The four Richmond Shipyards, in the city of

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a city council.

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, were run by Permanente Metals and part of the

Kaiser Shipyards The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The shipyards were owned by the Kaise ...

. In World War II, Richmond built more ships than any other

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 ...

, turning out as many as three ships in a single day. The shipyards are part of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, whose

Rosie the Riveter Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new ...

memorial honors the shipyard workers. Shipyard #3 is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

and is a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

# 1032.

History

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...

had been building

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 for the

U.S. 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 ...

in the late 1930s. When he received orders for ships from the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

, already at war with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, Kaiser established his first Richmond shipyard in December 1940. The shipyard legacy continues by virtue of its innovative medical care, which was derived from Kaiser's earlier California Colorado Aqueduct Project insurance and today called Kaiser Permanente. The four Richmond Kaiser Shipyards built 747 ships in World War II, a rate never equaled. Compared to the average ship built elsewhere, Richmond ships were completed in two-thirds the time and at a quarter of the cost. The

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. M ...

was assembled in less than five days as a part of a competition among shipyards. By 1944, the yard routinely needed only a bit more than two weeks to assemble a Liberty ship. By the end of the war the Richmond Shipyards had built $1.8 billion worth of ships. Kaiser and his workers applied mass

assembly line An assembly line is a manufacturing process (often called a ''progressive assembly'') in which parts (usually interchangeable parts) are added as the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where the parts are added in sequ ...

techniques to building the ships. This production line technique, bringing pre-made parts together, moving them into place with huge cranes and having them welded together by "Rosies" (actually "Wendy the Welders" here in the shipyards), allowed unskilled laborers to do repetitive jobs requiring relatively little training to accomplish. This sped up construction, allowed more workers to be mobilized, and opened jobs to women and minorities. In the war, thousands of men and women worked in this area in hazardous jobs. Actively recruited by Kaiser, they came from all over the United States to swell the population of Richmond from 20,000 to over 100,000 in three years. For many of them, this was the first time they worked, earned money, and faced the problems of working parents: finding

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

and housing. Women and minorities entered the workforce in areas previously denied to them. However, they still faced unequal pay, were shunted off into "auxiliary" unions and still had to deal with prejudice and inequities. In the war,

labor strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

s and sit-down work stoppages eventually led to better conditions. Many workers commuted from other parts of the Bay Area to the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond on the

Shipyard Railway The Shipyard Railway was an electric commuter rail/interurban line that served workers at the Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California, United States, during World War II. It was funded by the United States Maritime Commission and was built ...

, a temporary wartime railway whose trains used cars of the local

Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area ...

and whose line extended from a depot in Emeryville to a loop serving all four shipyards. The SS ''Red Oak Victory'' is docked nearby Kaiser Richmond No. 3 Yard.

Kaiser Richmond shipyards

For World War 2 Kaiser opened four shipyards along the northeast shoreline of

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from ...

, each using prefabricated parts to build ships. Prefabricated subcontractors included: Graham Ship Repair Company, Herrick Iron Works, Independent Iron Works, Berkeley’s Trailer Company of America, Steel Tank & Pipe Company, California Steel Products Corporation, Pacific Coast Engineering in Alameda and Clyde W. Wood in Stockton.

Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard

Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard was a new shipyard built to support the demand for ships for World War 2. Kaiser purchased the contact and the yard to built type

Ocean ship The Ocean ships were a class of sixty cargo ships built in the United States by Todd Shipyards Corporation during the Second World War for the British Ministry of War Transport under contracts let by the British Purchasing Commission. Eighteen w ...

from the Todd Shipyards in 1940. Kaiser built yard No. 1 to build the Ocean ships. Yard No. 1 was built on unoccupied land with construction starting in December 1940. In April 1941 the keel for the first British bound Ocean ship was laid. The next series of ships built were Liberty ships, with the first keel laid on May 15, 1942. Needing faster cargo ships the next series of ships built were

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were sli ...

s, with the first keel laid on January 17, 1944. After the war, in 1946, the yard closed. Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard was at 700 Wright Ave, Richmond on the Parr Canal. The site now has general docks for construction supplies. Located at GPS . Built at Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard: * Ocean ship, 30 cargo ships, 7,174 GRT. (sometimes credited to Todd Shipyards Corporation) * Liberty ship, 138 model EC2-S-C1 ships, 7,176 GRT. *

, 82 Model VC2-S-AP3 ships, 7,612 GRT. Notable ships: , , , and .

