"Quincy-built ... The best thing you can say about a ship"
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USS Meade (DD-274), USS Sinclair (DD-275), USS McCawley (DD-276), USS Moody (DD-277), USS Henshaw (DD-278), USS Meyer (DD-279), USS Doyen (DD-280), USS Sharkey (DD-281) and USS Katrina Luckenbach (ID-3020) fitting out at Fore River in 1918
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General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division | |
Corporation | |
Industry | Shipbuilding |
Fate | Closed in 1986 |
Predecessor | Fore River Engine Company Fore River Ship and Engine Company Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd. |
Founded | February 15, 1901 |
Founder | Thomas A. Watson, et al. |
Defunct | June 1, 1986 |
Headquarters | Quincy, Massachusetts, United States |
Key people
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Thomas A. Watson, Francis T. Bowles, Joseph P. Kennedy |
Products | Merchant vessels, warships |
Number of employees
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Under 1,000 |
Parent | General Dynamics Corporation |
Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. In 1913, it was purchased by Bethlehem Steel, and later transferred to Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. It was sold to General Dynamics in 1963, and closed in 1986. During its operation, yardworkers constructed hundreds of ships, for both military and civilian clients.
Most of the ships at the yard were built for the United States Navy, with its first government contract for the destroyer USS Lawrence (DD-8). The yard also built early submarines for Electric Boat, including USS Octopus (SS-9) and USS Sunfish (SSN-649). Fore River also constructed the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59), and the cruisers USS Springfield (CL-66) and USS Salem (CA-139) as well as the Navy's first carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) and its successor USS Lexington (CV-16). Fore River produced multiple foreign ships for various navies around the world including five Type 1 submarines for the Imperial Japanese Navy, ten submarines for the Royal Navy, and the battleship ARA Rivadavia, for the Argentine Navy.