Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company

Bay Shipbuilding Company

Lakers wintering over at Bay Shipbuilding, 2006
Industry	Shipbuilding
Predecessor	Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Christy Corporation
Founded	1968 (as Bay Shipbuilding)
Headquarters	Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin
Parent	Fincantieri Marine Group (2009-) Manitowoc Company (1968–2008)
Website	http://www.bayshipbuildingcompany.com/

Bay Shipbuilding Company (BSC) is a shipyard and dry dock company in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. As of 2015, Bay Ships was a subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Group and produces articulated tug and barges, OPA-90 compliant double hull tank ships and offshore support vessels. It also provides repair services to the lake freighter fleet. In the past the shipyard located in Sturgeon Bay has operated under several different names and traces its history back to 1918. The company also built 40,000 ton Lake freighters in the 1970s and 1980s. While capable of producing large freighters, the yard has not built a freighter over 20,000 tons since 1987. Former names of the shipyards at the 2015 location of Bay Shipbuilding are: Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding, Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company and Christy Corporation.

Bay Shipbuilding Company was formed in 1968 after The Manitowoc Company closed Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company and purchased Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and then Christy Corporation in 1970, which were adjacent on the east side of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Dry Dock was formerly Rieboldt, Wolter & Co., Universal Shipbuilding Company and Sturgeon Bay Dry Dock Company. Christy Corporation was formerly Leathem D. Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, Leathem D. Smith Dock Company and Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company.

Bay Shipbuilding initially invested $500,000 in purchasing the two yards. In the early 1970s they invested $30 million for improvements. The 1970s turned out to be a boom period for Bay Shipbuilding since Great Lakes shipping fleet owners had decided to upgrade their fleets. They would build 30 ships for the lake fleet in the 1970s.

In 1975, Bay Shipbuilding had around 800 workers and expected to expand to 1,400 because of a new contract to construct four 1,000 foot long lake freighters for the American Steamship Company and Bethlehem Steel. At least six of the 1,000 foot long, 40,000 ton self-unloading ore carriers were delivered from 1977 to May 1981. By the end of 1978, Bay Shipbuilding employed nearly 2,000.