Kaiser Richmond No. 2 Yard

Kaiser Richmond No. 2 Yard started as a joint project of Kaiser Permanente Metals Corporation and Todd Shipyards Corporation. Construction of its first Liberty Ship at the site started in September 1941. Permanente Metals was a subcontractor building many of the pre-fabricated parts of the ships. Kaiser purchased Todd's interest in the yard in 1942 and renamed it Kaiser Richmond No. 2 Yard. The yard started by working 6 keels at a time and at its peak was working on 12 keels a day. Most ships being built in under 30 days. The yard was built starting in 1941 and closed at the end of the war in 1945, no traces of yard No. 2 remains. The yard was at 1923 Esplanade Drive, Richmond. The site is now the north side of the Inner Harbour Basin, in the Richmond Marina Bay, at Marina Bay Park. At the park is the Rosie the Riveter Memorial. GPS site is . Built at Kaiser Richmond No. 2 Yard: * Liberty Cargo ships, 353 model EC2-S-C1 * Haskell-class attack transports 21 Model VC2-S-AP5, a type of Victory ship * Victory Cargo ships, 66 Model VC2-S-AP2 Notable ships: , , , , , , , , and .

Kaiser Richmond No. 3 Yard

Kaiser Richmond No. 3 Yard opened in 1943 and built Kaiser's largest ships, the

Type C4-class ship The Type C4-class ship were the largest cargo ships built by the United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) during World War II. The design was originally developed for the American-Hawaiian Lines in 1941, but in late 1941 the plans were taken ...

, General G. O. Squier-class transport ships. These ships had a 12,420 GRT with a length of 523 feet (159 m). While the yard closed at the end of the war in 1946 the shipyard was not taken apart. The shipyard is still intact and there have been unsuccessful attempts to reopen the yard. Kaiser Richmond No. 3 Yard is at 1040 Canal Boulevard, Richmond at Point Potrero. At 1337 Canal Boulevard Berth 5, Richmond is the SS Red Oak Victory Cargo ship a Museum ship. Kaiser Richmond No. 3 Yard thus became the U.S. National Register of Historic Place and California Historical Landmark. At GPS . Built at Kaiser Richmond No. 3 Yard: *

cargo ship, 35 model C4-S-A1. Notable ships: and .

Kaiser Richmond No. 4 Yard

USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina (USA), circa in June 1945 (19-N-84718)

Kaiser Richmond No. 4 Yard was planned to be called Richmond #3A Yard, as just an expansion of Richmond #3. But when opened became its own shipyard with separate management. The yard opened in 1943 and closed at the end of the war in 1945. The yard was at 800 Wharf Street Richmond, on the south side of Richmond Inner Harbor Channel's Santa Fe Channel. The site now is Sugar Dock, a deepwater service port in Point Richmond. At GPS . Built at Kaiser Richmond No. 4 Yard: *

Landing Ship, Tank Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore wi ...

LST model S3-M-K2, built 15 ships: LST 476 to LST 490, 4,877 GRT. * ''Tacoma''-class frigate 12 model S2-S2-AQ1, 7,612 GRT. *

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 ...

cargo 24 model C1-M-AV1, 3,805 GRT. Notable ships: , , , , and .

References

External links

Images and oral history transcripts describing the early days of the Richmond Shipyards
via Calisphere, California Digital Library.

* {{authority control Buildings and structures in Richmond, California * Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States History of Contra Costa County, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area Maritime history of California United States home front during World War II 1940s in California Henry J. Kaiser Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, California World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California 1940 establishments in California Companies based in Richmond, California Defunct manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Shipyards on the National Register of Historic Places American companies established in 1940 Manufacturing companies established in 1940 Shipyards in California Transportation buildings and structures in Contra Costa County, California California Historical Landmarks