Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works ( BIW ) is a shipyard in the United States . The company is based in Bath , Maine . BIW has been part of the General Dynamics armaments company since 1995 .
history
Bath Iron Works was spun off from the Bath Iron Foundry in 1884 . The company belonged to General Thomas Worcester Hyde . Four years after it was founded, Goss Marine Iron Works and the New England Shipbuilding Company were acquired by BIW. In 1890 the steamer Cottage City was the first ship to be launched, and three years later the gunboat USS Machias became the first warship .
The company changed hands several times in the 20th century. In 1901 the United States Shipbuilding Trust bought Bath Iron Works, and only four years later John S. Hyde, the son of the first owner. Under his aegis, the first battleship was built at BIW, the USS Georgia (BB-15) . After Hyde's death in 1917, a group of Maine investors acquired the company, and in 1925 all work was stopped after the company had to be auctioned off to the public. Two years later, however, ships were built again.
During the Second World War , 82 destroyers were launched in Bath. During the Cold War the shipyard was involved in the construction of several warship classes , including the Oliver Hazard Perry class , the Ticonderoga class and the Arleigh Burke class . The three German class 103 destroyers ( Lütjens , Mölders and Rommel ) were also built as modified units of the Charles F. Adams class at BIW.
In 1995 Bath was taken over by General Dynamics and is incorporated into the marine division.
literature
- Michael S. Sanders: The Yard: Building a Destroyer at the Bath Iron Works. HarperCollins, New York 1999, ISBN 0060192461 (on the construction of the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) )
- Ralph L. Snow: Bath Iron Works: The First Hundred Years. Bath: Maine Maritime Museum 1985; ISBN 0961944900
Web links
- Official Site (Engl.)
Coordinates: 43 ° 54 ′ 28 " N , 69 ° 48 ′ 47" W.