Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest defense companies. BIW has built private, commercial, and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy.
History
Bath Iron Works was incorporated in 1884 on the Kennebec River by General Thomas W. Hyde, a native of Bath who served in the American Civil War. After the war, he bought a shop that made 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, and it incorporated as Bath Iron Works in 1884.
On February 28, 1890, BIW won its first contract for complete vessels: two iron gunboats for the Navy. One of these 190 ft ships was the USS Machias (PG-5), the first ship launched by the company. In 1892, the yard won its first commercial contract for the 2,500-ton steel passenger steamer SS City of Lowell. In the 1890s, the company built several yachts for wealthy sailors.
In 1899, Hyde was suffering from Bright's Disease and resigned from management of the shipyard, leaving his sons Edward and John in charge. The shipyard began construction of USS Georgia (BB-15) that same year, the only battleship ever built in Bath. It 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, Georgia averaged 19.26 kn for four hours, making her the fastest ship in her class and the fastest battleship in the United States Navy at the time.[2]
The company continued to rely on Navy contracts, which provided 86% of the value of new contracts between 1905 and 1917. By then, a different company named Bath Ironworks (BIW) ran it. The yard also produced fishing trawlers, freighters, and yachts throughout the first half of the century. It went into receivership in 1925 and 6 before being bought by a conglomerate in 1926 and returning to naval ship building. The ships built before its return to naval ship building were mostly yachts such as, Hi-Esmaro, Aras I and Aras II, Caroline, and Corsair IV, which later served as a cruise ship before sinking off Acapulco, Mexico in 1949.[2]
The shipyard was at peak production during World War II (1943–1944), launching 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.
USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) was commissioned at Bath in 1986. It survived a mine explosion which tore a hole in its engine room and flooded two compartments. Over the next two years, BIW repaired the ship in unique fashion. The guided missile frigate was towed to the company's dry dock in Portland, Maine, and put up on blocks, where the damaged engine room was cut out of the ship. Meanwhile, workers in Bath built a 315-ton replacement, and the module was floated south to Portland, placed on the dry dock, slid into place under the frigate, jacked up, and welded into place.[4]
In 1995, Bath Iron Works was bought by General Dynamics. In 2001, the company wrapped up a four-year effort to build the Land Level Transfer Facility, an enormous concrete platform for final assembly of its ships, instead of building them on a sloping way so that they could slide into the Kennebec at launch. Hulls are now moved by rail from the platform horizontally onto a moveable dry dock, which greatly reduced the work involved in building and launching the ships.[5]
In 2015, Bath Iron Works signed contracts with US Navy to build new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, as well as to conduct maintenance sustainment support of Independence-class littoral combat ships built by competitor Austal USA.[6] The shipyard delivered USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115), USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118), and 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 John Basilone. This ship was funded in the 2015 defense appropriations act.[7]
In 2016, Dirk Lesko became president of Bath Iron Works.
In 2020, 4,300 workers, all members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, voted to go on strike after the company and the union failed to agree to new labor contracts. The shipbuilders agreed to a 3-year pact and returned to work after 63 days of strike.[8]
Lesko resigned unexpectedly on April 7, 2022, the same day the union local announced that it had come to an agreement with the shipyard.[9] On May 5, 2022, Charles F. Krugh was appointed president.[10]
Offsite facilities
Bath Iron Works operates several offsite facilities in the surrounding mid-coast Maine region, their purposes range from administration to structural fabrication.
West Bath
• West Bath Warehouse • The facility closest to the main yard, located on 76 New Meadows Road, West Bath. Its primary responsibilities are storage and distribution of materials to other BIW facilities, primarily the main yard.
Brunswick
The neighboring town of Brunswick contains the most Bath Iron Works offsite facilities of any single municipality.
• Structural Fabrication • Built in 1940 under the name "Harding's Plant", the Structural Fabrication facility is among the largest outside of the main yard.
• Outfit Fabrication • Previously known as "East Brunswick Manufacturing Facility (EBMF)", the Outfit Fabrication facility is responsible for the production of non-structural parts and assemblies more efficient to build on the shop floor, and later ship into the main yard.
• Tech Center • The Tech Center is where many Planners, Designers, and Engineers work.
Notable ships built
- Yachts
- SY Eleanor (1894) 803 ton steam yacht for W. A. Slater[11]
- Aphrodite completed for Oliver Hazard Payne 1899, the largest American built steam yacht at the time
- Ranger, successful America's Cup defender
- Aras II, Presidential Yacht known as USS Williamsburg
- Corsair IV, large yacht built for J. P. Morgan Jr.
- Lightvessels
- Diamond Shoal Lightship No. 71 (LV-71)
- Nantucket Lightship 66
- Nantucket Lightship 106
- Gunboat
- USS Machias, Spanish–American War
Further reading
- (First general history of BIW.)
- (Describes the construction of a Perry-class guided missile frigate, the training of its precommissioning crew at BIW, and the complex repair job that returned it to duty.)
- (Describes the construction of USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) at BIW.)
- (The definitive work on BIW from 1884 to 1987.)
- (Historic and contemporary photos of BIW.)
External links
References
- Top Private Employers in Maine Maine Center for Workforce Research and Information, retrieved 2026-02-08^
- End Games – PORTLAND MAGAZINE www.portlandmonthly.com, 28 September 2017^
- Merton J. Peck, Frederic M. Scherer. The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis Harvard Business School, 1962^