page_title: Joshua Hendy Iron Works
section_title: World War Two
hierarchical_section_title: Joshua Hendy Iron Works / World War Two
caption_attribution_description: English: Broadside view of Liberty ship Underway near the Matson Navigation Co. piers in San Francisco, for conversion to Naval service, 30 March 1943. US Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 2129-3-43, 3/30/43.
context_page_description: The Joshua Hendy Iron Works was an American engineering company that existed from the 1850s to the late 1940s. It was at one time a world leader in mining technology and its equipment was used in the construction of the Panama Canal, amongst other major projects. The company went on to serve many different markets during the course of its existence, but is perhaps best remembered today for its contribution to the American shipbuilding industry during World War II.
context_section_description: By the late 1930s the company was in financial difficulties and had shrunk to a shadow of its former self, employing only 60 workers. The company was in the process of being taken over by the Bank of California in 1940 when businessman Charles E. Moore, with the financial support of the Six Companies, took a controlling interest. Moore soon managed to contract with the US Navy for the building of some torpedo tube mounts, and shortly thereafter he secured a contract for the building of twelve triple expansion marine steam engines.  
    
  By 1942, with the US government's wartime Emergency Shipbuilding Program getting under way, it became clear that a large number of new marine engines would be needed to power the new ships. Since there was a shortfall in capacity to produce modern steam turbines, it was realized that most of the new Liberty ships would have to be fitted with older and slower reciprocating steam engines instead. Admiral Vickery contacted Moore to ask if he could double the original order of 12 engines, to which Moore is reported to have responded that it would be as easy to tool up for a hundred as for a dozen. The company was then contracted to build 118 triple expansion steam engines for the Liberty ships.  
  As the war progressed and the emergency shipbuilding program continued to expand, so the orders for new engines also grew. Moore responded by streamlining production at the Joshua Hendy plant. He introduced more advanced assembly line techniques, standardizing on more production parts and enabling less skilled workers to accomplish tasks formerly carried out by skilled machinists. By 1943, the company had reduced the time required to manufacture a marine steam engine from 4,500 hours to 1,800 hours. The number of workers employed by the company also grew dramatically, reaching a peak of 11,500 during the war.
  By the end of the war, the Joshua Hendy Iron Works had supplied the engines for 754 of America's 2,751 Liberty ships, or about 28% of the total - more than that of any other plant in the country. In addition, the company in the late stages of the war produced 53 steam turbines and reduction gears for the more modern Victory ships.
caption: USS Albireo (AK-90), one of 754 Liberty ships powered by a Joshua Hendy triple expansion engine
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