Froemming Brothers of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

that built ships for

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 ...

under the emergency shipbuilding program,

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Co ...

and

United States 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 ...

. Froemming Brothers shipyard was opened in 1942 by Ben Froemming (1902-1945). Froemming Brothers closed after the war in 1945, after building 26 ships. The shipyard was located on the north side of the Kinnickinnic River. The shipyard had 2,400 workers in three shifts. In 1945 it was sold to Wagner Iron Works and later sold to the Milwaukee Marine Yacht. The site today is Horny Goat Marina, Blue Max Charters and Clete Long Enterprises. The shipyard was in Bay View, Milwaukee neighborhood at .

Legacy

Ben Froemming died in 1945 near the end of the war. The last ship built at the yard had its name changed before the christening. The SS ''Tapir Splice'' a C1-M-AV1 Cargo ship was renamed the SS ''Ben Froemming'' and delivered to the War Shipping Administration in October 1945. After the war in 1947, the ''Ben Froemming'' was sold to a private company. In 1975 she was converted to the drillship SS ''Goldrill''.

Ships built

Froemming Brothers for World War II: * V4-M-A1 Type V ship

Tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s, at a cost of $1.2 million each. *S2-S2-AQ1, Tacoma-class frigate, * C1-M-AV1

Type C1 ship Type C1 was a designation for small cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original M ...

Cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s *Tacoma-class frigate 4 built: * USS Allentown * USS Sandusky (PF-54) *

USS Bath (PF-55) The second USS ''Bath'' (PF-55) was a United States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1945 which later served in the Soviet Navy as ''EK-29'' and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, with her Japanese name reported by various sources (see ...

* USS Machias (PF-53) *Type V ship - tug boat, V4-M-A1 8 built *Point Loma Scrapped 1972 *Anacapa Scrapped 1973 *Point Vicente To Mexico 1969 renamed Huitilopochtli (A 51) *Point Arguello Scrapped 1973 *Sankaty Head Helped with Normandy landings, Scrapped 1978 *Yaqina Head Sold private 1971, scrapped *Bald Island Scrapped 1973 *Fire Island Scrapped 1972 *C1 Ships, C1-M-AV1 Cargo ships, 14 built: * USS Chatham (AK-169) * USS Craighead (AK-175) * USS Claiborne (AK-171) * USS Chicot (AK-170) * USS Colquitt (AK-174) * USS Clarion (AK-172) * USS Charlevoix (AK-168) * Doddridge, renamed Coastal Messenger, then USCGC Courier *Codington *Duval, renamed Coastal Racer, then YFP-10navsource YFP-10
/ref> *Knob Knot *Salmon Knot *Yard Hitch *Tapir Splice, renamed Ben Froemming, then Golddrill 5

References

{{US Navy navbox Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States

Legacy

Ships built

See also

References