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Kneass Boat Works

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Coordinates: 37°45′50″N 122°23′11″W / 37.763853°N 122.386429°W / 37.763853; -122.386429
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37°45′50″N 122°23′11″W / 37.763853°N 122.386429°W / 37.763853; -122.386429

Kneass boat shop on 3rd Street in San Francisco, California, in 1899
USC&GS Taku an 1898 70-foot survey ship
Plaque from the Hr.Ms. Breskens, a Royal Netherlands Navy Beemster-class minesweeper

Kneass Boat Works was a shipbuilding company in San Francisco, California. To support the World War 2 demand for ships, Kneass Boat Works built: US Navy Sub chasers, US Army barges and tugboats. Kneass Boat Works was started by California native George Washington Kneass (1859–1923) in 1868, at 22 Mission Street, San Francisco. George Kneass started as an apprentice to boat builder Martin Vice. The two became partners operating a shipyard at Pier 70 at 671 Illinois Street, San Francisco. Business was good and in 1898 Kneass opened a second shipyard at 718 3rd Street, San Francisco. At its peak, Kneass employed 50 workers. George Kneass died in 1923 and his two sons, George Jr. and Webster, took over the shipyard. Kneass built small boats, launches, rowboats, barges, lifeboats), sailboats, and a few wooden cruisers. For World War 2, in 1941 the company built a small emergency shipyard. The shipyard closed in 1970, but the site is now the art studio of Ruth Kneass; she kept the boatyard name for her studio.[1][2][3][4]

Honors

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The United States Government awarded Webster Lincoln Kneass a certificate of Outstanding Service to the Country for both its WWI and WWII efforts in 1945. Kneass Boat Works built over 5000 watercrafts for World War 1 and World War 2. Many of the watercraft were lifeboats and patrol boats. but some 150-foot minesweepers were also built. The U.S. Navy still uses a lifeboat that was designed by George Kneass.[5]

Submarine chaser

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Kneass Boat Works built submarine chasers that were of the SC-497-class submarine chaser design that had a displacement of 94 tons with a length of 110 feet (34 m), a beam of 17 feet (5.2 m), a draft of 6 feet (1.8 m), a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). They had a crew of 28. Power was provided by two 1,540-brake-horsepower (1,150 kW) General Motors, Electro-Motive Division, 16-184A diesel engines, and two propellers. They were armed with one Bofors 40 mm gun, two Browning M2 .50 cal. machine guns, two depth charge projector "Y guns", and two depth charge tracks.[6][7][8]

Notable ships

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Notable ships include:

  • USC&GS Taku an 1898 70-foot survey ship.
  • Three Adjutant-class minesweepers.
  • Quic Chakidn 1921 38-foot cruisers built for owner of Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company, Walter Hobert Jr. for his Lake Tahoe home.[9]
  • The Pacific an 18-foot Kneass schooner was sailed in 1882 by Bernard Gilboy from San Francisco 7,000 miles (11,265 km) across the Pacific to Queensland, Australia.[10][11][12]
  • Amy K IV 32-foot 1940 Yacht, was owned by the Terazas family.
  • Merciqme Yacht was owned by Judy and Avery Blake, commodore of the Northern California Classic Yacht Association.
  • Siren 34-foot 1939 Yacht, owned by Alan Bowerman.
  • Marlin 46-foot 1928 Yacht, owned by Thomas Bottenberg of Vintage Yacht Partners
  • Two patrol boats for Peru Navy in 1918, the El Captain I and El Captain 2.[13]
  • M 857 Hr.Ms. Boxtel 1954 114-foot Royal Netherlands Navy Beemster Class minesweeper, scrapped in 1976[14]
  • M 855 Hr.Ms. Breskens 1954 114-foot Royal Netherlands Navy Beemster Class minesweeper, renamed Kalbarrie then Pax
  • USS Nasomee (YTB-260), US Navy Tugboat, Cahto-class district harbor tug.[15]

