Union Iron Works

Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, was the only private shipbuilder capable of building the large warships in the Western United States prior to the First World War, and thus had a de facto monopoly on major warship construction contracts on the Pacific coast.

History

The Donohue Brothers, Scots-Irish immigrants, founded Union Iron Works in the south of Market area of San Francisco in 1849. After years as the premiere producer of mining, railroad, agricultural and locomotive machinery in California, Union Iron Works, led by I.M. Scott, entered the ship building business and relocated to Potrero Point where its shipyards still exist, making the site on the north side of the Potrero the longest running privately owned shipyard in the United States. The company also owned the Alameda Works Shipyard, located across the San Francisco Bay in Alameda.

In 1885, Union Iron Works launched the first steel-hulled ship on the west coast, the "Arago," built with steel from the Pacific Rolling Mills.

In 1886, UIW was awarded a one million dollar contract to build a Naval cruiser, the Charleston, which they completed in eighteen months. From the completion of the Arago in 1884 to 1902, UIW built seventy-five marine vessels, including two of the most famous vessels of the Spanish-American War, the Olympia and the Oregon. An 1892 description of the yards stated that between 1200 and 1500 men were employed and the yearly gross revenue was between two and four million. by the turn of the century, the area had increased and employment double to three thousand-five hundred workers. These industrial facilities used five types of power, distributed throughout; electricity, compressed air, steam, hydraulic and coal or gas fire.

In 1902, the Union Iron Works was absorbed into a combine called the United States Shipbuilding Corporation and was mired in three years of litigation. In 1905, the entire forty acre shipyard was purchased by Bethlehem Steel Corporation for one million dollars. Charles Schwab stood on the steps of the UIW office building on Twentieth Street during the auction. He was the only bidder. Schwab was widely believed to have engineered the demise of the U.S. Shipbuilding Corporation in order to gain control of the industry. Whether or not that was true, he certainly benefited from the collapse of the US Shipbuilding combine.

After 1905, the shipyard operated as part of Bethlehem Steel, and produced both warships and merchant ships.

In 1908, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation bought the Hunter's Point drydocks.

