Skinner & Eddy Corporation
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| Private | |
| Industry | Shipbuilding |
| Predecessor | Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company |
| Successor | Skinner Corporation |
| Founded | 1916 |
| Founder | Ned Skinner, John W. Eddy |
| Defunct | (As a shipyard) 1923 |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Products | Steel merchant ships |
| Services | Ship repairs |
The Skinner & Eddy Corporation, commonly known as Skinner & Eddy, was a Seattle, Washington-based shipbuilding corporation that existed from 1916 to 1923. The yard is notable for completing more ships for the U.S. war effort during World War I than any other American shipyard, and also for breaking world production speed records for individual ship construction.
In total, the company built 75 ships—72 cargo ships and three oil tankers—from 1916 to 1920, including 32 completed for the Emergency Fleet Corporation during the war. The yard was closed in 1921 as a result of the severe postwar shipbuilding slump. Skinner & Eddy later became a shipping line operator, and appears to have been wound up in the early 1970s.
The Skinner & Eddy Corporation was founded in January 1916 by two entrepreneurs, David E. "Ned" Skinner and John W. Eddy, owners of the Port Blakely Mill Company since 1903. Shortly after its establishment, Skinner & Eddy Corp. began leasing the shipyard of the Seattle Construction & Drydock Company, located between Connecticut and Dearborn Sts., Seattle. Seattle Construction & Dry Dock was itself a successor to the Moran Brothers shipyard, which around the start of the 20th century had been one of America's largest shipyards, responsible for building Seattle's first battleship, USS Nebraska, in 1906.
On April 6, 1917, 15 months after Skinner and Eddy Corp. began leasing the yard, the United States entered World War I. Skinner & Eddy responded to the news by purchasing an additional 15 acres (61,000 m2) of Seattle waterfront property from the Seattle Dock Company and the Centennial Flouring Mill for $1,500,000 and $600,000 respectively, which they used to begin building a second shipyard, which became known as Plant No. 2. After securing lucrative contracts from the Emergency Fleet Corporation for the construction of merchant ships for the war effort, Skinner & Eddy was also able in June 1918 to make an outright purchase of the yard of Seattle Construction and Dry Dock, which was named Plant No. 1.
When completed, Skinner & Eddy's facilities included ten building slipways—five at each Plant—and four outfitting docks. A five-section, 459-foot (140 m) drydock capable of servicing vessels of up to 15,000 tons was also acquired, along with a 50-ton floating crane.
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