page_title: Fore River Shipyard
section_title: Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.
hierarchical_section_title: Fore River Shipyard / History / Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.
caption_attribution_description: English: USS Tucker (Destroyer # 57) Under construction at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, on 1 January 1915. Visible in the left background is USS Cushing (Destroyer # 55), which was launched on 16 January 1915. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.
context_page_description: Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. In 1913, it was purchased by Bethlehem Steel, and later transferred to Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. It was sold to General Dynamics in 1963, and closed in 1986. During its operation, yardworkers constructed hundreds of ships, for both military and civilian clients.
  Most of the ships at the yard were built for the United States Navy, with its first government contract for the destroyer USS Lawrence. The yard also built early submarines for Electric Boat, including USS Octopus and USS Sunfish. Fore River also constructed the battleship USS Massachusetts, and the cruisers USS Springfield and USS Salem as well as the Navy's first carrier USS Lexington and its successor USS Lexington. Fore River produced multiple foreign ships for various navies around the world including five Type 1 submarines for the Imperial Japanese Navy, ten submarines for the Royal Navy, and the battleship ARA Rivadavia, for the Argentine Navy.
context_section_description: In 1913, Bethlehem Steel Corporation purchased the yard for $4.8 million (equivalent to $124 million in today's dollars), as Charles M. Schwab was looking to diversify the company. At the time, the yard was constructing 23 vessels and doing a business of $20 million (equivalent to $517 million in today's dollars) a year. The yard was 110 acres (45 ha; 0.17 sq mi) in size, and had a capacity for 60,000 short tons (54,000 t). At this time, Bethlehem decided to construct a drydock, although it would take into the 1920s to make this happen. Finally, immediate improvements were made to the yard to improve its financial well-being.
  The first year of the company's ownership brought little in terms of business. Two destroyers were ordered, three submarines were sublet in the yard, and no outside orders by private companies were received in this time. Furthermore, the Royal Navy placed an order during this time for ten submarines. Due to the fact that the United States was officially neutral during World War I, the yard prefabricated the submarines, and then shipped the parts to Canada for assembly. In 1915, the Spanish Navy contracted out the building of the submarine Isaac Peral (A-0) in the yard, while the United States Navy ordered USS T-1 (SS-52). Finally, the Texas Oil Company and the Edward F. Luckenbach Company ordered four tankers and freighters, respectively.
caption: USS Tucker (DD-57) under construction in 1915, with USS Cushing (DD-55) visible in the background
exif: {}