Shipbuilding

Ship	Type	Launched	Fate
U.S.S. Charleston	protected cruiser	19 Jul, 1888	Wrecked 2 Nov, 1899
U.S.S. San Francisco	protected cruiser	26 Oct, 1889	Sold 20 Apr, 1939
U.S.S. Monterey	monitor	28 Apr, 1891	Sold 25 Feb, 1922
U.S.S. Olympia	protected cruiser	5 Nov, 1892	Preserved 11 Sep, 1957
U.S.S. Oregon	pre-dreadnought	26 Oct, 1893	Sold 1956
U.S.S. Wheeling	gunboat	18 Mar, 1897	Sold 31 Oct, 1946
U.S.S. Marietta	gunboat	18 Mar, 1897	Sold 25 Mar, 1920
U.S.S. Farragut	torpedo boat	16 Jul, 1898	Sold 9 Sep, 1919
U.S.S. Wisconsin	pre-dreadnought	16 Nov, 1898	Sold 1922
U.S.S. Cheyenne	monitor	8 Sep, 1900	Sold 20 Apr, 1939
U.S.S. Ohio	pre-dreadnought	1901	Sold 1923
U.S.S. Grampus	submarine	31 Jul, 1902
U.S.S. Pike	submarine	14 Jan, 1903
U.S.S. Tacoma	protected cruiser	2 Jun, 1903	Sold 5 Sep, 1924
U.S.S. California	armoured cruiser	28 Apr, 1904	Sunk 19 Jul, 1918
U.S.S. South Dakota	armoured cruiser	21 Jul, 1904	Sold 1930
U.S.S. Milwaukee	armoured cruiser	10 Sep, 1904	Wrecked 13 Jan, 1917
U.S.S. Carp	submarine	6 Sep, 1911	Collision 17 Dec, 1917
U.S.S. Barracuda	submarine	19 Mar, 1912	Sold 17 Aug, 1922
U.S.S. Seawolf	submarine	6 May, 1913	Sunk 12 Mar, 1920
U.S.S. Nautilus	submarine	4 Jun, 1913	Broken up 1931
U.S.S. Orca	submarine	14 Mar, 1914	Broken up 1931
U.S.S. K-7	submarine	20 Jun, 1914	Broken up 1931
U.S.S. K-8	submarine	11 Jul, 1914	Broken up 1931
U.S.S. R-15	submarine	10 Dec, 1917	Stricken 1946
U.S.S. R-16	submarine	15 Dec, 1917	Sold 1946
U.S.S. R-17	submarine	24 Dec, 1917	Transferred 9 Mar, 1942
U.S.S. R-18	submarine	8 Jan, 1918	Sold 1946
U.S.S. R-19	submarine	28 Jan, 1918	Transferred 9 Mar, 1942
U.S.S. McKee	destroyer	23 Mar, 1918
U.S.S. Robinson	destroyer	28 Mar, 1918	Broken up 1946
U.S.S. Schley	destroyer	28 Mar, 1918
U.S.S. Champlin	destroyer	7 Apr, 1918	Expended 12 Aug, 1936
U.S.S. Ringgold	destroyer	14 Apr, 1918	Broken up 1947
U.S.S. Mugford	destroyer	14 Apr, 1918
U.S.S. Chew	destroyer	26 May, 1918
U.S.S. Ludlow	destroyer	9 Jun, 1918
U.S.S. Hazelwood	destroyer	22 Jun, 1918
U.S.S. McKean	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918	Torpedoed 17 Nov, 1943
U.S.S. Harding	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918
U.S.S. Gridley	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918
U.S.S. Williams	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918
U.S.S. Crane	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918
U.S.S. Hart	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918
U.S.S. Ingraham	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918	Expended 23 Jul, 1937
U.S.S. Burns	destroyer	4 Jul, 1918	Sold 2 Apr, 1932
U.S.S. Anthony	destroyer	10 Aug, 1918	Expended 22 Jul, 1937
U.S.S. Sproston	destroyer	10 Aug, 1918	Expended 20 Jul, 1937
U.S.S. R-20	submarine	21 Aug, 1918	Sold 1946
U.S.S. Rizal	destroyer	21 Sep, 1918
U.S.S. Renshaw	destroyer	21 Sep, 1918
U.S.S. Mackenzie	destroyer	29 Sep, 1918	Sold 21 Jun, 1945
U.S.S. John Francis Burnes	destroyer	10 Nov, 1918
U.S.S. Farragut	destroyer	10 Nov, 1918
U.S.S. Somers	destroyer	21 Nov, 1918
U.S.S. S-30	submarine	21 Nov, 1918	Sold Dec, 1946
U.S.S. Fuller	destroyer	5 Dec, 1918	Grounded 8 Sep, 1923
U.S.S. Percival	destroyer	5 Dec, 1918
U.S.S. S-33	submarine	5 Dec, 1918	Sold 1946
U.S.S. S-31	submarine	28 Dec, 1918	Sold May, 1946
U.S.S. Stoddert	destroyer	8 Jan, 1919
U.S.S. S-32	submarine	11 Jan, 1919	Sold May, 1946
U.S.S. Farquhar	destroyer	18 Jan, 1919
U.S.S. Thompson	destroyer	19 Jan, 1919	Expended 1944
U.S.S. Reno	destroyer	22 Jan, 1919
U.S.S. Woodbury	destroyer	6 Feb, 1919	Grounded 8 Sep, 1923
U.S.S. S-34	submarine	13 Feb, 1919	Sold 1946
U.S.S. Kennedy	destroyer	15 Feb, 1919
U.S.S. Paul Hamilton	destroyer	21 Feb, 1919
U.S.S. S-35	submarine	27 Feb, 1919	Expended 4 Apr, 1942
U.S.S. O'Bannon	destroyer	28 Feb, 1919
U.S.S. William Jones	destroyer	9 Apr, 1919
U.S.S. Hogan	destroyer	12 Apr, 1919	Expended 8 Nov, 1945
U.S.S. S. P. Lee	destroyer	22 Apr, 1919	Grounded 8 Sep, 1923
U.S.S. Howard	destroyer	26 Apr, 1919
U.S.S. Nicholas	destroyer	1 May, 1919	Grounded 8 Sep, 1923
U.S.S. Young	destroyer	8 May, 1919	Grounded 8 Sep, 1923
U.S.S. Sloat	destroyer	14 May, 1919	Expended 26 Jun, 1935
U.S.S. Stansbury	destroyer	16 May, 1919
U.S.S. Zeilin	destroyer	28 May, 1919
U.S.S. Wood	destroyer	28 May, 1919
U.S.S. S-36	submarine	3 Jun, 1919	Sunk 20 Jan, 1942
U.S.S. S-38	submarine	17 Jun, 1919	Expended 20 Feb, 1945
U.S.S. Yarborough	destroyer	20 Jun, 1919
U.S.S. Shirk	destroyer	20 Jun, 1919	Broken up 1931
U.S.S. S-37	submarine	20 Jun, 1919	Sunk 20 Feb, 1945
U.S.S. S-39	submarine	2 Jul, 1919	Sunk 14 Aug, 1942
U.S.S. Kidder	destroyer	10 Jul, 1919
U.S.S. La Vallette	destroyer	15 Jul, 1919
U.S.S. Selfridge	destroyer	25 Jul, 1919
U.S.S. Mervine	destroyer	11 Aug, 1919
U.S.S. Marcus	destroyer	22 Aug, 1919	Expended 25 Jun, 1935
U.S.S. Chase	destroyer	2 Sep, 1919
U.S.S. Robert Smith	destroyer	19 Sep, 1919
U.S.S. Chauncey	destroyer	29 Sep, 1919
U.S.S. Bruce	destroyer	20 May, 1920	Sold Aug, 1932
U.S.S. Coghlan	destroyer	16 Jun, 1920
U.S.S. Mullany	destroyer	9 Jul, 1920
U.S.S. Preston	destroyer	7 Aug, 1920	Sold 23 Aug, 1932
U.S.S. Lamson	destroyer	1 Sep, 1920
U.S.S. Sumner	destroyer	24 Nov, 1920	Sold 1934
U.S.S. Macdonough	destroyer	15 Dec, 1920
U.S.S. S-40	submarine	5 Jan, 1921	Sold 1946
U.S.S. Hull	destroyer	18 Feb, 1921
U.S.S. S-41	submarine	21 Feb, 1921	Sold 1946
U.S.S. Farenholt	destroyer	9 Mar, 1921
U.S.S. Corry	destroyer	28 Mar, 1921
U.S.S. Melvin	destroyer	11 Apr, 1921