Help the BMI understand the experience of those who lived and worked in Sparrows Point.
May 20, 1940 – The Sparrows Point Shipbuilding division of the Bethlehem Steel Company with the steel mill in the background. While the yard constructed two oceanographic survey ships for the U.S. Navy (), the yard was no longer just building ships. The major factor in this decline was the elimination in 1981 of the Construction Differential Subsidy (CDS) provided by the United States Government. BMI proudly offers free admission to active duty and retired military personnel, with military ID.There are many ways you can show your support for the Baltimore Museum of Industry.In addition to cash donations, which can be pledged by check or credit card, the BMI gladly accepts gifts of stock, planned or deferred contributions, and in-kind services. After five years of deep processing, we are excited and proud to announce that over 25,000 ship plans are now available for research. Nov 24, 2014 - Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard in Sparrows Point, Maryland, USA, was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel. Members of our collections and archives department will be onsite at the Tradepoint offices to catalog and move collection items from their site to the museum.Your artifact donation can help the BMI collect, preserve, and interpret the industrial and technological heritage of Bethlehem Steel. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed. Although the company was selected to build a fleet of deluxe cruise ships, the cruise line was never able to secure financing. , I have been helping process and catalogue the BMI’s Bethlehem Steel collection. In 1953, it led the world in new ship construction by delivering over 216,000 (dwt). The money was paid by the (MarAd) directly to shipyards and/or shipowners, and was only allowed to go toward the construction of U.S.-flag ships in international trade. I’ve become fascinated by this collection of shipyards–Sparrows Point, the Baltimore Yards, and Fairfield–and the contributions they made to local and global commerce as well as the major role they played in national defense.
In 1916, the Bethlehem Steel Company, headed by Charles Schwab, purchased the Pennsylvania Steel Company along with the steel mill, shipyard and company town at Sparrows Point. Bethlehem Steel has been active in shipbuilding for 75 years, and once operated 14 shipyards worldwide. The CDS covered up to 50 percent of the additional cost to build ships in a U.S. shipyard instead of a foreign yard. It was fully operational at the beginning of World War II and United States Maritime Commission’s Emergency Shipbuilding Program to help rebuild the British Merchant Navy that was being decimated by German U-boats. The Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard on Baltimore Harbor was established in February and quickly set 27,000 employees to work building these new “Liberty ships."
Beginning with the construction of 28,000 dwt tankers in 1949, Bethlehem developed 10 standard design tankers–making the Sparrows Point yard a dominant player in the tanker market. In this post we’re going to take a look at the Sparrows Point yard.The Sparrows Point yard was established in 1891 by the Maryland Steel Company. The company acquired the Union Shipbuilding Company, a small operation in south Baltimore that had not built a vessel since World War I. Bethlehem Steel Legacy Project. Answering to market demand, Bethlehem built larger tankers culminating in the construction of the 265,000 dwt very large crude carrier (VLCC) tanker class vessels including the To maintain its leadership position, the company made major investments in the yard beginning in 1970. The basin featured an intermediate gate that allowed it to be divided into two sections providing the flexibility of accommodating multiple vessels at the same time. For nearly a century, Bethlehem Steel was one of America’s leading producers of steel and shipbuilding before falling into bankruptcy and finally shuttering operations in 2012. Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company, Baltimore MD (formerly Skinner Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Columbian Iron Works & Dry Dock Company, later Bethlehem Steel Key Highway, now General Ship Repair) Most recent update: January 15, 2017. During WWII the yard constructed 101 vessels of 16 different classes and employed as many as 8,000 workers.he Sparrows Point Shipyard was among the most active yards in the nation during the 1950s and ‘60s, building tankers, freighters, and container ships. Without these subsidies the U.S. shipbuilding industry was not able to compete with foreign shipyards that continued to be supported with subsidies from their governments.Considering these changing market conditions Bethlehem closed the Baltimore Yards at the end of 1982 and consolidated all shipbuilding, conversion, and repair at Sparrows Point. It continued to build tankers and dry bulk carriers for private-sector customers throughout the war.
In addition to numerous dry-dockings and repairs on commercial and Naval ships, five numerous commercial, cruise, and naval vessels were overhauled and given an extended life.