California Shipbuilding Corporation

In 1916 the California Shipbuilding Company built a few submarines in the Craig Shipbuilding Company yard in Long Beach. There is no relationship other than the name of the company.

The Calship shipyard was created at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California, United States as part of America's massive shipbuilding effort of World War II. W. A. Bechtel Co. was given sponsorship and executive direction of Calship. As of 1940, Los Angeles shipyards had not built a large ship in 20 years. By late 1941 though, shipbuilding had become the second largest manufacturing industry in the Los Angeles area.Nugent, Walter; Ridge, Martin. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Hi-ZdfcuBgC&pg=PA244 The American West: The Reader], Indiana University Press, 1999."California Shipbuilding Corp., Los Angeles, California" Project Liberty Ship Web site (http://www.liberty-ship.com/html/yards/californiasb.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927092029/http://www.liberty-ship.com/html/yards/californiasb.html |date=2011-09-27 }}), retrieved 8-25-2011."California Shipbuilding Corp., Los Angeles," Shipbuilding History Web site (http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510113117/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm |date=2012-05-10 }}), Retrieved 8-25-2011.

Calship was created from scratch with ground broken on January 27, then for a planned 8-way yard.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/pacificmarinerev3841paci/page/n253/mode/1up|title=Six New Shipyards|magazine=Pacific Marine Review|date=April 1941|page=69}} It began production of Liberty Ships in May 1941. In the early 1940s, contracts from the U.S. Department of Maritime Commission and a number of U.S. Navy contracts led to prosperity shipbuilding business in Los Angeles. The yard was located on 175 acres on the north side of Terminal Island, north of Dock Street, near present-day berths 210-213. It initially had 8 ways, and later increased this to 14. 40,000 men and women worked under the military contract to construction of 467 vessels over 5 years. The combination of these ships were known as the "Liberty Fleet". These cargo ships were designed for rapid construction with lower costs for them. Thirteen months after commencing production, the yard broke the record by delivering 15 Liberty Ships in June 1942. It delivered 111 ships in 1942, more than any other yard in the United States. In June 1943, it broke the record again by delivering 20 ships for the month, and yet again in December 1943, delivering 23 ships.

Large Navy contracts developed shipbuilding in California. As a result of that, many workers migrated to the work area. Many shipyards sprang up from San Francisco to San Diego. At the peak of shipbuilding in California were involved 282,000 persons. Shipbuilding became a highly efficient wartime industry. The building of vessels and the number of jobs in the shipbuilding peaked in mid-1943.{{cite web|title=California Shipbuilding Corporation|url=https://findingaids.csun.edu/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=139&q=&rootcontentid=29872|access-date=20 August 2016}}Jaffee, Capt. Walter W., The Lane Victory: The Last Victory Ship in War and in Peace, 2nd ed., pp. 18, 24-25, The Glencannon Press, Palo Alto, CA, 1997.Nugent, Walter; Ridge, Martin. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Hi-ZdfcuBgC&pg=PA244 The American West: The Reader], Indiana University Press, 1999.Sawyer, L.A. and Mitchell, W.H., The Liberty Ships, 2nd Ed., pp. 20, 61-76, 183-88, 214, 216, Lloyd's of London Press Ltd., London, Eng, 1985."California Shipbuilding Corporation (Calship) Collection, 1941-1945," California State University, Northridge Web site (http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/CALSHIP {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709160540/http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/CALSHIP |date=2010-07-09 }}), Retrieved 8-25-2011.Calship Log, Vol. 1, No. 4, October 15, 1941, California Shipbuilding Corporation, Wilmington, California (http://home.comcast.net/~cshortridge/NAVALART/CALSHIP_LOG_10_15_41.pdf), Retrieved 8-25-2011."California Shipbuilding Corp., Los Angeles," Shipbuilding History Web site (http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510113117/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm |date=2012-05-10 }}), Retrieved 8-25-2011.Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 137, 178, 258, Random House, New York, NY. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.

The Calship yard was known as "the city built on invisible stilts." It was situated on marshy ground, and was built on artificial earth supported by 57,000 piles driven into the mud. Shipbuilding commenced before the fitting-out docks were even completed. The yard's workers came from every region of the United States, reaching a force of 40,000 men and women, only 1% of whom had any shipbuilding experience whatsoever."California Shipbuilding Corporation (Calship) Collection, 1941-1945," California State University, Northridge Web site (http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/CALSHIP {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709160540/http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/CALSHIP |date=2010-07-09 }}), Retrieved 8-25-2011."Shipbuilding: Speed on Terminal Island," Time magazine, July 13, 1942 (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884558,00.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115093029/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884558,00.html |date=2010-11-15 }}), Retrieved 8-25-2011.

