Sun Shipbuilding

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The shipbuilding company Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Chester (Pennsylvania) existed from 1916 to 1982. At times the company operated the largest shipyard in the world. In addition, Sun Shipbuilding became known for some outstanding ship designs, the construction of numerous well-known ships and a number of shipbuilding innovations.

history

The company was founded in 1916 by the Pew family, who also started the Sun Oil Company . The reason for the establishment was a lack of tanker space caused by the submarine war of the First World War . After the construction of the shipyard with five spiers , the launch of the first ship, the 10,500-ton single-screw tanker Chester Sun, was celebrated on October 30, 1917 . In the period that followed, numerous ships were delivered to the United States Shipping Board , but also to private clients.

In the early 1920s, the shipyard was expanded to include three 200-meter slipways and two floating docks in order to be able to carry out ship repairs.

During the Second World War, the shipyard was expanded to become the world's largest shipbuilding company and employed over 35,000 shipyard staff. During this time, the company pushed through the construction of completely welded new buildings in order to be able to increase the output to the necessary level. The construction program of these years focused on the T2 tanker , of which the shipyard built over 250 units of the type T2-SE-A1, about 40% of the total production, in the war years. In addition, over 1500 ships were repaired.

The construction program in the years after the war continued the pre-war period. In addition, motorized cargo and passenger ships were built in the 1950s, with the first RoRo ships and soon also container ships being constructed. Sun Shipbuilding also built diesel engines under a Doxford license.

Notable events in the 1960s were the conversion of the Manhattan turbine tanker into an icebreaker, which in 1969 became the first tanker to cross the Northwest Passage , and the construction of the gas turbine freighter Adm.Wm.M.Callaghan .

Despite the difficult development of the US shipbuilding industry, the company was able to survive until February 1982, when the company was sold to Penn Ship . They continued to run the company until 1989 and then closed it for good.

See also

  • Type C4-S-B5 , 1944–1945, combined freight and troop transport, see Aquarama

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