Thursday, August 9, 2018

This video is nice, it is about OLD ship building. Here in Maine huge forest were set a side to build ships for the "King" in the 1600 and 1700's . I have also added information about BIW, (Bath Iron Works) where my husband works .


God Bless you, now and always...You are in my prayers:)



Bath Iron Works

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Bath Iron Works
Subsidiary
IndustryShipbuilding
Founded1884
FounderThomas W. Hyde
HeadquartersBath, Maine, U.S.
Number of locations
Bath, Maine
ParentGeneral Dynamics
Websitewww.gdbiw.com
Bath Iron Works from NAS Brunswick photo gallery
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. Since its founding in 1884 (as Bath Iron Works, Limited), BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy. The shipyard has built and sometimes designed battleships, frigates, cruisers and destroyers, including the Arleigh Burke class, which are currently among the world's most advanced surface warships.
Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world (as of 2008). During World War II, ships built at BIW were considered by sailors and Navy officials to be of superior toughness, giving rise to the phrase "Bath-built is best-built."[1]

History[edit]

Bath Iron Works was incorporated in 1884 by General Thomas W. Hyde, a native of Bath who served in the American Civil War. After the war, Hyde bought a local shop that helped make windlasses and other iron hardware for the wooden ships built in Bath's many shipyards. He expanded the business by improving its practices, entering new markets, and acquiring other local businesses.
By 1882, Hyde Windlass was eyeing the new and growing business of iron shipbuilding; two years later, it incorporated as Bath Iron Works. On February 28, 1890, BIW won its first contract for complete vessels, two iron gunboats for the U.S. Navy. The Machias, one of these 190-foot (58 m) gunboats, was the first ship launched by the company. (Historian Snow (see "Further Reading") says the gunboat was commanded during World War I by Chester Nimitz, an assertion that is not supported by Nimitz's biographers.[citation needed])
In 1892, the yard won its first commercial contract for a steel vessel, the 2,500-ton steel passenger steamer City of Lowell. In the 1890s, the company built several yachts for wealthy sailors.
In 1899, General Hyde, suffering from the Bright's Disease that would kill him later that year, resigned from management of the shipyard, leaving his sons Edward and John in charge. That year the shipyard began construction of the Georgia, the only battleship to be built in Bath. The ship dominated the yard for five years until its launching in 1904, and was at times the only ship under construction. The yard faced numerous challenges because of the weight of armor and weapons. In sea trials, the Georgia averaged 19.26 knots (35.67 km/h) for four hours, making her the fastest ship in her class and the fastest battleship in the Navy.
The company continued to rely on Navy contracts, which provided 86% of the value of new contracts between 1905 and 1917. The yard also produced fishing trawlers, freighters, and yachts throughout the first half of the century. These included Vanda, Hi-Esmaro, Aras I and Aras II, Caroline, and Corsair IV, which had a lurid afterlife as a cruise ship before sinking off Acapulco, Mexico, in 1949.[2]
At peak production during World War II (1943–1944), the shipyard launched a destroyer every 17 days. Bath Iron Works ranked 50th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.[3]
In 1981, Falcon Transport ordered two tankers, the last commercial vessels built by BIW.
MV Mighty Servant 2 carrying mine-damaged Roberts on 31 July 1988
In 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58), commissioned two years earlier at Bath, survived a mine explosion that tore a hole in its engine room and flooded two compartments. Over the next two years, BIW repaired the Roberts in unique fashion. The guided missile frigate was towed to the company's dry dock in Portland, Maine, and put up on blocks, where its damaged engine room was cut out of the ship. Meanwhile, workers in Bath built a 315-ton replacement. When it was ready, the module was floated south to Portland, placed on the dry dock, slid into place under the Roberts, jacked up, and welded into place.[4] By surviving a hit that Naval Sea Systems Command engineers thought should have sunk her, the Roberts validated the penny-pinching design of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, the U.S. Navy's largest post-WWII class until the Burkes[citation needed]; and validated the Navy's against-the-odds decision to have picked BIW to design it. In 1995, Bath Iron Works was bought by General Dynamics. In 2001, BIW wrapped up a four-year effort to build an enormous concrete platform, the Land Level Transfer Facility, for final assembly of its ships. Instead of being built on a sloping way so that they could slide into the Kennebec at launch, hulls were henceforth moved by rail from the platform horizontally onto a moveable dry dock. This greatly reduced the work involved in building and launching the ships.[5] The 750-foot, 28,000-ton dry dock was built by China's Jiangdu Yuchai Shipbuilding Company for $27 million.[6]
The Centennial Shipbuilders Workers Monument in Bath, Maine is by American artist Guillermo Esparza and is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.
In 2015 Bath Iron Works signed a contract with US Navy for new destroyers, littoral combat ships and new landing craft. The shipyard delivered the USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) and the USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), and is working on the USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118) and the USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120). The DDG block buy for Bath also includes USS John Basilone (DDG-122), USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG-124), and USS Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG-126).
On March 27, Bath received a $610.4 million contract modification to build DDG 122. This ship was funded in the 2015 defense appropriations act.[7]