The Calship Log, aimed at "Calshippers" and "Calshipperettes", was published on the 1st and 15th of each month. The log covered the progress of working for the war effort, safety rules, policies and procedures, as well as leisure activities and information on public transport, gasoline rations, personal tax increases and war bonds.{{Cite web |title=Calship Logs |url=https://michaelbrannan.smugmug.com/HISTORICAL-GALLERIES/CalShip/ |access-date=11 March 2022 |website=Michael Brannan Photography & Collections}}{{Cite web |title=California Shipbuilding Corporation (CalShip) Collection |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8v126j1/ |access-date=11 March 2022 |website=OAC - Online Archive of California}} A Victory Edition was published on September 27, 1945.{{Cite web |title=Life at the California Shipbuilding Corporation Shipyard |url=https://lanevictorymaritimecenter.omeka.net/exhibits/show/calshipexhibit/further-reading |access-date=11 March 2022 |website=Lane Victory Maritime Center}}

After the war, the Maritime Commission and the Navy department cancelled their contracts with Calship. As the result of that, the level of shipbuilding began to decline. Calship closed in September 1945, after launching the last Victory ship, "four years to the minute after the first slid into the water.""California Shipbuilding Corporation (Calship) Collection, 1941-1945," California State University, Northridge Web site (http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/CALSHIP {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709160540/http://library.csun.edu/Collections/SCA/UAC/CALSHIP |date=2010-07-09 }}), Retrieved 8-25-2011.{{cite web |url= http://www.historicmapworks.com/Sections/Maps/viewPlateUS-31580.htm |title= Los Angeles 1943 Pocket Atlas |access-date= 2007-11-25}} Calship ranked 49th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis (1962) Harvard Business School p.619

In 1947 the Calship facility was taken over by National Metal & Steel Corporation which operated a scrap yard there. Ironically, 55 of the Liberty and Victory ships that were built at Calship were scrapped on the same site.Queenan, Charles F. The Port of Los Angeles: From Wilderness to World Port, pp. 84-89, Los Angeles Harbor Department, Los Angeles, CA, 1983.White, Michael D. The Port of Los Angeles, pp.78-79, 112, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 2008.

The surviving museum ships: SS American Victory and SS Lane Victory, were built in the Calship yard. The SS American Victory is in Tampa, Florida and the SS Lane Victory is in Los Angeles. They are open to the public for dockside tours and also sail periodically.Jaffee, Capt. Walter W., The Lane Victory: The Last Victory Ship in War and in Peace, 2nd ed., pp. 317-34, The Glencannon Press, Palo Alto, CA, 1997.

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File:Liberty ship construction 12 SS Muhlenberg stern.jpg in California Shipbuilding's yard, June 1943.]]

File:Victory cargo ships are lined up at a U.S. west coast shipyard.jpgs being fitted out at California Shipbuilding Corp. in 1944 (probably May or June).]]

File:US Navy 040527-N-7878F-002 The fully operational World War II (WWII) victory ship SS Lane Victory pulls into San Diego for Memorial Day weekend.jpg.]]

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• SS Oshkosh Victory
• SS Tufts Victory
• SS U.S.S.R. Victory
• SS Luray Victory
• USS Arenac
• SS Alamo Victory
• USS St. Mary's (APA-126)
• SS Carroll Victory
• SS Gainesville Victory
• SS Joplin Victory
• USNS Dalton Victory (T-AK-256)
• USS Attala
• SS Clara Barton
• USS Botetourt
• SS Colby Victory
• SS Mexico Victory
• USS Kenton (APA-122)
• SS Sharon Victory
• USS Hendry (APA-118)
• USS Lanier (APA-125)
• USS Hinsdale (APA-120)
• USS Kittson (APA-123)
• USS Don Marquis (IX-215)
• SS Carlos Carrillo
• USS Bosque (APA-135)
• SS Leland Stanford
• USS Betelgeuse (AK-260)
• SS Edward Eggleston

{{div col end}}

First keels laid on slipways 1 through 14, marking the completion steps of the shipyard facilities{{cite web|url=https://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/kcalifornia.htm|title=CalShip|publisher=shipbuildinghistory.com}}

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Launching of Liberty tankers, missing on shipbuildinghistory

• Emergency Shipbuilding Program
• California during World War II

{{Commons category|California Shipbuilding Corporation}}

{{Commons category|Victory ships}}

{{Commons category|Liberty ships}}

{{Reflist}}

• Collins, James H. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nJtS4tbPmusC&pg=PA815 All Aboard! All Aboard! But Where Are the Passengers?] Public Utilities Fortnightly, June 24, 1943.
• Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, Random House, New York, NY. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.
• Nugent, Walter; Ridge, Martin. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Hi-ZdfcuBgC&pg=PA244 The American West: The Reader], Indiana University Press, 1999.
• Wallace, Jack W. Calship: An Industrial Achievement, 1941-1945, Jack W. Wallace & Associates, 1947.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=rN8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA76 Our New West], Popular Mechanics, October 1944.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101014145907/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884558,00.html Shipbuilding: Speed on Terminal Island], Time, July 13, 1942.

• [https://findingaids.csun.edu/archon/?p=collections/controlcard&id=139 CSUN.edu: California Shipbuilding Corporation Collection]
• [http://www.insidesocal.com/history/2010/08/california-shipbuilding-corp.html Insidesocal.com: History of the California Shipbuilding Corp.]
• [http://www.americanvictory.org S.S. American Victory website]
• [http://lanevictory.org/index.php S.S. Lane Victory website]

{{California Shipbuilding Corporation, Los Angeles Shipyards}}

{{MARCOMships}}

{{WWII US ships}}

{{Victory ships}}

{{Haskell class attack transport}}

{{Henry J. Kaiser}}

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{{Liberty ships}}

Category:Shipbuilding companies of California

Category:Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States

Category:Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles

Category:Terminal Island

Category:History of Los Angeles

Category:Los Angeles Harbor Region

Category:Maritime history of California

Category:United States home front during World War II

Category:1940s in California

Category:Bechtel

Category:Henry J. Kaiser

Category:American companies established in 1941

Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1941

Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1945

Category:1941 establishments in California

Category:1945 disestablishments in California

Category:20th century in Los Angeles

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles

Category:Shipyards in California

Category:Vigor Shipyards