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The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding program. 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. The shipyard is now part of River Terminal,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= River Terminal Development )〕 a massive distribution facility that is partially a foreign trade zone.〔 Federal built numerous destroyers, destroyer escorts and a handful of light cruisers as well as merchant ships during and between the wars. Around 570 vessels were contracted for construction by Federal SB&DD Company with about 100 not delivered fully completed due to the end of the World War II. Federal also had a yard at Port Newark during World War II that built destroyers and landing craft.〔 == History of the Federal Yard at Kearny == Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company was founded July 24, 1917 as a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation to supply ships for the United States Shipping Board during World War I.〔 The site on Kearny Point was first surveyed during the summer of 1917.〔 The shipyard was to consist of everything needed to fully complete a ship from a facility power plant to a wood joining shop. A steel plate mill and boiler shop were to be built as well. $10 million ($ today) was allocated for construction. The American Bridge Company was contracted to provide 10,000 tons of steel for the structures. E.H. Gary was president of Federal in August 1917. The ship-ways were completed by the fall of 1917 with keels being laid by November 1917. Federal completed a 9,600 ton ship around six weeks before World War I ended as well as two other ships before the close of 1918. 27 ships were delivered to the Emergency Fleet Corporation in 1919. Federal accounted for 5% of the steel merchant tonnage built in 1919. By June 1921, the Federal yard at Kearny had a boiler construction shop to build Scotch marine boilers, exhaust stacks, tanks, uptakes and other related items. 235 boilers had been constructed from September 1919 to June 1921. Boilers constructed there were mostly diameter or larger. At that time, 250 men were able to construct three boilers a week with a single 8 hour shift each day. By November 1921, Federal had shipbuilding ways for twelve 15,000 ton vessels and had constructed a 9,000 ton floating dry dock. The dry dock was first used June 23, 1921 when Transmarine corp's SS ''Suhulco'' docked. The Kearny yard was with of frontage on the Hackensack River. A wet basin was located at the southern end with a 100 ton 3-legged jib crane for fitting out new ships. On Sunday night, May 18, 1924, a fire destroyed the largest building at the Kearny yard causing an initially estimated $500,000 in damage. Other estimates were $1.6 million or as high as several million dollars in damage. Firemen used four mobile cranes to try to extinguish fires in the pattern building and the plate shop. Over a thousand workers were idled by the fire. The shipyard had around 5,000 workers at the time and was said to be one of the largest steel fabrication plants in the world. Fireboats and numerous firemen from around the area were called in to fight the fire which spread rapidly through the wooden structures at the Kearny yard. The Federal yard at Kearny remained operational during the difficult interwar period and Great Depression. Federal built commercial ships, tankers, barges and car floats for companies like Grace Line, Standard Oil of New Jersey and various railroads. Federal also was able to get contracts for two Mahan-class destroyers in the mid-1930s followed by a few Somers-class destroyers and Benham-class destroyers in the late-1930s lead up to World War II.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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