Notable ships built[edit]

USS Chester (CL-1) was the first United States cruiser of the numbering series used through the first half of the 20th century.
The last of the "four-stack" destroyers, USS Pruitt (DD-347) being launched from Bath Iron Works in 1920.
Two of the seven Bath Iron Works destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. The outboard ship made the St. Nazaire Raid.
USCGC Icarus (WPC-110) delivers prisoners from U-352 to Charleston Navy Yard on 10 May 1942.
Nicholas holds the United States Navy record for battle stars with 16 from World War II, 5 from the Korean War and 9 from the Vietnam War
Agerholm launched an ASROC anti-submarine rocket armed with a nuclear depth bomb during the Swordfish test of 1962
The second Cold War destroyer built by Bath Iron Works was named for the grandfather of Republican 2008 presidential candidate John S. McCain III.


https://www.gdbiw.com/History.html

HISTORY

history_banner
Shipbuilding has been a way of life along the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, since 1762, when the sailing ship Earl of Bute was launched on the site of present day Bath. The Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard, located on the west bank of the Kennebec, just south of downtown Bath, is the namesake of an iron foundry established in 1826.
Brevet General Thomas W. Hyde, US Army (Ret) took over the foundry in 1865, following service with the 20th Maine Regiment during the Civil War. Nearly two decades later, he incorporated his diversified marine business interests as Bath Iron Works, Limited in 1884, before expanding into shipbuilding with the acquisition of the Goss Marine Iron Works in 1888.The first BIW-built vessel was a coastal passenger ship named Cottage City built for the Maine Steamship Co. Since the completion of Hull #1 in 1890, BIW has been awarded more than 425 shipbuilding contracts, including 245 military ships (mostly destroyers and frigates for the US Navy) and over 160 private yachts and commercial vessels. BIW became a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics in September 1995.
In terms of modern US Navy surface combatant programs -- ones where BIW ships are still in service -- the Lead Ship construction contract for the Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG 7) Class of guided missile frigates was awarded to BIW in 1973, and 24 of these surface combatants were delivered over the next 15 years.
In 1982, the Navy selected BIW as second-source shipbuilder for the Ticonderoga (CG 47) Class of AEGIS guided missile cruisers. The company went on to win contracts for eight of these warships, delivering the final one in 1993. In 1985 BIW won the competition for detail design and construction of USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) , the Lead Ship for the Navy's newest, most capable class of AEGIS guided missile destroyers. BIW has delivered the lead ship and 30 follow ships, with delivery of the final follow ship under the most recent contract expected in 2011. The US Navy has announced that it will acquire further Arleigh Burke class vessels during the next decade.
   
