Former Site of Dravo Corporation Shipyard | Second World War 1939-1945, place with historical importance, production, Landing Ship Tank (LST)

 Second World War 1939-1945, place with historical importance, shipyard, production, Landing Ship Tank (LST)

Founded in 1919 by Francis Dravo as a commercial shipyard, the Dravo corporation quickly grew in both size and capability and garnered a name for itself for it's sound and innovative construction techniques as it produced a number of towboats and recreational steamboats.

With the US involvement in the Second World War, the US Government was quick to assign military construction contracts to almost every operational shipyard in the US, and Dravo was no exception, despite it's distance from the ocean. After two contracts for Sub Chasers and Minesweepers, Dravo was awarded a large contract along with a $12 Million dollar investment in it's facilities to begin construction of Tank Landing Ships (LST) for the US Navy.

Dravo's construction practices were well suited to the mass-production of the barge-like LST's, and the long assembly line style construction method pioneered here at Dravo became the standard for the production of LST's in most of the emergency WWII shipyards which were built further downstream. Before the end of hostilities, Dravo was able to construct 147 LST's, three Destroyer Escorts and employed over 16,000 people.

Postwar, Dravo operated briefly as a ship scrapping facility before it returned to commercial shipbuilding in 1947 and operated for another 35 years before it finally closed it's doors in 1982. Today there are several monuments to the Dravo Shipyard's contribution to the war effort in the area and though the yard itself has been subdivided into various commercial uses, it's slipways are still clearly visible on the banks of the Ohio River.

For a list of ships built here, please see:
shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inacti...