Consolidated Steel Corporation
The Consolidated Steel Corporation was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Formed on 18 December 1928, the company built ships during World War II in two main locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created by the merger of Llewellyn Iron Works, Baker Iron Works and Union Iron Works, all of Los Angeles. The company entered the shipbuilding business in 1939. In 1948, now a pioneer producer of large-diameter pipelines, Consolidated Steel was renamed Consolidated Western Steel and acquired by U.S. Steel and operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Orange shipyard in 1945, Levingston Shipbuilding Company just below the upper bend
Wilmington shipyard (right) Western Pipe and Steel yard (left), the Los Angeles Shipbuilding Company yard is just out of frame at the bottom left corner
One and one half hull under construction
Bird's eye view of the Port of Long Beach in 1937
Type C1 was a designation for cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original Maritime Commission designs, meant for shorter routes where high speed and capacity were less important. Only a handful were delivered prior to Pearl Harbor. But many C1-A and C1-B ships were already in the works and were delivered during 1942. Many were converted to military purposes including troop transports during the war.
Type C1-A freighter, USS Fomalhaut
USS Cyrene
USS Auriga during World War II
The "Spar Hitch", C1-M-AV1, captained by Carl, E. Peterson, New York, N.Y., in background, is the first big ship to enter Naha Harbor, Okinawa, August 9, 1945.