McCloskey & Company Shipyard

McCloskey & Company Shipyard was a ship builder in Tampa, Florida. McCloskey & Company built 38 cargo ships, Type N3 ship for World War II founded in 1942. McCloskey & Company also built type C1-S-D1 concrete ships. Matthew H. McCloskey founded the construction company McCloskey & Company in Philadelphia. McCloskey & Company built the Philadelphia Convention Hall, the Philadelphia Sheraton Hotel, and the Washington D.C. Stadium.
The Tampa shipyard is now Tampa Ship LLC owned by Edison Chouest Offshore.

Shipyard

During World War II, there was a high demand for ships thus, McCloskey & Company opened a shipyard at Hookers Point in Tampa, Florida. Tampa Port Authority leased the land to McCloskey & Company. With steel in short supply due to the war, McCloskey & Company built 24 self-propelled concrete ships under a Maritime Commission war contract starting in July 1943. McCloskey & Company Shipyard had 6,000 employees at its peak, with 13 shipways (construction berths). Most of the concrete ships were used to move carry sugar. The concrete ships were 366 feet long and had a deadweight of 5,000 tons. Four other companies also built concrete ships for the war. Starting in April 1945 McCloskey & Company built 38 steel hull cargo ships Maritime Commission Type N3 ship, these were small coastal cargo ships.

After the war, the shipyard was sold to the City of Tampa in January 1948. The city leased out the shipyard to Tampa Ship Repair & Dry Dock Company. Tampa Fabricators operated out of the Tampa Ship Repair & Dry Dock Company shipyard starting in 1956 till 1960. The shipyard was vacant in the 1960s. In 1972 the yard was sold to American Ship Building Company as Tampa Shipyards. American Ship Building Company built two large drydocks at the site, but went bankrupt in 1995. For two years the site was owned and run by Tampa Shipbuilding Company. In 1997 the site was sold and became the Tampa Bay Shipbuilding & Repair Company. In 2008 the site was sold to Edison Chouest Offshore and renamed the site Tampa Ship.

Tampa Ship

Tampa Ship operates a 62-acre full-service ship repair facility in Tampa Bay in Hillsborough County. Tampa Ship also does vessel conversions and has four large drydocks. Tampa Ship has 7 repair pier berths off McCloskey Blvd at the start of the Sparkman Channel of Hillsborough Bay. Tampa Ship builds Platform supply vessels and Harbor Tugs. Edison Chouest Offshore has owned Tampa Ship since 2008.

• Drydocks:
• 535 ft (163 m)
• 907 ft. (276.4 m)
• 746 ft. (227.4 m)
• 414 ft. (126.2 m)

World War 2 ships

Hull #	Ship #	Name	Type	Gross tons	Feet	Delivered	Fate
1	244546	Vitruvius	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Dec-43	Breakwater at Normandy
2	244258	David O. Saylor	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Nov-43	Breakwater at Normandy
3	244542	Arthur Newell Talbot	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Feb-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
4	245070	Richard Lewis Humphrey	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Mar-44	Sold in Mexico
5	245069	Richard Kidder Meade	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Mar-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
6	245071	Willis A. Slater	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Feb-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
7	245336	Leonard Chase Watson	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Jun-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
8	245335	John Smeaton	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Apr-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
9	245579	Joseph Aspdin	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	May-44	Wrecked and lost 1948
10	245773	John Grant	C1-S-D1	4,826	350	Jun-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
11	245771	M. H. Le Chatelier	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Jul-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
12	245774	L. J. Vicat	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Jul-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
13	246010	Robert Whitman Lesley	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Jul-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
14	246120	Edwin Thacher	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Jul-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
15	246257	C. W. Pasley	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Aug-44	Breakwater at Newport OR
16		Armand Considere	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Sep-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
17		Francois Hennebique	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Sep-44	Breakwater at Newport OR
18		P. M. Anderson	C1-S-D1	4,690	350	Sep-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
19	246727	Albert Kahn	C1-S-D1	4,680	350	Oct-44	Abandoned and lost 1947
20	246758	Willard A. Pollard	C1-S-D1	4,680	350	Nov-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
21	246759	William Foster Cowham	C1-S-D1	4,680	350	Nov-44	Breakwater at Kiptopeke VA
22	246877	Edwin Clarence Eckel	C1-S-D1	4,680	350	Dec-44	Scuttled 1946
23	246881	Thaddeus Merriman	C1-S-D1	4,680	350	Nov-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
24	246878	Emile N. Vidal	C1-S-D1	4,680	350	Dec-44	Breakwater at Powell River BC
25	180568	Northern Warrior	N3-S-A2	1,900	250	Apr-45	To Britain 1945, sold 1947, scrapped 1970
26	180576	Northern Chieftain	N3-S-A2	1,900	250	Apr-45	To Britain 1945, sold 1947, scrapped 1982
27	180714	Northern Pioneer	N3-S-A2	1,900	250	May-45	To Britain 1945, to Greece 1945 as Zakynthos, sold 1947, later Teng 1407, Hung Chang, scrapped
28	247949	Northern Wanderer	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jun-45	Later Warren Bearne, to the Philippines 1949, scrapped 1963
29	248016	Northern Explorer	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jun-45	Later Nat Brown, to USA 1949, to USN 1951 as Centaurus (AK 264), scrapped 1960
30	248017	Northern Voyager	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jun-45	Later Oliver R. Mumford, scrapped 1964
31	248014	Northern Adventurer	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jun-45	Sold 1946, later Hai Ming, Chung Kai, sank 1964
32	248215	Northern Squire	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jun-45	Scrapped 1964
33	248216	Northern Yeoman	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jul-45	To USA 1949, to USN 1951 as Serpens (AK 266), scrapped 1960
34	248211	Northern Archer	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jul-45	Sold 1947, scrapped 1979
35	248204	Northern Stalker	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jul-45	Sold 1947, scrapped 1974
36	248394	Eben H. Linnell	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Jul-45	To USA 1949, scrapped
37	248399	Northern Trapper	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Aug-45	Scrapped 1964
38	248397	John J. Jackson	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Aug-45	Sold 1947 as Samsun, later Hopa, Merve, scrapped in Turkey 1978
39	248396	Frederick Lendholm	N3-S-A2	1,870	250	Sep-45	Sold 1947, later Don Martin, scrapped in Peru 1967

Two C1-S-D1 concrete ships SS Vitruvius and SS David O. Saylor were taken out of maritime service and used to make a breakwater at Normandy for the Normandy landings. The breakwater was part of the Mulberry harbour, a temporary manmade harbor for World War II, used for the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. The Breakwater were called Corncobs and Gooseberries. The sunk Vitruvius and David O. Saylor were used at Utah Beach. Nine ships were used at The Kiptopeke Breakwater in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia at 37.164267°N 75.991402°W / 37.164267; -75.991402.

Ten of the concrete ships are at the Powell River, British Columbia at 49.865238°N 124.555821°W / 49.865238; -124.555821, where a lumber mill then as a breakwater. known as The Hulks.

Gallery

• 
  Matthew McCloskey (at right) with President Harry Truman
• 
  A Type N3-S-A2 ship built in World War II
• 
  A 2004 view of the city of Powell River with its breakwater ships visible.
• 
  Mulberry artificial harbour in Normandy, September 1944
• 
  Gooseberry sunk ships in June 1944

See also

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage
• Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat
• Walt Disney World Railroad
• USS Volans
• Tampa Shipbuilding Company

External links

• Aerial photo of the Tampa Ship shipyard, with three ships in dry dock