New York Shipbuilding
The
New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or
New York Ship for short) was founded in
1899 and opened its first shipyard in
1900. Located in
Camden,
New Jersey on the east shore of the
Delaware River, New York Ship built more than 500 vessels for the
U.S. Navy, the American
Merchant Marine, the
U.S. Coast Guard, and other maritime concerns.
New York Ship's unusual covered ways produced everything from
aircraft carriers,
battleships, and
luxury liners to lowly
barges and
car floats. At its peak during World War II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the world. Its best-known vessels include the destroyer
USS Reuben James (DD-245), the cruiser
USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the aircraft carrier
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), the nuclear-powered cargo ship
NS Savannah, and a quartet of cargo-passenger liners nicknamed the
Four Aces.
During
World War I, New York Ship expanded rapidly to fill orders from the U.S. Navy and the
Emergency Fleet Corporation. A critical shortage of worker housing led to the construction of
Yorkship Village, a planned community of 1000 brick homes designed by
Electus Darwin Litchfield and financed by the
War Department. Yorkship Village is now the Fairview section of the City of Camden.
New York Ship's
World War II production included all nine
Independence-class light carriers (CVL), built on
Cleveland-class light cruiser hulls; the 35000-ton battleship
USS South Dakota (BB-57); and 98 LCTs (
Landing Craft, Tank), many of which took part in the D-Day landings at Normandy.
After World War II, a much-diminished New York Ship subsisted on a trickle of contracts from the
U.S. Maritime Administration and the U.S. Navy. The yard launched its last civilian vessel (
S.S. Export Adventurer) in 1960, and its last naval vessel (
USS Camden) in 1967. The former yard's site is now part of the Port of Camden, handling breakbulk cargo.
*
New York Shipbuilding Company Historical Sites*
A Tribute to a Place Called Yorkship*
list of ships built
