Defoe Shipbuilding Company
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The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is now a scrapyard on the bank on the Saginaw River.
[edit] History
Harry J. Defoe organized the Defoe Boat and Motor Works in 1905 on the Saginaw River in Bay City, Michigan. At that time, the firm built "knock-down" boats and gasoline powered boats for business and pleasure. In 1917, the company got its first Navy contract for five Spent Torpedo Chasers. This order was followed in 1918 by an order for eight steel Tumor Mine Planters.
From 1920 to 1939, the company built various types of government and commercial vessels and private yachts, including three Coast Guard Cutters. In 1931, Defoe built the Barbara Ann, a yacht, for S.L. Avery; later, this yacht was used in World War II, and in 1956 it was assigned as a Presidential Yacht. It was called the Lenore by President Eisenhower, the Honey Fitz by President Kennedy, and the Patricia by President Nixon. In 1941, the name of the company was changed to Defoe Shipbuilding Company.
During World War II, all production went to the war effort. From 1939 to 1945, the company built 154 ships, including 4 minesweepers, 13 destroyer escorts, fast transports, patrol craft, and landing craft. Defoe developed a construction technique called the "upside-down and roll-over" method. This allowed most of the welding of the hull to be done "hand down" which is much easier. After the hull was completely welded, it was rolled over by a set of large wheels fastened to each end of the hull. Work then continued on the ship right-side up. Faster welding allowed the company to build one 173-foot PC, patrol craft, every week. After World War II, the company built bulk carriers and did repair work on Great Lakes ships. In later years, several ships were built for the US Navy, including 2 Dealy class destroyer escorts, 4 Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyers, 3 Garcia class destroyer escorts (later re-classified as frigates), and three guided-missile destroyers for the Australian Navy. Also built there were the research vessels R/V Melville and R/V Knorr, which was the ship that found the RMS Titanic.
Because of the shallowness of the Saginaw River, 27 feet at the shipyard, and the narrowness of the Belinda Street Bridge (now dismantled) down river of the shipyard (that all ships had to go through to get to the Saginaw Bay), the company could not get any later contracts to build additional Navy ships. The yard closed on 31 December 1976 after the Navy contracts ran out. Existing work was transferred to a shipyard in Wisconsin. The site of the shipyard later became the location for H. H. Hirschfield & Sons scrap yard. This yard was the one that scrapped the tanker Jupiter after it caught fire while docked along the Saginaw River in 1990. Hirschfield was recently bought out by OmniSource, Inc., another scrap company.
