unusual covered ways produced everything from aircraft carriers, battleships, and luxury liners to barges and car floats.

Air view of Yorkship Village. Eight destroyers of the Wickes class, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 1919.

During World War I, New York Ship expanded rapidly to fill orders from the U.S. Navy and the Emergency Fleet Corporation. A critical shortage of worker housing led to the construction of Yorkship Village, a planned community of 1,000 brick homes designed by Electus Darwin Litchfield and financed by the War Department. Yorkship Village is now the Fairview section of the City of Camden.

New York Ship's World War II production included all nine Independence-class light carriers (CVL), built on Cleveland-class light cruiser hulls; the 35,000-ton battleship Engineering:USS South Dakota (BB-57); and 98 LCTs (Landing Craft, Tank), many of which took part in the D-Day landings at Normandy.

After World War II, a much-diminished New York Ship subsisted on a trickle of contracts from the United States Maritime Administration and the U.S. Navy. In 1959 the yard launched the NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear powered merchant ship. The yard launched its last civilian vessel (SS Export Adventurer) in 1960, and its last naval vessel, Engineering:USS Camden, was ordered in 1967. The company's final completed submarine was Engineering:USS Guardfish (SSN-612), which had been ordered in the early 1960s, but construction was halted from 1963 to 1965 because of the loss of the Engineering:USS Thresher. Guardfish was commissioned in December 1967.

In 1968, lacking new naval orders, NYS went bankrupt. Engineering:USS Pogy (SSN-647), then under construction, was towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for completion.

The yard's site is now part of the Port of Camden, and handles breakbulk cargo.

## Ships built

Ships built by New York Ship include:

* Aircraft carriers
* Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier
* Engineering:USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), launched 21 May 1960
* Lexington-class aircraft carrier
* Engineering:USS Saratoga (CV-3), launched 7 April 1925
* Battleships
* New Mexico-class battleship
* Engineering:USS Idaho (BB-42)
* South Dakota-class battleship
* Engineering:USS South Dakota (BB-57)
* Colliers
* SS Plymouth served as USS Plymouth from 1918 to 1919, as an auxiliary cargo ship, then returned to civilian service as SS Plymouth[8]
* SS Fairmont served as USS Fairmont from 1918 to 1919, as an auxiliary cargo ship, then returned to civilian service again as the SS Fairmont. In 1922 she was renamed Nebraskan.[9]
* SS Winding Gulf[10]
* SS Tidewater did not serve in the US Navy. Renamed SS Isaac T. Mann in 1923 and was scrapped at Baltimore in 1954.[11]
* SS Glen White served as USS Glen White from 1918 to 1919 then returned to civilian service as SS Glen White.[12]
* SS Sewalls Point did not serve in the US Navy.[13]
* SS Franklin did not serve in the US Navy, became SS Nevadan in 1921, then SS Oakey L. Alexander in 1926. Was wrecked on the Maine coast in March 1947.[14]
* SS William N. Page [15]
* Cruisers
* Portland-class cruiser
* Engineering:USS Indianapolis (CA-35) launched 7 November 1931
* Alaska-class large cruiser
* Engineering:USS Alaska (CB-1)
* Engineering:USS Guam (CB-2)
* Engineering:USS Hawaii (CB-3)
* Fast combat support ship
* Sacramento-class fast combat support ship
* Engineering:USS Camden (AOE-2)
* Oil tankers
* Gulflight launched 1914. Center of a diplomatic incident when torpedoed in World War I.
* Japanese seaplane tender Kamoi launched 1922
* Submarine
* Thresher/Permit-class fast attack submarine (nuclear)
* Engineering:USS Pollack (SSN-603)
* Engineering:USS Haddo (SSN-604)
* Engineering:USS Guardfish (SSN-612)
* Sturgeon-class fast attack submarine (nuclear)
* Engineering:USS Pogy (SSN-647) (completed at Ingalls Shipbuilding)
* Barbel-class fast attack submarine (diesel):
* Engineering:USS Bonefish (SS-582)
* Washington Irving—the biggest passenger-carrying riverboat ever built.
* SS Empire Arrow
* NS Savannah

## See also

* New York Shipbuilding strike

## Footnotes

1. ↑ Not to be confused with architect Henry Grant Morse, Jr. (1884—May 28, 1934).
2. ↑ U.S. Navy as USS J. M. Guffey (ID-1279) commissioned 14 October 1918 at Invergorden, Scotland, decommissioned Philadelphia 17 June 1919 (DANFS).
3. ↑ On page 510 of the reference notes that American International Corporation holds interests in the International Mercantile Marine Company, Pacific Mail Steamship, Grace Lines and other ocean transportation companies. The same journal in the October issue, page 440, states American International Corporation had "control of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Marine Engineering (July 1903).
2. ↑ American International Corporation 1920, p. 9.
3. ↑ American International Corporation 1920, pp. 9–10.
4. ↑ American International Corporation 1920, pp. 10–11.
5. ↑ American International Corporation 1920, p. 17.
6. ↑ American International Corporation 1920, p. 19.
7. ↑ Marine Engineering (December 1916).
8. ↑ Shipscribe: SS Plymouth\- Retrieved 2017-08-15
9. ↑ Shipscribe: SS Fairmont\- Retrieved 2017-08-15
10. ↑ Shipscribe: SS Winding Gulf\- Retrieved 2017-08-15
11. ↑ Shipscribe: SS Tidewater\- Retrieved 2017-08-15
12. ↑ Shipscribe: SS Glen White\- Retrieved 2017-08-15
13. ↑ Google books: The Rudder; SS Sewalls Point(Thomas Fleming Day, Fawcett Publications, 1919, pp. 233)
14. ↑ Shipscribe: SS Franklin\- Retrieved 2017-08-15
15. ↑ Shipscribe: SS William N. Page\- Retrieved 2017-08-15

## Bibliography

* American International Corporation (1920). History and development of New York Shipbuilding Corporation. https://archive.org/stream/historydevelopme00amerrich#page/1/mode/1up.
* Marine Engineering (1903). "Death of Henry G. Morse, President New York Shipbuilding Company". Marine Engineering (New York: Marine Engineering Incorporated) 8 (July 1903): 376. https://books.google.com/books?id=4NJLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA376#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
* Marine Engineering (1916). "Shipbuilding and General Marine News". Marine Engineering (New York: Marine Engineering Incorporated) 21 (December 1916): 510, 557. https://books.google.com/books?id=h4pIAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA557#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 4 March 2015.

## External links

* New York Shipbuilding Company Historical Sites
* A Tribute to a Place Called Yorkship
* New York Shipbuilding, Camden NJ
* A web exhibit of ship christening photos that includes twenty images of launching ceremonies at New York Shipbuilding

[ ⚑ ]  39°54′39″N 75°7′20″W﻿ / ﻿39.91083°N 75.12222°W﻿ / 39.91083; -75.12222

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