Site Record
Metadata
Site# |
205 |
Site Name |
New England Shipbuilding Corporation |
Description |
In December 1940, before the United States had entered the war, the British Government signed a contract with the Todd Shipyards Corporation for the construction of 60 merchant ships. The construction of these Ocean-class cargo ships was to take place at two brand-new shipyards run by the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation - one yard at Richmond, California, and the other at South Portland, Maine. Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding was a joint effort of Todd Shipyards Corporation in New York and Bath Iron Works in Maine. The president of Bath Iron Works at the time was William S. "Pete" Newell. In South Portland, Newell identified the area around Cushing's Point as ideal for the shipyard. This first shipyard, the Todd-Bath Iron yard (known as the "East Yard") was located on the site of the old Cumberland Shipyard, at the eastern end of Broadway. Soon after construction of the East Yard began, plans for the West Yard were underway. The West Yard was constructed as South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, overseen by the U.S. Maritime Commission, to start building Liberty ships for our own merchant marine fleet. The yard construction began in the spring of 1941. On November 18, 1942, the final Ocean ship was completed and delivered and the Todd-Bath yard remained in operation, constructing Liberty ships. In December, 1942, the two yards merged and became known as South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation. Up to this point, Pete Newell had been president of both Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation and South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation. With the Ocean ships completed, however, Newell wanted to return his focus to Bath Iron Works. On January 4, 1943, Newell's resignation from South Portland Shipbuilding was announced (although he remained as a director) and Chester L. Churchill was named as the new president. Just three days later, on January 7, 1943, Churchill announced the appointment of Walter L. Green as vice president and general manager of South Portland Shipbuilding. Also in January, 1943, Andrew B. Sides was named secretary of the corporation. Effective April 1, 1943, South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation changed its name to New England Shipbuilding Corporation. In September, 1943, the board of directors promoted Andrew B. Sides to executive vice president, a newly-created position. In February, 1944, Chester Churchill resigned and Andrew Sides was appointed as the new president of New England Shipbuilding. With the delivery in October, 1945, of the last Liberty ship constructed at the yard, the SS Albert M. Boe, most of the remaining workers were laid off, with only a skeleton crew remaining - about 600 employees - mostly clerical workers, guards, and maintenance personnel. By December, 1945, the Maritime Commission had closed the yard and Todd Shipyards Corporation announced that it had named Andrew Sides to be general manager, and Walter Green as operating manager, of its Brooklyn, NY, division. The South Portland shipyards had constructed 274 ships in total - 30 of those were Ocean ships for Britain and 244 were Liberty ships. |
