The Swan Island Shipyard was a shipyard on Swan Island in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was constructed by the industrialist

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 ...

in 1942 as part of 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 ...

's Emergency Shipbuilding Program in World War II. The Swan Island yard was one of three Kaiser Shipyards in the Portland area (all within a 4 mile radius), along with the

Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation was a World War II emergency shipyard located along the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. The shipyard built nearly 600 Liberty and Victory ships between 1941 and 1945 under the Emergency Shipb ...

and the

Vancouver Shipyard The Vancouver Shipyard was an emergency shipyard constructed along the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, to help meet the production demands of the U.S. Maritime Commission in World War II. The shipyard was one of three Kaiser Shipyards i ...

. Before the opening of the shipyard, Swan Island was the location of the Swan Island Municipal Airport. The Port of Portland leased the airport to the U.S. federal government in March 1942. The completed Swan Island yard began production in July 1942 with eight shipways. The Swan Island Shipyard was one of four shipyards in the United States specifically designed to produce

T2 tanker The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of ...

s. It produced 153 tankers over the course of the war, all of them of the T2-SE-A1 design.

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* {{Authority control 1942 establishments in Oregon Shipyards of the United States * United States home front during World War II