Shipbuilding War Service Badge
date: label: date made
content: ca 1919
notes: label: Description
content: The United States entered World War I in April 1917. Within days, the federal government created the U.S. Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation (also known as the Emergency Fleet Corp. or EFC) to construct a fleet of merchant ships. The EFC hired the American International Shipbuilding Corporation to build and operate the largest shipyard in the world, Hog Island, near Philadelphia.
label: Description
content: At its peak, Hog Island employed some 30,000 workers and launched a vessel every 5½ days. Its workers built 122 ships in four years, and although none saw service before the end of the war, many carried supplies during World War II. At Hog Island, the United States learned how to build large ships quickly on a grand scale from prefabricated parts.
label: Description
content: This enameled lapel pin or tie tack indentified the wearer as associated with the U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation.
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.63540.01
label: accession number
content: 63540
label: catalog number
content: 63540.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: button
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: copper alloy (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: enameled metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1/4 in x 1/4 in; .635 cm x .635 cm