Defoe Shipbuilding Company

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Defoe Shipbuilding Company
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryShipbuilding and repair
Founded1905
Defunct1976
FateBankruptcy
Headquarters
Bay City, Michigan
,
United States
Key people
Harry J. Defoe
ServicesShip Repair
OwnerHarry J. Defoe and sons

The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, United States. 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 being developed for business and housing on the bank of the Saginaw River.

Founding

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.

Defoe Shipbuilding Company yards 1944
Defoe Shipbuilding Company 1944
Defoe Shipbuilding Company abandoned 1981
Defoe Shipbuilding Co abandoned 1981
Defoe Shipbuilding WWII 1944

From 1920 to 1939, the company built various types of government and commercial vessels and private yachts, including three 165-ft patrol boats, thirteen 100-ft patrol boats,

Nixon
after his daughter. In 1941, the name of the company was changed to Defoe Shipbuilding Company.

World War II

USS Weiss (APD-135)

During

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, and the patrol craft PC-1129. Submarine chaser PC 482 was sunk by a U-boat in 1945. Defoe Shipbuilding Company also built three Refrigerated Freight Barges : YFR-888, YFR-889 and YFR-890 in 1945, also called a reefer barge.[3][4]

List of Ships

After World War II

After World War II, this company built two large Great Lakes bulk carriers, and it did repair work on

destroyers for the Royal Australian Navy. Also built there were the research vessels RV Melville and RV Knorr. This last was the ship that found the wreck of RMS Titanic
.

Great Lakes Bulk Freighters

In the early 1950s Defoe Shipbuilding constructed two large

Great Lakes freighters. They were both roughly based on U.S. Steel
's Pittsburgh Steamship Company AA Class ship design and shared similar dimensions. As of April 2009, one of the two vessels is still in service on the Great Lakes.

The only remaining large Great Lakes bulk freight vessel built by Defoe Shipbuilding still in service is the 642' 03" long,

Cleveland, Ohio, and entered service on September 24, 1952. In 1961, the Hutchinson was sold to Ford Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan and was renamed Ernest M. Breech. In 1988, Ford was in the process of eliminating its Great Lakes shipping fleet and sold the Breech to George Steinbrenner's Kinsman Marine of Cleveland, Ohio. The Kinsman fleet in turn renamed the vessel Kinsman Independent (2). She sailed with Kinsman until 2002 when her main unloading dock in Buffalo, New York, updated its unloading equipment, allowing it to be serviced by newer more common self-unloading vessels. The vessel laid up in Buffalo for the last time under US flag on December 16, 2002. In the spring of 2004, McKeil Marine of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada purchased the Kinsman Independent. The ship was refurbished and repowered with a diesel engine, then sold to Voyageur Marine Transport LTD., of Ridgeville, Ontario
, who returned her to service in late 2005 under the name Voyageur Independent. Her current owner (Lower Lakes Towing) has operated the vessel since August 28, 2007, and renamed her Ojibway on February 29, 2008.

The second

Recife, Brazil
, for dismantling.

Closure

Defoe administration offices 1981
Defoe Shipbuilding Crane
Defoe Shipbuilding Crane and abandoned buildings 1981
Defoe Shipbuilding abandoned main gate 1981

The yard closed on 31 December 1976 after the Navy contracts expired. Along with its dwindling navy contracts in its final years, the yard was contracted for three larger Great Lakes Freighter projects. The first project was construction of the 68'x 104'7"x 46'6" bow section to the 1000' long integrated tug and barge Presque Isle. The bow was launched July 27, 1972 and was towed to Erie by the tugs Maryland and Laurence C. Turner arriving October 6, 1972. There it was combined with the remainder of the barge which was under construction at Erie, PA. The combined tug and barge unit were the second 1000' vessel trading on the lakes. The second was the conversion of 690' S/S Herbert C. Jackson from a conventional style

Great Lakes freighter to a self unloader. The final major project was the conversion of the 620' lake freighter Richard J. Reiss from steam to diesel power. All three vessels are still activity trading on the Great Lakes
, the latter sailing now as the M/V Manistee. The site of the shipyard later became the location for H. H. Hirschfield & Sons scrap yard. Hirschfield was recently bought by OmniSource, Inc., another scrap company.

Ships built by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company

See also

  • Lightship Huron
  • Wooden boats of World War 2

References

  1. ^ Flynn, James T. Jr. (September 4, 2014). "U. S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft: Major Classes - 100-feet to 150 feet in Length: 1915 to 2012 - In Two Parts - This is Part 1" (PDF). U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Flynn, James T. Jr. (June 23, 2014). "U.S. Coast Guard Small Cutters and Patrol Boats 1915 - 2012" (PDF). U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  3. ^ "Freight Lighters Wartime". Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Defoe Shipbuilding". Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  5. ^ "Defoe Shipbuilding, Bay City MI". Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Michigan.
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