Former Site of Gulf Shipbuilding Corp

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, First World War 1914-1918, shipyard, production, historical layer / disappeared object, United States Navy

Founded in 1917 by US Steel under the name Chickasaw Shipbuilding & Car Company, this shipyard was envisioned as the future hub of Gulf Shipbuilding for both the US Government and the commercial trades. With WWI raging across the Atlantic and ship availability at a premium, the US Navy allocated $20 million dollars to the construction of ship production facilities, however these facilites were still under construction on November 11, 1918, when WWI ended. Now faced with the dual challenges of having no lucrative government warship contracts due to the arms limitations imposed after WWI and a flooded market of commercial vessels built by other shipyards during the war, Chickasaw Shipbuilding & Car Co struggled on for a few years after the war before it shut down operations in the 1920s.

The late 1930s brought renewed interest in the yard, as the US Government began to bolster its Naval power in response to the growing threat of another World War. The yard and its surrounding town were sold in 1940 to the Waterman Steamship Co and began to refit the facilites for modern ship production. Now renamed Gulf Shipbuilding Corp, the yard began to recieve its first contracts from the Maritime Commission for cargo ships, which was followed by US Navy contracts for the new Fletcher Class Destroyers. By 1943, Gulf Shipbuilding employed almost 15,000 workers and by the end of WWII had produced 37 Cargo Ships, 7 Destroyers, 1 Amphibious Landing Ship and 27 US and 2 Royal Navy Minesweepers.

The end of WWII brought similar conditions to the yard as the end of WWI, with no more government contracts and an overabundance of commercial vessels in the market, production at the yard quickly tailed off. By 1946 the yard was closed, stripped of its material and left abandoned. Today, the yard grounds are part of the port of Chikasaw and are no longer involved in shipbuilding.

www.destroyerhistory.org/destroyers/gulf.html

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