Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock
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Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, NJ, 1945
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| Industry | Shipbuilding |
|---|---|
| Fate | liquidated |
| Founded | July 24, 1917 |
| Defunct | 1948 |
| Headquarters | Kearny, New Jersey |
| Parent | United States Steel Corporation |
The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at Kearny Point where the mouth of the Hackensack River meets Newark Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The shipyard site is now part of River Terminal, a massive distribution facility that is partially a foreign trade zone.
Federal built numerous destroyers, destroyer escorts and a handful of light cruisers as well as merchant ships during and between the wars. Around 570 vessels were contracted for construction by Federal SB&DD Company with about 100 not delivered fully completed due to the end of the World War II. Federal also had a yard at Port Newark during World War II that built destroyers and landing craft.
Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company was founded July 24, 1917 as a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation to supply ships for the United States Shipping Board during World War I. The site on Kearny Point was first surveyed during the summer of 1917. The shipyard was to consist of everything needed to fully complete a ship from a facility power plant to a wood joining shop. A steel plate mill and boiler shop were to be built as well. $10 million ($191 million today) was allocated for construction. The American Bridge Company was contracted to provide 10,000 tons of steel for the structures. E.H. Gary was president of Federal in August 1917. The ship-ways were completed by the fall of 1917 with keels being laid by November 1917. Federal completed a 9,600 ton ship around six weeks before World War I ended as well as two other ships before the close of 1918. 27 ships were delivered to the Emergency Fleet Corporation in 1919. Federal accounted for 5% of the steel merchant tonnage built in 1919.
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