Vigor Shipyards
Vigor Shipyards (formerly Todd Shipyards) was founded in 1916 as the William H. Todd Corporation through the merger of Robins Dry Dock & Repair Company of Erie Basin, Brooklyn, New York, the Tietjen & Long Dry Dock Company of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company. The Seattle shipyard could trace its history back to 1882, when Robert Moran opened a marine repair shop at Yesler's Wharf. This shop became the Moran Brothers Shipyard in 1906 and the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Company at the end of 1911.
Predecessor | Todd Pacific Shipyards |
---|---|
Founded |
|
Number of locations | 4
|
Parent | Vigor Industrial (2011) |
Website | vigorindustrial |
The shipyard has performed building and maintenance work for, among others, the U.S. and Royal Australian Navies, the United States Coast Guard, and the Washington State Ferries. Its headquarters and operations are on Harbor Island at the mouth of Seattle's Duwamish Waterway. Todd ranked 26th among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts.[1][2]
The 105-foot-long (32 m) hull of Disneyland's Mark Twain riverboat was built at Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California, in 1955.
Frank Sinatra worked after high school as a rivet catcher.
In February 2011, Vigor Industrial purchased Todd for US$130 million.[3] This included the Seattle, Everett and Bremerton operations. Today, Vigor Shipyards is a government repair subsidiary of Vigor Industrial.[4]
Originally, the Coast Guard wanted to acquire 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) and spend about $8 billion for them. In April 2013, it was reported that Vigor proposed an Ulstein X-bow hull in the design competition for the OPC vessels.[5] If successful in landing the contract, Vigor would have assembled the vessels at its Portland, Ore., shipyard. However, in February 2014, the USCG announced that Bollinger Shipyards, Eastern Shipbuilding, and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works had been awarded design contracts for the OPC.[6]
In September 2017, Vigor was contracted to produce the US Army's Maneuver Support Vessel (Light).
Locations[7]
- Seattle, Washington (47.586°N 122.357°W)
- Bremerton, Washington (47.561788°N 122.635875°W)
- Everett, Washington (47.989347°N 122.219381°W)
- Portland, Oregon (45.565746°N 122.724237°W)
Past locations
- Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California. (33.753°N 118.280°W) Formerly Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Corporation, it closed in 1989 following completion of its Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate contract and after failing to win an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer contract.[8] Property is now part of the Port of Los Angeles, and has been completely converted into Berth 100 / West Basin Container Terminal.[9]
- San Francisco Division, Alameda, California. (37.79°N 122.29°W) It opened in 1901 by United Engineering Company and was later named Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard and then Todd San Francisco Division, 1949.[10] Mostly used as a repair or conversion facility; now closed.[11][12] Documented by the Historic American Engineering Record as United Engineering Company Shipyard, survey HAER CA-295.[13]
- Todd Tacoma Division, Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington. Part of Todd Dry Dock & Construction until shut down some time after World War I. Revived in partnership with Kaiser Shipbuilding in 1939 as Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation. In 1942 Todd bought out Kaiser's share and the yard eventually became part of Todd Pacific Shipyards. Sold to the Navy after World War II, further sold to the Port of Tacoma in 1959.[14]
- Hoboken, New Jersey, Weehawken Cove[15][16][17] 1916–1965[18]
See also
References
- Peck, Merton J; Scherer, Frederic M (1962). The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis. Harvard Business School. p. 619.
- Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 121, 124, 133, 137, 202, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
- "Vigor completes $130M purchase of Todd Shipyards". Puget Sound Business Journal. 15 February 2011.
- "Companies". Vigor Industrial. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
- "New Coast Guard Cutter Sparks Fierce Competition Among Shipbuilders". National Defense Magazine. April 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- CAVAS, CHRISTOPHER P. (14 February 2014). "3 Firms Win Design Contracts for New US Coast Guard Cutter". www.defensenews.com. Gannett Government Media. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- "Vigor Shipyards". Vigor Industrial. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
- "Todd Los Angeles Division". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
- "Container Facilities". Port of Los Angeles.—Shows an aerial view of Berth 100, the former location of Todd - San Pedro.
- "San Francisco Construction Projects". Powered by The People. 2009-06-13.
- Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, p. 124, 178, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
- "Todd San Francisco Division". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
- "United Engineering Company Shipyard, 2900 Main Street, Alameda, Alameda County, CA HAER CA-295". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
- "Todd Tacoma Todd Dry Dock Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding". shipbuildinghistory.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- "Todd to Shut Hoboken Shipyard And Shift the Work to Brooklyn". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- "Todd Shipyards Corporation - Founded in 1916 as the William H. Todd Corporation. It was formed by the purchase and merger of several shipyards in the New York region including Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Co. that was purchased by Todd in that year. Located in Weehawken Cove, the Hoboken - Weehawken city line passes through the site. The company used a Hoboken address in all its literature and was given as Seventeenth Street and Park Avenue. Called Tietjen & Lang Plant then Todd Hoboken Dry Docks, Inc. and later Todd Shipyards, Hoboken Division. Closed September 1, 1965. Todd became a national company with shipyards in all major shipbuilding regions and had a significant role in World War II shipbuilding and repair". hoboken.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- "History of Todd Shipyards Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/2393072/article-The-days-of-factories-and-shipbuilding-Catching-a-glimpse-of-Hoboken-s-industrial-past