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A Place Called YORKSHIP
The Ships of New York Shipbuilding Co. |
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Last Updated: January 05, 2008 |
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Between its founding in 1899 and its closing in
1967, The New York Shipbuilding Corporation built 656 vessels for
the United States Navy, the American Merchant Marine, the Coast
Guard, and assorted other concerns. Their histories--heroic,
tragic, or merely pedestrian--are part of its history. These
ships were the yard's contribution to the defense of the nation
in a century of war and the vitality of the nation in a century
of economic growth. The fleet includes cruisers and battleships,
aircraft carriers and submarines, tankers and colliers, cargo
steamers and ferryboats, and more. At its peak during World War
II, NYSB was the largest and most productive shipyard in the
world.
The many notable vessels include:
- Battleships BB-31 (later AG-16) Utah
(contract 80) and BB-37 Oklahoma
(contract 130), both sunk by Japanese
forces on December 7, 1941, in Pearl Harbor. Oklahoma
was righted and refloated in 1943, decommissioned in
1944, and sold for scrap in 1946 to a firm in Oakland,
California. She parted her tow line and sank to the
bottom of the Pacific on 17 May 1947, 540 miles from
Hawaii. The rusting hulk of Utah, tomb to an
unknown number of dead, still rests in the mud near Ford
Island.
DD-245 Reuben
James (contract
234), a Clemson-class "four-stacker"
destroyer built in 1919. Reuben James was the
first U.S. Navy ship lost to hostile action in World War
II, torpedoed 31 October 1941 (five weeks before Pearl
Harbor) by U-552 while on convoy escort duty
south of Iceland. One hundred fifteen members of her crew
perished. The loss outraged the nation, and the folk
group The Almanac Singers--whose members included Pete
Seeger and Woody Guthrie--wrote and recorded a
passionately patriotic tribute, "The
Ballad of the Reuben James," to the tune of
"Wildwood Flower."- SS-582
Bonefish (contract
515), a Barbel-class fleet submarine launched 22 November
1958. Bonefish was the last diesel-electric boat
built for the U.S. Navy. It served for thirty years,
until 24 April 1988, when a fire broke out in a battery
compartment while the vessel was operating submerged. The
crew surfaced and abandoned ship, and the badly damaged Bonefish
was subsequently decommissioned and scrapped.
- N.S.
Savannah (contract
529), the first nuclear-powered commercial vessel,
launched 21 July 1959.. The elegant 596-foot, 10,000dwt
cargo liner was a demonstration project of the United
States Maritime Administration, which operated the vessel
for ten years (1962-1972). Laid up and defueled, she sat in the James River
Reserve Fleet near Newport News, VA, for more than a decade. She is
presently in Norfolk awaiting a decision by MARAD on a
decommissioning/decontamination plan.
CVA-63 Kitty
Hawk (contract
514), a 1062-foot aircraft carrier displacing more than
80,000 tons, launched 21 May 1960. The largest ship ever
built in Camden (in a dry dock built especially for her),
Kitty
Hawk.is the last of the thirteen
Yorkship-built carriers still afloat. Forward deployed at
its homeport of Yokosuka, Japan, she currently carries the
eight squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5).Kitty Hawk is
scheduled to be retired in 2008, replaced by CVN 77 George
H. W. Bush.- CL-46 Phoenix
(contract 416), a Brooklyn-class light cruiser
launched 13 March 1938. Phoenix earned nine
battle stars during World War II, surviving
the raid on Pearl Harbor and taking part in the
battles of Leyte Gulf, Bataan, and Corregidor.
Decommissioned in 1946, the Phoenix was
transferred to Argentina in 1951, eventually being
commissioned as the General Belgrano. During the
Falklands War, she was torpedoed and sunk by the British
nuclear attack submarine HMS Conqueror.
- In July 1940, S.S.
American Legion (contract 242) was
dispatched by President Roosevelt on a rescue mission to
Petsamo, Finland, where it embarked a manifest of 897
refugees that included young comedic pianist Victor
Borge, Norwegian Crown Princess Martha and her children,
and former US ambassador to Norway Mrs. J. Borden
Harriman. Her cargo included a Swedish 40mm Bofors
anti-aircraft gun, which became the prototype for
thousands of guns employed by the Navy throughout the
war. Departing Petsamo August 16, SS American Legion
was the last neutral vessel allowed to leave Northern
Europe.
- DD-61 Jacob
Jones (contract 150),
a Tucker-class destroyer launched 29 May 1915, and DD-130
Jacob
Jones (contract 215), a Wickes-Tattnall class
destroyer launched 20 November 1918. The first Jacob
Jones was torpedoed by Hans Rose's U-58 off the
Isles of Scilly on 6 December 1917, and sank eight
minutes later with 64 men still aboard. The second Jacob
Jones was torpedoed by U-578 off Cape May, New
Jersey, on 28 February 1942. Only 12 survivors were
found; most of the crew was killed by the initial
explosions (the detonation of the ship's magazine sheared
off the bow), and the rest perished in the water.
AOE-2
Camden (contract
542), a 796-foot fast combat support ship of the Sacramento
class. The largest combat logistics ships in the US
Navy, the AOE vessels combine the functions of three
logistic support ships in one hull - fleet oiler (AO),
ammunition ship (AE), and refrigerated stores ship (AF).
Like Sacramento, the Camden was powered
by one of the engine plants originally intended for the
Iowa-class battleship BB-66 Kentucky, which was
cancelled in 1947 when 72.1% complete. Camden
was assigned to the Pacific Fleet and homeported at
Bremerton, Washington. Decommissioned in October 2005
after 38 years of service, she was scrapped in Brownsville, TX, in 2007.- BB-57 South
Dakota (contract 421),
the prototype of a four-ship class of 680-foot, 35000dwt
fast battleships, launched 7 June 1941. This
highly-decorated vessel (thirteen Battle Stars and five
other commendations) took 42 hits while helping sink the
Japanese battleship Kirishima at the Battle of
Guadacanal in November 1942, and survived to take part in
the final bombardment of Tokyo 15 August 1945. Scrapped
in 1962, she is remembered by a memorial in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. Sister ships Alabama and Massachusetts,
built elsewhere, survive as floating museums.
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Yorkship memories to Michael
Kube-McDowell, Class of '68
