USSARD1undertowUSSBridgeAF1PanamaCanal28October1934

Pacific Bridge Company was a large engineering and construction company. 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Pacific Bridge Company of

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

was selected to build

US 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 ...

Auxiliary Repair Docks (ARD) a type of

Auxiliary floating drydock An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the floating dry dock, ...

and Type B ship

barges 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. ...

History

The Pacific Bridge Company was founded by William Henry Gorrill in 1869. In 1942 The Pacific Bridge Company was chosen to build ships, because of their reputation and skills, particularly welding. Since the coastal shipyards were busy building large vessels for the war effort, such as aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers, there was no alternative but to use other builders, like Bridge builders for the production of small and medium ships. Pacific Bridge Company built the first nine N3-S-A1, Type N3 ship

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 ...

sent to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in 1943. The type N3 ships were a

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 ...

small coastal cargo ship designed to meet urgent World War II shipping needs. Two of the N3 ships were completed and ready in a record-breaking 22 days, A crew of 480 men worked on the ship. The SS ''Samuel Very'' was one of these ships. Two N3 ships were built at the same time in the two drydocks at the Alameda Shipyard. The Alameda Shipyard had two traveling cranes to move parts. Henry J. Kaiser's had the Pacific Bridge Company join as one of Kaiser's "Group of Six" construction companies that help build the

Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on S ...

, due to Pacific Bridge's expertise. Pacific Bridge also brought its capital into the large project The shipbuilding yard was on the Oakland Alameda estuary. Some residential homes near Clement Avenue and Chestnut Street were purchased and taken down or moved to be part of the

Emergency Shipbuilding Program The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940 – September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime ...

. The Pacific Bridge Company was a contractor to the US Navy to build the ships. The shipyard was to the West of the

General Engineering & Dry Dock Company General Engineering & Dry Dock Company was a shipbuilding and ship repair company in Alameda, California that was active from the 1920s through the 1940s. The company built ships for the Southern Pacific Railroad and the United States Coast Gua ...

. The land for the shipyard was purchased by the Navy from 24 March to 7 July 1942. The Pacific Bridge Company Oakland Alameda yard discontinued shipbuilding after World War 2, continued manufacturing until 1969. In 1969 the yard was sold for redevelopment and today is the Alameda Marina. The Alameda Marina also has a commercial shipyard, ship maintenance facilities, industrial space, storage, and office buildings. Part of the shipyard became the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center in 1949. The Site had several training buildings that provided training on ship systems. On January 21, 2016 demolition started of the Pacific Bridge Company workshop building on Clement Ave. The land will be used for a new condominium complex. PC interstate-5 bridge cars ca1920

Before ship building, Pacific Bridge Company built bridges in both the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

and Portland, Oregon. Pacific Bridge Company built 10 bridges over the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

near Portland. To provide stone for project Pacific Bridge Company purchased ''The McBain Stone Quarry'' from the estate of James McBain, in

Klickitat County, Washington Klickitat County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,735. The county seat and largest city is Goldendale. The county is named after the Klickitat tribe. History Klickitat Count ...

near the Klickitat River in 1922.

William Henry Gorrill

In 1869 William Henry Gorrill founded the Pacific Bridge Company. Pacific Bridge Company was incorporated on March 29, 1872. W. H. Gorrill was President; C. F. Lucas was vice-president and C. H. Gorrill was Secretary and Treasurer. William Henry Gorrill was born in 1841. William Henry Gorrill was an Ohio attorney, who was told to go west for his health, due to his

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

and turned from law to building bridges. William came to California in 1870. William Henry Gorrill's wife was Katharine B Gorrill, they had one daughter, Marion H Gorrill and a son William H. Gorrill born in Oakland in 1872. William Henry Gorrill died in 1874. His son William H. became an attorney in Berkeley and for a short time professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. William H. died in Berkeley on 20 Dec. 1961.

Swigert family

Charles F. Swigert and H. C. Campbell purchased Pacific Bridge Company in the 1890s from William Henry Gorrill. Charles F. Swigert had been working at Pacific Bridge since 1881. Charles F. Swigert became and was President of The Pacific Bridge Company for over 40 years. H. C. Campbell became the Sec. In 1887 Charles F. Swigert and Mr. Campbell built the City and Suburban railway, which they operated until 1905. In 1005 they sold it to the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company. At the time of the sale it had eighty miles of single track. Charles F. Swigert also helped build the Lyle and Goldendale Railroad, later sold to the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, wh ...

. Charles F. Swigert turned the company over to his son Gorill Swigert. Gorill Swigert turned the company over to his son William Swigert. Charles F. Swigert was born on 1 December 1863, his wife was Rena Bliss Goodnough Swigert (1865–1958). Charles F. Swigert and Rena Bliss Goodnough Swigert had three children: Charles F. Swigert, Jr., was vice president and manager of the Electric Steel Foundry Company; E. G., sales manager for Electric Steel Foundry and is married and has two children: Nannie and Ernest G., Jr.; and W. G., a director of the Pacific Bridge Company, and is married and has three children: Phyllis, W. G., Jr., and Juliette. H. C. Campbell built large bridges on the East coast before coming out west. H. C. Campbell was part of ''The Willamette Iron Bridge Company'' which failed to build the Willamette Bridge, but became part of the Pacific Bridge Company which built the Willamette Bridge. Philip Hart was President of The Pacific Bridge Company in the 1930s-1940s and was president at the building of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge completed in 1940. Was on United Airlines Flight 6, a DC-3, that crashed landed in water a mile off the coast of

Point Reyes Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applie ...

