Union Iron Works Union Iron Works , located in San Francisco , California , on the southeast waterfront , was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point , for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries . History . The Donahue Brothers Peter and James , Irish immigrants , founded Union Iron Works in the south of Market area of San Francisco in 1849 . After years as the premiere producer of mining , railroad , agricultural and locomotive machinery in California , Union Iron Works , led by I . M . Scott , entered the ship building business and relocated to Potrero Point where its shipyards still exist , making the site on the north side of the Potrero the longest running privately owned shipyard in the United States . After Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the works in 1905 , the consolidated company came to include the Alameda Works Shipyard , located across the San Francisco Bay in Alameda and the Hunter ' s Point shipyard to the south . In 1885 , the Union Iron Works launched the first steel hulled ship on the west coast , the " Arago " , built with steel from the Pacific Rolling Mills . In 1886 , UIW was awarded a $ 1 , 000 , 000 contract to build a Naval cruiser , the " Charleston " , which they completed in eighteen months . From the completion of the " Arago " in 1884 to 1902 , UIW built seventy - five marine vessels , including two of the most famous vessels of the Spanish American war , the " Olympia " and the " Oregon " . An 1892 description of the yards stated that between 1200 and 1500 men were employed and the yearly gross revenue was between $ 2 , 000 , 000 and $ 4 , 000 , 000 . By the turn of the century , the shipyard had expanded in area and employment had more than doubled to 3 , 500 . These industrial facilities used five types of power , distributed throughout ; electricity , compressed air , steam , hydraulic and coal or gas fire . Union Iron works built a number of ships for the United States Navy . These ships include the USS " Oregon " laid down in 1891 , and " Adder " - class submarine s " Grampus " and " Pike " which were launched in 1902 and 1903 , respectively . In 1902 , the Union Iron Works was absorbed into a combine called the United States Shipbuilding Company and was mired in three years of litigation . In 1905 , the entire shipyard was purchased by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation for one million dollars . Charles M . Schwab stood on the steps of the UIW office building on twentieth street during the auction . At this point , he was the only bidder . Schwab was widely believed to have engineered the demise of the U . S . Shipbuilding Corporation in order to gain control of the industry . Whether or not that was true , he certainly benefited from the collapse of the US Shipbuilding combine . At the time of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake , the coastal passenger liner " Columbia " of the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company had been undergoing a refit at the yard ' s hydraulic drydock . The earthquake caused the iron hulled " Columbia " to shift off her supports and roll onto the drydock on her starboard side . This rendered the drydock , a key feature of the yard , damaged beyond economic repair . The " Columbia " on the other hand , despite being partially flooded and damaged , was repaired and returned to service in January 1907 . In 1908 , Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the Hunters Point , San Francisco , California drydocks . In the pre - World War I era , Union Iron Works built several navy ships that became internationally famous due to the Spanish - American war ; Commodore Dewey ' s flagship the Olympia . After 1905 , the shipyard operated as part of Bethlehem Steel , and produced both warships and merchant ships . Locomotives built . The named locomotives built by Union Iron Works were : Ships built . Some of the ships built by Union Iron Works include : Ships reconstructed by the Union Iron Works include :