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| Antonio Ignazio Medina posted Construction of a Liberty Ship at Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard. 1943 |
Bethlehem's Sparrow Point Plant had a shipyard on the west side, but as part of the US Maritime Commission's emergency shipbuilding program of Jan 1941, they acquired another shipyard on the other side of the Patapsco River to build Liberty Ships. They also took over a Pullman car fabricating shop and connected the facilities with 2.5 miles of railroad track. The shipyard was Union Shipbuilding Co. on the northside of a peninsula and Pullman was on the south side of that peninsula. "The type of modular construction practiced at Fairfield—with components of the ship built at the fabricating shop and then transported to the ways for staging and final assembly—proved to be extremely efficient and was eventually adopted by many other shipyards." When the yard reached its peak production in 1943, it had 16 ways, the average construction time for a Liberty ship was 30 days and the payroll was about 47,000. "In the end, proof of Fairfield’s contribution to the war effort is a matter of numbers. Between 1941 and 1945, the Fairfield yard built a total of 384 Liberty ships, more than any other shipyard in the nation. The yard also churned out 94 Victory ships—the larger, faster cousin to the Liberty ships—and 45 LSTs (Landing Ship-Tank), making it one of America’s most productive wartime shipyards." [thebmi]
The railyard on the west side was the B&O. To my amazement, it still exists.
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| 1946 Curtis Bay Quad @ 1:24,000 |
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| Industrial Archives & Library posted On February 4, 1941, Bethlehem organized the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Inc., in the Baltimore Harbor. This 741-acre site was created at the request of the U.S. Maritime Commission. Fairfield Shipyard employed 45,000 at its peak and could create sixteen to twenty Liberty ships per month! IAL holds some records relating to Bethlehem-Fairfield and the Liberty ships in IAL2017.008, the Klinges Collection of shipbuilding records: https://ial.lyrasistechnology.org/reposito.../2/resources/25 James Torgeson shared The Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyard in Baltimore, which employed 45,000 during WW2 and was open 1941-45. The yard built Liberty and Victory ships, as well as LSTs. It built the first Liberty ship, the SS Patrick Henry, although Kaiser built the most of the type. Joseph Galans:About the time Fairfield closed, the Rigging foreman at Sparrows Point was retiring. To a lot of (rigging department) peoples surprise Bethlehem brought Fairfield's Rigging foreman to Sparrows point. He was a Scandinavian (squarehead) which automatically made him a very savy deck sailor/rigger type. His name was Olav Jurgensen. He was a very old school boss. Work (hard) or get out. He did an amazing job. When he retired he was replaced by Cliff Trott. Another good man. When Cliff left he was replaced by Walter Bush. Another great man. When Walter left, he was replaced by me. I'm proud of my time there. I'd do it all over again. |
Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards in Baltimore, Maryland
One of 18 shipyards where A total of 2,710 Liberty ships were built between 1941 and 1945 which is by far the biggest number of ships built to a single design
A Total of 27,000 employees were set to work at Bethlehem-Fairfeild Shipyard.The workers were tasked with building warships in less than a month to replace vessels destroyed by Nazi German torpedoes during World War Two.
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| James Torgeson posted Shipyard workers at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Yard in Baltimore gather to watch a launching during WW2. At its peak, Fairfield employed 45,000, with Bethlehem Steel having about 200,000 total in its Shipbuilding Division. The yard built the first Liberty Ship, the SS Patrick Henry, in 1941. While Bethlehem Steel built the most vessels during the War, the yards of Kaiser Shipbuilding built the most Liberty Ships. |
The shipyard had 16 ways.
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| Antonio Ignazio Medina posted Bethlehem Steel Company Fairfield Shipyard Dennis DeBruler This is one of the many photos that the Library of Congress has on this shipyard. LC-USW3- 023645-D [P&P] LOT 731 Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Launching ceremony |
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| James Torgeson posted A graphic representation of Bethlehem Steel's WW2 shipbuilding efforts, which included six fleet carriers and a battleship. The "Steel" built the most ships (1121) of any builder during the War. One of the museum ships here in Buffalo, the destroyer USS The Sullivans, was built by Bethlehem at their San Francisco Yard. Scott Locker: Curious, what are the names of the battleship and carriers that they built? James Torgeson: Scott Locker Massachusetts, Lexington (2nd), two Wasps, Hancock, Bunker Hill, Philippine Sea. Michael Matisko: Fore River built USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) with a detachable bow. We’re still not certain as to whether it was a bug or a feature. Bill Hill: My history of Bethlehem Shipbuilding says 1,127 ships produced. Let’s not forget they also repaired some 37,000 ships during the war. They were the world’s largest shipbuilder. James Torgeson: Bill Hill I don't think Bethlehem was completely sure as several close numbers show up in their various publications! This particular issue of "Bethlehem-Built" lists 1121. And yes, Bethlehem was the world's largest shipbuilder into the 1970s, with yards on 3 of the 4 US Seacoasts and in Singapore. |
James Torgeson shared Baltimore Museum of Industry post.
Here are some views of the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard near Baltimore that had a peak employment of 45,000 The first Liberty ship, the Patrick Henry, was built here. Prominent are the Clyde Iron Works cranes that were built in Duluth, MN.
Jesse Nelson: The Clyde Ironworks building in Duluth has now been converted to a restaurant and event center. The decor is very industrial and the overhead crane has been restored and it has a giant photo on one wall of the shop when it was operating. Pretty cool place.
Between 1941 and 1945, the Fairfield Shipyard of Baltimore, MD built a total of 384 Liberty ships, 94 Victory ships and 45 LSTs (Landing Ship-Tank), making it one of America’s most productive wartime shipyards.
Read more about the Fairfield Yards here: www.thebmi.org/the-fairfield-yards
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I'm confused because the HAER photos show a ship being stick-built rather than modular-built. The date is 1943 and by then I would expect the photographer would have caught a crane lifting a module into place. I would certainly expect the ship to be partially built with modules instead of beams and plates.
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| LC-USW3-026383-D Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Early stage of ship construction. The bottom plates are nearly in place. |
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