Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard started as William Skinner & Sons in downtown
Baltimore,
Maryland in 1815. In 1899 the shipyard was renamed Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. Also at the site was Malster & Reanie started in 1870 by
William T. Malster (1843–1907). In 1879 Malster partnered with William B. Reaney (1808-1883). In 1880 Malster & Reanie was sold and renamed
Columbian Iron Works & Dry Dock Company (Lower Yard). Malster & Reanie and Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company merged in 1906, but remained as Skinner Shipbuilding. In 1914 the company was renamed Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company. Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company sold to
Bethlehem Steel in 1922, becoming part of
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. Bethlehem Steel operated the shipyard for ship repair, conversion and some ship construction. Bethlehem's main ship construction site was across the harbor at
Bethlehem Sparrows Point. Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard was known as the Bethlehem Upper Yard located north-east side of
Federal Hill. Bethlehem Fort McHenry Shipyard located on the west side of
Locust Point peninsula was known as the Lower Yard, near
Fort McHenry.[1]
Some
T-2 tankers were converted or "jumboized" in order to increase their capacity as
oiler ship. A 354-foot-long cargo midsection was added. Sample:[6]
SS Gulfmeadows,
Gulf Oil Company tanker converted in 1957 to 12,811 GT, from 9,900 GT. Built as SS Great Meadows in 1943 by
Sun Shipbuilding Co.
SS Maine, built as a T2-SE-A2 tanker SS Tomahawk by
Marinship Corporation. Became US Navy USS Tomahawk (AO-88). In 1967 she was jumboized.[7]
SS Marine Duval, was USS Lynchurg (AO 154)
Six other T-2 tankers were jumboized.
Legacy:
A Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard 100 feet tall
crane built in the 1940s during
World War II is on display at The Baltimore Museum of Industry along with other artifacts. The crane was used at the
Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard to help build
Liberty ships,
Victory ships and
amphibious landing ships. Fairfield closed in 1945 and the crane was moved to Bethlehem Key Highway Shipyard in 1945.[8]
Ocean Scout, was the first semisubmersible oil well drilling rig to be constructed on the East Coast.[12]
Baltimore Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Company (1899—1906) went into receivership in 1899 and was reorganized as Baltimore Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, and was purchased by William B. Skinner and Sons in 1905. In 1915, Skinner and Sons went into receivership and was reorganized as the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Corporation.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
Baltimore Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company specialized in building and repairing tanker ships.
Sample:
SS Bethelridfe, and SS Betterton, tankers built in 1919 at 10,300 tons, 444 feet long, 59 beam, 34 tanks, 2,500 HP. Four others built.[21][22][23]
SS Arundel built in 1904
Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, also called William Skinner & Sons. (1906—1915).[24][25]
Shipyard samples:
Malster & Reanie (1872-1880) built
yachts and other ships. William T. Malster (1843-1907) was the
Mayor of Baltimore from 1897 to 1899. Malster was the son of a Confederate Colonel.[44][45]
William B. Reaney (1808-1883) was raised in
Philadelphia with private tutors. In 1849 started working in his father, Thomas Reaney, shipyard in the engineering department, Reaney & Neafie Shipyard. Thomas Reaney and Samuel Archbold also started the Pennsylvania Iron Works. He and his father moved to city of
Chester and started a new yard,
Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, commonly known as Roach's Ship Yard.
Reaney, Son & Archbold built ships for the
American Civil War. building the
USS Wateree,
USS Suwanee and
USS Shamokin,
USS Sagamore,
USS Lehigh, and
USS Tunxis purposes, including the river
steamboat Samuel M. Felton. In 1872 the yards were sold to John Roach. In 1872 he entered in to a partnership with Malster. In 1874 he build a new yard in Philadelphia as owner and naval architect. In 1879 sold and became the manager of the Eureka Cast Steel Company of Chester.[46]
Sample built:
La Brerague, yacht 240 feet for Eugene Tampkins[47]
^Keith, Robert C. Baltimore Harbor: A Pictorial History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2005. p. 93
^Knowles, Richard. John P. Holland, 1841-1914: Inventor of the Modern Submarine. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1998. p. 74
^"Columbian Iron Works" in Directory of Iron and Steel Works of the United States and Canada. Philadelphia: American Iron and Steel Association v. 13 (1896) p. 256
^Forrest, Clarence H. Official History of the Fire Department of the City of Baltimore: Together with Biographies and Portraits of Eminent Citizens of Baltimore.Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1898. pg 154
^Baltimore: Its History and Its People, by Hall, Clayton Coleman. Volume 1: History. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912. pp. 376–377
^Howard, George Washington."William B. Reaney" in The Monumental City: Its Past History and Present Resources . Baltimore: J.D. Ehlers,1873. p. 822