Avondale Shipyard was an independent

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

company, acquired by

Litton Industries Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr. During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. ...

, in turn acquired by

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

Corporation. In 2011, along with the former

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 ...

, the yard was part of

Huntington Ingalls Industries HII (formerly Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.) is the largest military shipbuilding company in the United States as well as a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. HII, ranked No. 371 on the Fortune 500, w ...

. It closed in October 2014. The yard was located on the west bank of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

in an area called Bridge City, about upriver from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

near

Westwego, Louisiana Westwego is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located in Jefferson Parish. It is a suburban community of New Orleans in the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area and lies along the west bank of the Mississippi River. The population of the ci ...

. It was the site of the modernization of the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

in the early 1980s and also constructed some of the

lighter aboard ship The lighter aboard ship (LASH) system refers to the practice of loading barges (lighters) aboard a bigger vessel for transport. It was developed in response to a need to transport lighters, a type of (usually but not always) unpowered barge, be ...

s (LASH). At one time, it was the largest employer in Louisiana, with about 26,000 employees.

History

Avondale Shipyards was founded in 1938 as Avondale Marine Ways by James Grinstead Viavant, Harry Koch, and

Perry N. Ellis Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

.University of New Orleans Library
- Avondale Shipyards Collection It was primarily a repair and

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

-construction facility for craft working the

. In 1941, the company employed only 200 workers. They were awarded a contract to build tugboats for the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. This led to further contracts to build

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s and

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

s. After World War II, Avondale took advantage of the expansion of the oil industry in Louisiana to build drilling barges and

offshore oil rig An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

s. They also built other commercial vessels, such as fishing boats. They again obtained government contracts to build military vessels during the

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Wars. Avondale Marine Ways was purchased by the Ogden Corporation in 1959 for $14 million. The following year, it was renamed Avondale Shipyards, Inc. The company was sold to its employees in 1985. In 1988, it became a publicly traded company, Avondale Industries, Inc. Workers voted to unionize with the New Orleans Metal Trades Council in 1993, leading to a lengthy and arduous legal battle between the workers and Avondale Industries. The Metal Trades Union eventually succeeded in 2000. The publication ''Bayou Worker'', archived at

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name o ...

, contains information related to the labor organizing efforts. In 1998, the company won contracts worth $454.7 million for the construction of two ships by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

landing platform dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operat ...

ship and the Navy's newest

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, as ...

). In mid-2010, Northrop Grumman announced its intention to close the Avondale yard by 2013 and consolidate its Gulf Coast shipbuilding operations at its

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 22 ...

, yard. Northrop Grumman did a spin-off of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding to Huntington Ingalls Inc. effective as of March 31, 2011. The Avondale yard became the Huntington Ingalls Industries Avondale Operation, a subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Inc. In February 2013, Avondale Plant was reorganized and entered sector of oil and gas production equipment. was recorded as the last Navy ship to depart from the Avondale Ship Yard, on 3 February 2014.

Ships built

Ships built by Avondale include: * APL C-9-class container vessels (1980-1983), originally ''President Monroe'', ''President Washington'', and ''President Lincoln''. These are now operated by

Matson Navigation Company Matson may refer to: *Matson (surname) *Matson, Gloucester, England, a suburb of Gloucester *Matson, Missouri, an unincorporated community *2586 Matson, an asteroid * Matson, Inc., a shipping company, formerly Matson Navigation Company *Matson Film ...

as M/V ''Manoa'', ''Mahimahi'', and ''Mokihana'', respectively. * MARAD Design C9-S-81d and C8-S-81d class ( LASH-ships) *

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

(USCG) icebreaker and research vessel (1999) * s (6 out of 9 ships, 2000–present) including built with steel from the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the 9/11 attacks and built with steel from a crane that stood near Flight 93's crash site also destroyed on 9/11. * s (4 out of 4 ships, 1991–97) * s (5 last of 8 ships, 1986–90) * SS ''Velma Lykes'', now , training ship for Massachusetts Maritime Academy * s (5 out of 5 ships, 1981-1983) * fleet replenishment oilers (14 out of 16 ships, 1984–96) * (7 ships build between 1993-2001) * USCG high-endurance cutters (12 out of 12 ships, 1967–72) * s (27 out of 46 ships, 1967–74) * - USCG river tender *

Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center The Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center (VCBC), also known as the Vernon C. Bain Maritime Facility and under the nickname "The Boat", is an 800-bed jail barge used to hold inmates for the New York City Department of Corrections. The barge is an ...

, a New York City

prison ship A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nation ...

(1992) *MV ''President Lincoln'', an IMO container ship (1982)

References

External links

FAS(VIDEO) Save Our Shipyard - Save Avondale
{{coord, 29.924, -90.185, region:US_type:landmark, display=title Northrop Grumman Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Louisiana

History

Ships built

See also

References

External links