Marinship

Marinship Corporation was a shipbuilding company of the United States during World War II, created to build the shipping required for the war effort. Founded in 1942, the shipyard built 93 cargo ships and oil tankers, before ending operations 1945.

In early 1942, the demands of World War II resulted in a requirement for greatly increased shipbuilding capacity.

To meet this demand, the US shipbuilder W.A. Bechtel Co. decided to build a shipyard at a former Northwestern Pacific Railroad repair yard situated at Richardson's Bay in Marin County, at the north end of Sausalito, California and just three miles (5 km) north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The site was chosen because the shoreline in the vicinity of the proposed shipyard was relatively uncluttered, unlike much of the rest of San Francisco Bay or other major Pacific ports.

Six ship launching ways were planned, but the old repair yard, purchased from Southern Pacific Railroad, and located at the base of Spring Street, was found to have inadequate space to accommodate this need. The loss of some ships in the Pacific by the Navy triggered the emergency need for even more ships by their customer the Maritime Commission. Using this as their legal reason, the new company took government war powers condemnation actions against local property owners, in order to add the additional land they needed to expand the shipyard.

With only two weeks notice, the many residents of Pine Point, a picturesque knoll located along the edge of the bay, were forcibly evicted by 28 March 1942. About 42 homes and buildings were removed. At least 12 homes avoided demolition by being rapidly moved elsewhere in Sausalito before the rest were razed and Pine Point was dynamited. Records show that an estimated 838,763 cubic yards (641,280 m³) of earth and rock were excavated from Pine Point, Waldo Point and nearby areas. The resulting fill was spread using heavy equipment across the shoreline and tidal mudflats to create new land on which the various buildings of the shipyard were rapidly constructed. Some of these buildings are still in use today, including as the Industrial Center Building (ICB) at 480 Gate Five Road (originally the Yard Office and Mold Loft Building) and the Schoonmaker Building at 10 Libertyship Way (originally the General Shop).