Ships

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Ship ID Name Owner Type Tons Year Built Notes
na USC&GS Taku US C&GS Survey Vessel 1898 Retired in 1917
216035 Mary Francis Fishing Vessel 15 1918 Formerly Marge S, active
na H. D. Geddings US Quarantine Svce Boarding Boat 1921
na Donald Currie US Quarantine Svce Boarding Boat 1921
Francesca Y. C. Demming Sloop 1922
Hummingbird C. D. Parmalee Sloop 1929
231123 Rejoice Boy Scouts Unclassified 24 1931 Active
331852 North Star Fred Carpenter Cargo Vessel 1935 Under restoration
263739 Soupfin Fishing Vessel 11 1937 Active
260797 J V Ferrante Fishing Vessel 7 1939 Formerly Jackie Jan, active
281626 Amy K IV Recreational 12 1940 Active
SC 990 US Navy Sub Chaser 136 Mar-43 Sold in 1948
SC 991 US Navy Sub Chaser 136 Apr-43 Sold in 1948
SC 992 US Navy Sub Chaser 136 Jun-43 Sold in 1948
SC 993 US Navy Sub Chaser 136 Jun-43 Sold in 1948
SC 994 US Navy Sub Chaser 136 Jul-43 Sold in 1948
YT 260 Nasomsee US Navy Tug 400 Jul-44 Renamed YTB 260, Sold in 1946
251273 Sparky Anne Recreational 26 1946 Active
502915 Sigrid Fishing Vessel 10 1946 Active
252049 Christine Fishing Vessel 9 1947 Active
256552 Nina T Fishing Vessel 9 1948 Active
259369 Flying Cloud Fishing Vessel 15 1950 Active
262499 Blue Northern Fishing Vessel 14 1951 Active
264893 Star of the Sea Fishing Vessel 14 1953 Active
MSC 148 Beskens US Navy Minesweeper 390 7-Apr-54 To the Netherlands 1954 as M 855, returned 1975, Sold in to the Nizam of Hyderabad 1976 as Kalbarrie
MSC 149 Boxtel US Navy Minesweeper 390 24-Jul-54 To the Netherlands 1954 as M 857, struck 1975
MSC 150 Brouwershaven US Navy Minesweeper 390 30-Oct-54 To the Netherlands 1954 as M 858, struck 1974
510669 Chichagof Recreational 17 1959 Active
523607 Charlie Tuna Fishing Vessel 26 1965 Active

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "G. W. Kneass". shipbuildinghistory.com.
  2. ^ "Pier 70: Kneass Boatyard". www.pier70sf.org.
  3. ^ "Kneass & Sons | Classic Yacht Register". classicyacht.org.
  4. ^ "Kneass Boat Works by Ruth Charlotte Kneass". www.kneassboatworks.com.
  5. ^ "History of the Kneass boatworks tahoeclassicyacht.org". Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  6. ^ navsource.org Submarine Chaser, SC-723
  7. ^ Submarine Chaser (SC) Index, retrieved 21 March 2009
  8. ^ Splinter Fleet, retrieved 16 January 2019
  9. ^ "Quic Chakidn". www.tahoeclassicyacht.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  10. ^ Charles A. Borden (1967). Sea Quest. Robert Hale, London.
  11. ^ Gilboy, Bernard (1956). Tompkins, John Barr (ed.). A Voyage of Pleasure: The Log of Bernard Gilboy's Transpacific Cruise in the Boat "Pacific" 1882-1883. Cornell Maritime Press.
  12. ^ A Voyage of Pleasure, the Log of Bernard Gilboy’s Transpacific Cruise in the Boat “Pacific 1 ’ 1882-1883, page 5, 16, 63
  13. ^ MotorBoating, May 1918, Page 46
  14. ^ Hr. Ms. Boxtel, M 857, Volume 3 of Historisch overzicht, ISSN 0924-0535, by Everhardus Maria Meijs, Publisher Heemkundige Studiekring voor Boxtel en Omstreken, 1984
  15. ^ navsource
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