Former "Elco" Electric Launch Company factory location (Bayonne, New Jersey) | military, place with historical importance, shipyard

 military, place with historical importance, shipyard

Founded in 1892 as a pleasure craft yacht yard, the Electric Launch Company grew steadily under the direction of its only President, Henry R. Sutphen throughout the early 20th century. When the First World War broke out, the ELCO yard was tapped by both the Royal and Italian Navies to produce large numbers of fast torpedo boats, which at the time were essentially one-off designs from ELCO's yacht hulls, refitted for military service. When the United States entered the war, ELCO was tasked with building wooden SubChasers for convoy escort and littoral anti-submarine warfare roles of the US Coast.

Postwar, ELCO returned to civilian and commercial ship & yacht building, which it continued through the lean times of the Great Depression until war again erupted in Europe. Orders came in again from the Royal Navy, which sorely needed torpedo & crash boats for home waters defence & convoy escort roles. When America entered the war, the Maritime Commission & US Navy gave the ELCO yard a large grant to expand its facilities for mass production of the boat which made ELCO famous worldwide: The 80ft Patrol Torpedo Boat, or PT Boat.

With production for the US Navy commencing in June 1942 with PT-103, ELCO and its employees eventually produced 170 80ft PT Boats for the US Navy before the Wars end in 1945, and dozens of other size & spec PT Boats for the US, Royal & Soviet Navies during the war. Several famous PT Boats were built here, including the PT Boat which rescued Gen. Douglas MacArthur after the fall of the Phillipines, and PT-109, the ill-fated PT Boat which was under the command of John F. Kennedy when it was rammed and sunk in August 1943 in the Solomon Islands.

Postwar ELCO merged with the Electric Boat, of Groton, CT, its sister company, to form the nucleus of a new corporation called General Dynamics which still exists today as one of the main builders of submarines for the US Navy. In 1949, General Dynamics decided to focus on government contracts for submarines at Electric Boat in Groton and phased out the production of personal and commercial watercraft here at ELCO. The ELCO yard was formally closed in 1949 after 57 years in operation. The ELCO name was revived in 1983 and continues operation in Athens, NY constructing Electric pleasure craft to this day.

elcoelectriclaunch.com/

For a complete list of Military Ships built here, please see:
www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/6yacht/in...