, CA while flying from Seattle to San Francisco on November 28, 1938. The DC-3 was in a storm and ran out of fuel. There were five fatalities: the first officer, stewardess, and three passengers including Philip Hart.

Bridges and piers built

A few of the many built: *

Morrison Bridge The Morrison Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Completed in 1958, it is the third bridge at approximately the same site to carry that name. It is one of the most heavily used bridges in Portland. It ...

s *

Burnside Bridge The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register ...

1926 *

Interstate Bridge The Interstate Bridge (also Columbia River Interstate Bridge, I-5 Bridge, Portland-Vancouver Interstate Bridge, Vancouver-Portland Bridge) is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, Parker through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 ...

1916-1958 *

Ross Island Bridge The Ross Island Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It carries U.S. Route 26 (Mount Hood Highway) across the river between southwest and southeast Portland. The bridge opened in 1926 and w ...

1926 (one of several contributing contractors, but not the main contractor) * Shepperd's Dell Bridge 1914 * Multnomah Creek Bridge 1920 * Latourell Creek Bridge 1914 *

Felton Covered Bridge The Felton Covered Bridge is a covered bridge over the San Lorenzo River in Felton, Santa Cruz County in the U.S. state of California. Built in 1892, the bridge employs a Brown truss structural system and is approximately 80 feet long. The brid ...

1892 * California Powder Works Bridge 1872 *Aliso Road Covered Bridge, Boyle Heights, 1873 *

St. Johns Bridge The St. Johns Bridge is a steel suspension bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, between the Cathedral Park neighborhood in North Portland and the Linnton and Northwest Industrial neighborhoods in Northwest ...

* Tacoma Narrows Bridge 1940 that failed, (note design team was headed by Clark Eldridge, a bridge engineer with the Washington State Department of Highways, not Pacific Bridge) * Willamette River Bridge, original 1888, replaced by new

Oregon City Bridge The Oregon City Bridge, also known as the Arch Bridge, is a steel through arch bridge spanning the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1922, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Pla ...

* Bridal Veil Falls Bridge *Farm Island Bridge in 1875 in Alameda. *Rockport Suspension Bridge, 1876 *Old Oregon City Suspension Bridge, 1888 *

Longview Bridge The Lewis and Clark Bridge is a cantilever bridge that spans the Columbia River between Longview, Washington, and Rainier, Oregon. At the time of its completion, it had the longest cantilever span in the United States. The bridge was opened on M ...

1928 now called the Lewis and Clark Bridge. * Fort Flagler batteries, 1897 * Santa Cruz Railroad Bridges, 1874 *Snake River Bridge at Burbank burns, 1921 *Bridges for the Monterey Felton & Pescadero Railroad, part of

South Pacific Coast Railroad The South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) was a narrow gauge steam railroad running between Santa Cruz, California and Alameda, with a ferry connection in Alameda to San Francisco. The railroad was created as the Santa Clara Valley Railroad, founde ...

, 1885 * New Allen Street Bridge, 1923, replace the Allen Street Bridge disaster *

*Ten metal truss bridges were shipped to Hawaii in In 1884 * Red Bank Creek Bridge * Part of the

, bridge building and underwater foundations *Part of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

project, awarded contract for San Francisco Tower Pier and Fender, Marin Tower Pier for $2,935,000.

Pearl Harbor salvage

Pacific Bridge Company was awarded a contract from the Navy to salvage the sunken ships at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

. Pacific Bridge drivers worked many hours to save ships and lives. The salvage and raising of the USS ''Oklahoma'' (BB-37), USS ''Utah'' (BB-31) and USS West ''Virginia'' (BB-48) was given to Pacific Bridge.

Ships built from 1942 to 1944

N3-S-A1 cargo ships

*SS Charles H. Salter, wrecked and lost off Iceland 1946 *SS Cyrus Sears, sold: kidby 1951, Borgfred 1951, Lise 1954, Aura 1955, Fernando 1960, Fata Morgana 1962, Giannis 1963), sank 1964 *SS Benjamin Sherburn, sold Winga 1949, Rilda 1952, Raed 1968, scrapped 1972 *SS Samuel V. Shreve, sold Jura 1949, Barcelona 1957, foundered 1963 *SS Reuben Snow, sold Beechland 1949, Teresa Cosulich 1951, Agia Varvara 1963, exploded and sank 1968 *SS Caleb Sprague, torpedoed and sunk by German motor torpedo boats on January 31, 1944,off Beachy Head *SS Benjamin Tay, sold Benue 1951, Anglo 1952, Lindvang 1965, Danaos 1969, Veta 1974, Agios Favourios III 1975, scrapped 1980 *SS Charles Treadwell, sold Dundrum Bay 1950, Esito 1952, Sandra 1953, West Indies 1953, Esito 1954, wrecked 1964 *SS Samuel Very, sold Angusloch 1951, Changsung 1953, scrapped 1985

