San Francisco, CA: Bethlehem Shipyard at Pier 70 and 1,121 Ships

(Satellite)

I was aware that Bethlehem had a huge shipyard in Sparrows Point, MD. This post taught me that they also had one in San Francisco. In fact, Bethlehem had another one down at Hunters Point until they sold it to the US Navy in 1940.

James Torgeson posted
In this September 1966 view, the first of 57 300’ sections of BART’s Transbay Tunnel rests on a way at the Bethlehem Steel San Francisco Yard.

A photo from when it still had some ships.

Photo via BethlehemShipYardMuseum-location

BethlehemShipYardMuseum-about
The ancestor company, Union Brass & Iron Works, was founded in 1849. They started with agricultural, railroad and mining equipment. In 1883 they moved to the Pier 70 area on land reclaimed from the bay. "In 1905, the 40-acre shipyard was purchased by Bethlehem Steel for $1 million." BAE bought the Bethlehem assets.

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Union Iron Works - 1890s (photo: UC Berkeley Geography Dept.)

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Pier 70 Drydocks Sunrise (photo: Emil Flock)

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Pier 70 Drydocks & Cranes (photo Ralph Wilson)

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Birdseye View - 1916 (?) (Graphic courtesy of The Ramp restaurant)

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Drydock - World War II (Photo: UIW/Bethlehem)

I'm saving a satellite image because it is not clear how much of the shipyard is still operational. There were no ships present when this satellite went over.

Satellite

An "about" page said that BAE was still operational. But I could not find a date on that page. It is obvious that the permanent dry dock is no longer used because only the towers for the cranes exist. But I see that the cranes further from the road are still intact.

Street View, Jan 2021

While researching the Gantry Crane that still stands at Bethlehem's former location, I accessed an aerial photo that included this facility.

EarthExplorer Mar 23, 1973 @ 22,000, AR5730008560078

So far, I have found five shipyards that Bethlehem had. (This one, Hunters Point, Fore River, Sparrows Point, Fairfield) I'm putting this diagram here because this one is the closest to still existing. So I'll put general Bethlehem shipyard information here.

Rick Rupert posted
Bethlehem Steel was also known for shipbuilding and produced a staggering amount of ships for WW2.
James Torgeson: Bethlehem built the most ships during WW2 and was the World's largest shipbuilder into the 1960s!
Carl Mark Chapmon: A machine shop I worked at in Houston bought the huge turret lathe that made the turret ring for battleship from World War 1 and 2 ships and it had the name of the ship written on the machine. It is very huge tall has to be loaded by crane you can actually walk up to spinning turning table that is 400 O.D. Huge and we had it shipped down from up north from sale. But special concrete slab had to be placed and a special sub station