Oregon Shipbuilding
Portland, Oregon
source: Sawyer & Mitchell

©
Oregon

Another of the shipyards established by the Kaiser organization was the eight-way yard of the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation in Portland, Oregon. It was another of the nine yards approved in 1941 and from which 260 ships were expected to be delivered from their total of sixty-five slipways within a two-year period.

One of the first two West Coast yards in operation, it was entirely new and was designed specifically to mass-produce just one type of ship rapidly. Laid out to spacious plans, it included plate shops, assembly bays and extensive storage space.

Rapid expansion soon increased the number of slips toeleven and then to thirteen. But still further space was required and early in 1942 part of the storage area was used for another assembly bay. Small assemblies were made in this building, were then conveyed to the platens at the slipways and there joined into larger units. The increased layout presented many difficulties, however, for material first passed to the fabricating shops, moved back to the assembly plant and then forward in sub-assemblies - round the shops - and to the ways. But this essential movement of material caused many transit problems and were only resolved by use of a strictly regulated traffic control system. Nevertheless, although the yard layout violated the 'straight flow' of an ideal production line, it still led many others with its speed records. Later it was further expanded and remodeled and only then did the yard achieve its own particular sensational and spectacular high-speed shipbuilding record. However, all this progress was only achieved at greatly increased cost, for whereas in June 1941 the anticipated cost of its eleven ways was $7 million, the actual cost had, by December 1944, escalated to more than $25 million.

As with all shipbuilding contracts, those with this yard set time schedules for ship production. These the yard attained by about mid-1942 with their quota of ten ships per month. By mid-1943 they produced ships at the steady pace of one every seventeen days (their contracts still allowed twenty-three days) and during the whole of this same year the yard's output averaged sixteen ships per month. Previously, however, in 1942 (September 13-23) the yard had launched one ship (Yard No. 581) only ten days after keel-laying. The Richmond No. 2 shipyard responded to this with its world-record ship built in even faster time, but these extra-high-speed products were only 'show-piece' stunts and the pace was not maintained or even again contemplated.

The fees paid to shipbuilders were set by statute at a maximum of seven per cent of the ship-cost plus bonuses for speed/performance - but no greater than ten per cent in all.

In March 1941 the average cost of a Liberty ship was estimated at $1.34 million dollars, but as productivity from all the yards increased so the overall costs were reduced. Nevertheless some fifteen months later the contracts of the Oregon Shipbuilding Corp. were still fixed at the high maximum fee of $140,000 per ship. In December 1942 this fee was finally halved and four months later was still further reduced, to $60,000 dollars.

After June 1944 the nation's shipbuilding program was at last given an 'urgency' rating for its manpower requirements and shipyards were more easily able to acquire their necessary quotas of workers. Within five months of this date the Oregon shipyard increased its manpower from 27,800 to nearly 35,000 and only a few months later female workers represented more than 31% of its total labor force. Overall, the yard had the highest rating for speed (number of ships delivered per slipway) and it led in the lowest number of manhours per ship.

In 1944 this yard turned from Liberty ship construction to the production of Victory type ships.

Liberty ship output: 322 vessels at an average cost of $1,643,000 each.

USMC Numbers	Yard Numbers
MCE 170-200	170-200
229-240	229-240
543-630	543-630
1590-1631	631-672
1747-1754	673-680
2003-2098	681-776
2245-2261	777-793
2519-2537	794-812
2568-2584	813-829

World War II Construction Records of the Oregon Shipbuilding Company

Electronic reproduction of "Record Breakers", a booklet published by Oregon Shipbuilding for its employees.

Electronic copies of The Bos'n's Whistle, the weekly newspaper published by Kaiser for the employees of its three Portland-area shipyards.