J. A. Jones
Brunswick, Georgia
source: Sawyer & Mitchell

©
Georgia

In January 1942 the Maritime Commission deemed that a sufficiency of ships was then building or planned for and considered that any additional ones would be in excess of the available shipyard capacity. They therefore decided not to undertake any further expansion unless so ordered by a further decree from the President.

They were, in fact, so ordered. Shipping losses were running at a high level and needed constant replacement, and at the same time the military authorities were demanding an increase in the shipbuilding tempo, this to enable them to meet and maintain the ever-expanding requirements of overseas forces.

So a new six-slipway shipyard was built in Brunswick, Georgia. But by January 1943 the commission concluded that the Brunswick Marine Construction Corporation, although it had almost completed the yard, had not made sufficient progress in actual shipbuilding. The corporation therefore agreed to transfer the yard and its contracts to the J. A. Jones Construction Co., and it was awarded compensation for the plant and equipment. The Jones Company had no shipbuilding experience; they were construction engineers from North Carolina and had been recommended to the Commission as 'good management.' In keeping with many other yard operators when entering shipbuilding for the first time, they were disposed to try new methods. The company soon proved that ordinary industrial efficiency could improve shipyard efficiency, and that 'shipbuilding brains' were not really special or mysterious, nor did it take a lifetime to acquire them. Nevertheless, both here and at the yard in Panama City the Jones Company experienced some difficulty in meeting all the demands, but it was a large concern and was able to strengthen its force with both new management and labor diverted from other projects. However, shipbuilding always remained a minor part of the firm's operations.

At this yard most of the workers came from towns and farms in Georgia and the other Southern states, but not all were of the farming fraternity, for the employees included prize-fighters, professional golfers and jockeys, an investment banker and thirteen clergymen!

During 1944 the yard was given contracts for the construction of vessels of the C1-M type.

Liberty ship output: 85 vessels at an average cost of $1,992,000 each.

USMC Numbers	Yard Numbers
1489-1518	105-134
2350-2404	135-189

World War II Construction Records of J. A. Jones Construction Company, Brunswick, Georgia

Ships for Victory, an online collection of black-and-white photographs from the J. A. Jones Construction Company, held by the Brunswick-Glynn County Library, depicts the company's World War II ship-building activities in its Brunswick, Georgia, shipyard from 1943 to 1945.