Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard in New Jersey active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. Unlike many shipyards, it remained active during the shipbuilding slump of the 1920s and early 1930s that followed the World War I boom years. During World War II, it built merchant ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding program, at the same time producing more destroyers for the United States Navy than any yard other than the Bath Iron Works. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at Kearny Point where the mouth of the Hackensack River meets Newark Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, 1945
Aerial view of Federal Shipbuilding in May 1945
May 1942 launch of USS Fletcher (DD-445) and USS Radford (DD-446) at Federal. 2 of the 4 destroyers launched on May 4, 1942.
Site of the former Federal yard at Kearny in foreground on left, c.1974.
Emergency Shipbuilding Program
The Emergency Shipbuilding Program was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime Commission, the program built almost 6,000 ships.
U.S. Maritime Commission "Ships for Victory" emblem
Liberty ship Joseph M. Terrel at Brunswick, GA c. 1944