Richmond Shipyard 3 (Richmond, California)

 NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, interesting place, historic landmark

Richmond Shipyard #3 at Point Portrero on the west side of Harbor Channel consists of five historic buildings (machine shop, general warehouse, sheet metal shop, first-aid station and cafeteria) and its five graving/dry docks are still intact. The dry dock basins and buildings are little changed from World War II.

Richmond Shipyard #3 was designed and constructed by Henry J. Kaiser’s Firm as a permanent shipyard, which is one reason it is still relatively intact. Most industrial sites including Shipyards #1 and #2 were constructed for temporary use during the War.

Kaiser applied all the lessons he learned in shipbuilding at Shipyards #1 and #2. Shipyard #3 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places at the national level of significance.

An adjacent building, referred to as the Oil House, served the FAB and shares the same architecture and is also on the National Register. The Oil House is slated to be preserved and adaptively reused by the City for offices and a Conference Center, which could compliment the adjacent Visitor/Education Center.

New to shipbuilding, Kaiser Industries revolutionized the industry, which had been relatively dormant in the years prior to World War II. Henry J. Kaiser was described as someone who "never knows what he cannot do."

Kaiser introduced mass production techniques, segmenting job tasks, training unskilled labor, and redesigning shipyards based on straight flow of parts and materials, more space for sub-assembly, assembly lines, pre-fabrication, and welding (rather than riveting) plates together.

The massive square concrete building shown on the right is the general warehouse, from which ships received their finishing touches-- blankets, mops, brooms and all the other individual pieces of furnishings and equipment needed to completely fit out a self-contained floating vessel.

Kaiser also used “Whirley” cranes to lift, move and lower prefabricated ship components into place. Kaiser partnered with Todd Shipyards. Kaiser knew how to build shipyards and Todd knew how to run shipyards. The Richmond Shipyards were: Kaiser No.1 and 2 – Permanente Metals Corp., Kaiser, No.3 – Kaiser Company, Inc., and Kaiser No.3 – Kaiser Cargo, Inc.

The four Richmond Shipyards, with their combined 27 shipways, produced more ships than any other yard in the country. 747 ships were produced in Richmond during World War II.

National Register of Historic Places # 00000364.

www.rosietheriveter.org/shipyard3.htm
www.rosietheriveter.org/home/shipyard3history.pdf
www.terrastories.com/bearings/richmond-shipyard-3-slips