New England Shipbuilding Corporation

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The New England Shipbuilding Corporation was a shipyard located in the city of South Portland, Maine, United States. The yard originated as two separate entities, the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation and the South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, which were created in 1940 and 1941 respectively, in order to meet the demand created by World War II. The two adjacent enterprises merged into a single enterprise under the new name in 1943, although the two yards continued to operate separately as the East Yard and West Yard respectively. Both yards closed at the end of the war.[1][2]

Over the period they were open, the two yards built a total of 266 ships, with 154 ships built in the East Yard and 112 in the West Yard. Of these, the first 30 ships built in the East Yard were Ocean class cargo ships built for the United Kingdom. The remaining ships were of the Liberty ship design, derived from the Ocean class, and were built for the United States Maritime Commission. At the peak of production, the yards would employ 30000 people.[3][4]

Amongst the ships built was the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a Liberty ship that is now preserved as a museum ship in San Francisco.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ New England Shipbuilding (East & West). Project Liberty Ship. Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
  2. ^ South Portland Shipyards of World War II - History of the Shipyards. Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
  3. ^ a b South Portland Shipyards of World War II - Ship List. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
  4. ^ Around Maine - Portland's Liberty Ship Era. Times Warner Cable. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.


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