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AsbestosAsbestos Industry

Job SitesShipyards

Fore River Shipyard

Thomas Augustus Watson is best known for being Alexander Graham Bell's assistant, but in 1884, after leaving the Bell Company, he founded the Fore River Engine Company. His small, one-man operation would grow to become one of the nation's largest shipyards, launching over 600 ships, and playing a key role in both World Wars and the Cold War.

Navy business began at Quincy in 1899 when they were awarded contracts for two 400-ton destroyer gunboats. Since that time, over 500 Navy ships have floated beneath the Fore River Bridge in service to their country. Battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines and a host of other ships have all taken shape at the hands of Quincy shipbuilders.

In 1913 the shipyard changed hands as Bethlehem Steel purchased it, thereby protecting their interests in a contract with a ship they doubted could be completed. The new owners named it the Bethlehem Fore River, and later the Bethlehem Quincy. The yard continued to grow and prosper under its new ownership. Bethlehem constructed an additional shipyard in the nearby Squantum section of Quincy, intended for mass production of destroyers for the war that was brewing in Europe. The Fore River yard employed 15,000 people during the first World War. Between the Fore River and Squantum yards, 18 destroyers, 10 submarines, and 6 merchant ships were built in 1918 alone. In all, the yards built 71 destroyers during the war -- more than all other U.S. shipyards combined.

Between the World Wars Quincy continued to build merchant vessels and warships. One of the largest and most important ships built during those years was the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV2), delivered in 1927. She and her sister Saratoga played a vital role in building the US carrier forces during WWII. The carrier Lexington earned fame as the "Queen of the Flattops" and was a source of great pride for Quincy shipbuilders. When she took two torpedo hits during the Battle of Coral Sea and was sunk, the yard employees petitioned the Government to name another carrier after her. USS Lexington (CV16) was launched as the shipyard continued to grow. By 1941 employment had already reached 17,000 and facilities were bursting at the seams. Once again, an additional mass-production yard was needed to meet wartime needs. This yard, located in nearby Hingham, built destroyer escorts and landing ships (LST, LCI(L)).

After WWII, the shipyard saw a wide variety of shipbuilding, ranging from ships ordered under the wartime shipbuilding programs, such as the cruiser USS Salem (CA139), to the hi-tech nuclear-powered missile ships USS Bainbridge (DLGN25) and USS Long Beach (CGN9), the world's first nuclear powered surface combatant. Commercial projects included the liner Independence (completed in 1950 and still in service today), and the supertanker Manhattan, famous for her voyage through the Northwest Passage. But in 1963 orders stopped coming in and Bethlehem closed the yard.

General Dynamics Corporation bought the Quincy shipyard, becoming the Quincy Shipbuilding Division, and sister division to Electric Boat. General Dynamics invested in major modernization of the shipyard by replacing conventional sliding ways with modern construction basins, implementing a highly automated production process, and extensively using "pre-outfitted" construction techniques. The 1,200-ton Goliath crane was the largest shipbuilding crane on the continent and its use in maneuvering preoutfit units was part of the modernization project.

The major construction project at Quincy from the mid-70s to the early 80s was the construction of 10 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers. These massive ships were 936 feet long and capable of transporting 125,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas in its five 120-foot diameter cargo spheres. Quincy had one more major project in the mid-80s constructing five Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS) for the US Navy. Each of these 42,000-ton ships was designed to carry all the equipment and supplies needed to support some 3,000 men for 30 days.

With the completion of the MPS contract in 1986 and Quincy's failure to gain contracts for U.S. Lines container ships and new survey ships for the Navy, its future looked grim. The yard closed in 1986. The employees were laid off or retired and during the next couple of years equipment was sold off. There have been some efforts to re-open and modernize the shipyard, but to date none has been implemented.

In 1994 the cruiser Salem (CA139) returned to the Quincy yard where it was built, becoming the centerpiece of the United States Naval & Shipbuilding Museum. Today the Salem rests at the exact same fitting-out pier where it was completed over 50 years ago.

Types of ships constructed at the Fore River Shipyard (1920s-1960s):

Names of Ships Constructed, Repaired, and Remodeled at the Fore River Shipyard:

If you were exposed to asbestos at Fore River Shipyard, please contact us.