page_title: Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works
section_title: ABCD ships
hierarchical_section_title: Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works / John Roach Presidency, 1871–1887 / ABCD ships
caption_attribution_description: English: USS Dolphin (PG-24)
context_page_description: The Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, was a major late-19th-century American shipyard located on the Delaware River in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the industrialist John Roach and is often referred to by its parent company name of John Roach & Sons, or just known as the Roach shipyard. For the first fifteen years of its existence, the shipyard was by far the largest and most productive in the United States, building more tonnage of ships than its next two major competitors combined, in addition to being the U.S. Navy's largest contractor. The yard specialized in the production of large passenger freighters, but built every kind of vessel from warships to cargo ships, oil tankers, ferries, barges, tugs and yachts.
  Following a protracted dispute over a U.S. Navy contract for the USS Dolphin in the early 1880s, the company's founder John Roach placed John Roach & Sons into receivership in 1885.
context_section_description: The Garfield administration, which came to power in 1881, proved more sympathetic to the idea of revamping the dilapidated Navy than the previous administration. After many months of indecision, the government decided to go ahead with the completion of the earlier Amphitrite class, and additionally approved the construction of a new group of four all-steel warships, consisting of one 4,300-ton protected cruiser, two 3,000-ton cruisers and one dispatch vessel. These four ships would eventually become known as the "ABCD ships" after their names—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Dolphin.
  The government issued public tenders for construction of the ships in June 1883, and on 3 July it was announced that John Roach & Sons had won all four contracts. Roach immediately went to work on construction of the ships, but continual design changes submitted by the Navy, in addition to shortages of the high quality steel demanded by Navy inspectors, soon had construction falling well behind schedule. Roach found himself faced with mounting financial losses. A fire in the shipyard and the loss of two steamers in which Roach had part ownership depleted cash reserves still further.
  By the time the first ship to be completed, Dolphin, was ready for her final sea trials in early 1885, a new Democratic administration under Grover Cleveland had come to power. In spite of Dolphin passing her sea trials, the new administration, which suspected Roach of receiving favors from the previous Republican administration, found a pretext to declare the Dolphin contract void. Roach, by now a terminally ill old man, placed his company into receivership a short time later. He later explained that the voiding of the Dolphin contract made it impossible for him to secure a loan to continue his business since he still had another three Navy vessels on his slipways whose contracts might also be declared void.
  Fearing a public backlash from the bankruptcy of the nation's biggest shipyard, Secretary of the Navy William Whitney moved quickly to limit the political damage. All four ABCD ship contracts were declared "valid but forfeit" since the shipbuilder had failed to complete the work in the allotted time. Navy officials subsequently took charge of the Roach shipyard and its workforce, and the remaining three vessels, USS Atlanta, USS Boston and USS Chicago, were completed over the next 22 months, during which time all other work at the shipyard was prohibited. The Roach family would later initiate a $330,151 lawsuit against the government for losses incurred by John Roach & Sons during this period. The case was finally settled in 1898 when the government made a special appropriation to pay the claim.
  In spite of the heavy criticism initially levelled at them from many different quarters, the completion of the four ABCD ships—the Navy's first steel vessels—was later hailed as the "Birth of the New Navy", and all four vessels were to provide many years of reliable service.
caption: USS Dolphin. Delays in construction of the ship, followed by the government's voiding of the contract, forced John Roach & Sons into receivership in 1885.
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