Under General Dynamics' ownership, BIW solidified its industry leadership position by teaming with the City of Bath and the State of Maine to support a long-term capital investment plan. With the first phase of modernization completed in 2001, BIW began building ships in its new state-of-the-art facility. These improvements ($320 million so far) enable the company to offer unprecedented productivity, quality and affordability to our customer. Further applications of lean manufacturing techniques and advanced modular construction are planned, and the yard has switched to 3D computer-aided design for its latest ships. BIW is building the first of the DDG 1000 class of destroyers, Zumwalt, using these advanced technologies.
BIW is a yard with a history, and a bright future. Throughout Navy circles - and especially with their current and former crews - it's generally recognized that 'Bath Built Is Best Built'a phrase first heard in the early 1900s, and every bit as true today as when it was first said.
Below is a timeline of major milestones in the company's progress.
YearEvent
1826Bath Iron Foundry is founded on the Kennebec River, Maine
1865General Thomas Worcester Hyde, a civil war hero, purchases Bath Iron Foundry
1882Goss Marine Iron Works is founded nearby
1884General Hyde renames Bath Iron Foundry as Bath Iron Works and incorporates company
1888New England Shipbuilding Company, with General Hyde as an investor, acquires Goss Marine Iron Works
1888BIW acquires New England Shipbuilding Company
1890Steamer Cottage City is the first BIW-built hull
1893USS Machias, a gunboat, is the first BIW-built US Navy ship
1894City Of Lowell is the first BIW-built commercial steel vessel
1901BIW is acquired by United States Shipbuilding Trust
1905John S. Hyde, eldest son of General Hyde, purchases BIW
1906USS Georgia, the first and only BIW-built battleship, is delivered
1917BIW is sold to a syndicate of Maine investors upon the death of John Hyde
1925BIW is sold at a public auction, operations are idled
1927BIW is leased by William S. 'Pete' Newell and a group of investors, company is incorporated again
1940Second BIW facility, the Hardings plant, is built in East Brunswick, ME
1940-194582 destroyers are built at Bath during WWII, totaling more than the entire Japanese wartime output
1955First of a new class of Navy destroyers, USS Forest Sherman, is delivered
1967Bath Industries, Inc. is established as a holding company for BIW, Pennsylvania Crusher and the Hyde Windlass Co.
1968Bath Industries, Inc. acquires Congoleum-Nairn, a manufacturer of home furnishings
1975Bath Industries, Inc. changes its name to Congoleum Corporation
1977Lead ship of a new Navy class of guided missile frigates, USS Oliver Hazard Perry, is delivered
1983Floating dry dock is opened in Portland, ME
1984Tanker Falcon Champion is the last BIW-built commercial ship delivered
1986BIW is acquired by Prudential Insurance
1987Final Oliver Hazard Perry class ship, USS Kauffman, is delivered
1987First BIW-built guided missile AEGIS cruiser, USS Thomas Gates, is delivered
1991The lead ship of a new Navy class of guided missile AEGIS destroyers, USS Arleigh Burke, is delivered
1993Final BIW-built AEGIS cruiser, USS Lake Erie, is delivered
1995Bath Iron Works becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics
1996Awarded contract under an Avondale Shipyard-led alliance to build four of the Navy's new dock landing ships, the San Antonio class (LPD 17)
1998Groundbreaking for Land Level Transfer Facility (LLTF)
2001BIW hosts dedication ceremony for Land Level Transfer Facility (LLTF) and the Manufacturing Support Center (MSC)
2001BIW Launches Mason (DDG 87). She's the last ship to slide down the inclined ways
2002Realignment of DDG 51 and LPD 17 construction contracts
2003BIW subcontract for DD(X) Phase III program
2006Sampson (DDG 102) is first vessel christened on Land Level, prior to translation into dry dock
2007BIW awarded $250M to complete class detail design of Zumwalt (DDG 1000) class destroyers (the former DDX)
2008BIW opens the Ultra Hall, a huge new climate controlled facility on the LLTF, capable of handling ship sections the size of the full girth of the Zumwalt hulls. Units weighing over 4,000 tons can be assembled in this giant building.
2009After some initial pilot construction to validate fresh techniques, full-scale production of sections of the first DDG 1000 begins at the Hardings plant in Brunswick
2010US Navy announces that the Arleigh Burke hull form will be the choice for its destroyers through following decade and beyond.
2011BIW christens Michael Murphy (DDG 112) in May, and shifts focus to DDG 1000 program. Work begins on demolishing the old inclined shipways mid-yard and converting the zone to a level area for unit pre-outfitting and materials storage.
2011Keel Laid for Zumwalt (DDG 1000)
2012First of the DDG 51 restart ships, DDG 115, started fab
2012Original 1899 BIW Machine Shop demolished
2012Heaviest lift recorded at BIW - DDG 1000 Deckhouse (4 Cranes/1000 tons)
2013Keel Laid for Michel Monsoor (DDG 1001)
2013Fredrick J. Harris becomes BIW's 14th President
2013Zumwalt (DDG 1000) Float off
2014Zumwalt (DDG 1000) Christening
2014Keel Laid for Rafael Peralta (DDG 115)
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A "vintage train" ride. Enjoy the sounds of long ago, ( and yes, I did get soot on me). This is a coal powered steam train.