Type B ship barges

Freight Barges YFN were not self-propelled, but towed to place. A YFN could carry a load of 550 long tons. YFN were used near shore and had a steel hull. They worked in harbors, rivers and other protected waters. They were 110 feet long, with a 32-foot beam and a maximum draft of 8 feet. Pacific Bridge built 27 YFN Freight Barges in 1943. Pacific Bridge also built 90 of the 138-ton barges, these smaller barges were sometimes called lighters, they were 110-foot-long, some were covered workshops, due to their simple and well-built construction some are still in service today. *YFN 576 to YFN 603.

Medium Auxiliary Repair Docks (ARDM)

Auxiliary repair dock An auxiliary repair dock (ARD) is a type of floating drydock employed by the U.S. Navy, especially during World War II. The Navy commissioned 33 ARD vessels: ARD-1 through ARD-33. ARDs were self-sustaining in World War II. ARDs have a rudder to h ...

Mobile (ARDM) are 5,200 tons and are 489 feet long. ARD had a ship form hull and lifting capacity of 3,500 tons. ARDM were used to repair

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 ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, and small auxiliaries. ARDM has a crew of 130 to 160 men. * USS ''Oak Ridge'' (ARDM-1) Now US Coast Guard * USS ''Almagordo'' (ARDM-2) Now in Ecuador * USS ''Endurance'' (ARDM-3) Now in South America

Auxiliary Repair Docks (ARD)

Built by Pacific Bridge in Alameda CA and are 483 feet long, beam of 71 Feet, and draft of 5 Feet. Ship displacement 4,800 tons. Crew complement 6 Officers and 125 Enlisted. Armament of two single

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models em ...

. ARD had a crew of 100 to 160 men. ARD have a bow and are

sea worthy Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea st ...

. They are self-sustaining with rudders to help in tow moving and have two cranes with a 5-ton capacity. Normal also had stowage barge for extra space. Used to repair destroyers and submarines. Class 2 could repair

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 with ...

(LST). The stern of ship is open to have the ship in need of repair enter. *

USS ARD-1 USS ARD-1 was an auxiliary repair dock serving with the United States Navy during World War II as Auxiliary floating drydock. ''ARD-1'' was built by the Pacific Bridge Company and completed in September 1934. ''ARD-1'' was commissioned at Alam ...

(displacement of 2200 tons) (Built in 1933) (only one in class) * USS ARD-2 sold in 1963 * USS ARD-3 sold 1999 * USS ARD-4 sold 1961 ** ''ARD-2-class 410 feet long, 49 feet, 4 inches wide, ARD-5 to 11:'' * USS ''Waterford'' (ARD-5) * USS ARD-6 sold 1961 * USS ''West Milton'' (ARD-7) Scrapped in 1992 * USS ARD-8 sold 1961 * USS ARD-9 sold 1977 * USS ARD-10 sold, scrapped in 2014 * USS ARD-11 sold 1977 ** ''ARD-2-class wide: 410 feet long, 49 feet, 4 inches 59 feet, 3 inches wide, ARD 12 to 32:'' * USS ARD-12 sold 1987 * USS ARD-13 sold 1977 * USS ARD-14 sold 1980 * USS ARD-15 sold 1971 * USS ARD-16 by Pacific Bridge, sold moved to Mobile AL * USS ARD-17 sold 1971 * USS ''Endurance'' ARD-18 ARDM 3, laid up at

Charleston Naval Shipyard Charleston Naval Shipyard (formerly known as the Charleston Navy Yard) was a U.S. Navy ship building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River, in North Charleston, South Carolina and part of Naval Base Charleston. ...

* USS ''Oak Ridge'' ARD-19 ARDM 1, to

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, m ...

in 2002 * USS ''White Sands'' ARD-20 by Pacific Bridge Co., (changed to AGDS-1), sold 1974 * USS ARD-21 reserve * USS ''Windsor'' (ARD-22) sold 1976 * USS ARD-23 sold 1992 * USS ARD-24 sold 1982 * USS ARD-25 sold 1973 * USS ''Alamogordo'' ARD-26 sold 2000 * USS ARD-27 Scrapped in 1974 * USS ARD-28 sold renamed '' Capitan Rodriguez Zamora'' * USS ''Arco'' ARD-29 sold to Iran 1971 * USS ''San Onfre'' (ARD-30) by Pacific Bridge Co. * USS ARD-31 To

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...

in 1974 * USS ARD-32 sold 1960 * USS ARD-33 (By Dravo Corp.) renamed AFDL 47 '' Reliance'' The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia, Floating Dry Docks
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacific Bridge Company Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Bridge companies 1869 establishments in California Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Ships built in Alameda, California Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1869 American companies established in 1869