World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Union Brass & Iron Works was founded in the south of Market area of San Francisco, California, United States in 1849, and later relocated to the Potrero Point area on the San Francisco Bay waterfront as it expanded into the shipbuilding business. In 1885, now named Union Iron Works, launched Arago, the first steel-hulled ship on the west coast of the United States. In 1886, the United States Navy awarded Union Iron Works a USD $1,000,000 contract to build cruiser USS Charleston, its first of many warships to come. In 1902, it was absorbed into a combine named the United States Shipbuilding Company. In 1905, the former Union Iron Works was acquired by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation for USD $1,000,000 as the United States Shipbuilding Company collapsed from a series of lawsuits and other issues. In 1911, Bethlehem purchased its neighbor Risdon Iron Works to expand Bethlehem's shipbuilding capacity. By the WW2 era, the Bethlehem operation at San Francisco had grown significantly, operating 4 of the original slipways near the present-day Crane Cove Park at the time of this writing in 2025, 4 additional slipways that were built in 1941 for the purpose of building warships just beyond the eastern end of 22nd Street, and a number of drydocks. At its peak during WW2, this location employed 18,000 workers, including a significant number of female workers, and the facilities were active 24 hours a day in shifts. At San Francisco, Bethlehem famously built a number of Fletcher-class during the war, including Fieberling, Hoel, Wedderburn, and others. In the decades after WW2, as the shipbuilding industry waned, Bethlehem sold the yard to the city of San Francisco in 1982 for USD $1; Bethlehem would ultimately cease all shipbuilding operations across the United States in 1997. The land and facilities were later leased to variously industrial entities, including BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair. The area is currently undergoing mixed-use redevelopment.

Ships Constructed at Bethlehem San Francisco Shipyard

Bethlehem San Francisco Shipyard Interactive Map

Photographs

Bethlehem San Francisco Shipyard Timeline