Warship Builders is the first scholarly study of the U.S. naval shipbuilding industry from the early 1920s to the end of World War II, when American shipyards produced the world's largest fleet that helped defeat the Axis powers in all corners of the globe. A colossal endeavor that absorbed billions and employed virtual armies of skilled workers, naval construction mobilized the nation's leading industrial enterprises in the shipbuilding, engineering, and steel industries to deliver warships whose technical complexity dwarfed that of any other weapons platform. Based on systematic comparisons with British, Japanese, and German naval construction, Thomas Heinrich pinpoints the distinct features of American shipbuilding methods, technology development, and management practices that enabled U.S. yards to vastly outproduce their foreign counterparts. Throughout the book, comparative analyses reveal differences and similarities in American, British, Japanese, and German naval construction. Heinrich shows that U.S. and German shipyards introduced electric arc welding and prefabrication methods to a far greater extent than their British and Japanese counterparts between the wars, laying the groundwork for their impressive production records in World War II. While the American and Japanese navies relied heavily on government-owned navy yards, the British and German navies had most of their combatants built in corporately-owned yards, contradicting the widespread notion that only U.S. industrial mobilization depended on private enterprise. Lastly, the U.S. government's investments into shipbuilding facilities in both private and government-owned shipyards dwarfed the sums British, Japanese, and German counterparts expended. This enabled American builders to deliver a vast fleet that played a pivotal role in global naval combat.

Cover; Contents; 1. Introduction / Marcel van der Linden, Hugh Murphy, and Raquel Varela; North-western Europe; 2. Labour in the British shipbuilding and ship repairing industries in the twentieth century / Hugh Murphy; 3. Bremer Vulkan: A case study of the West German shipbuilding industry and its narratives in the second half of the twentieth century / Johanna Wolf; 4. From boom to bust: Kockums, Malmö (Sweden), 1950-1986 / Tobias Karlsson.

This work aims to facilitate the study of the shipbuilding industry by making available information on the present location of shipbuilding archives. The brief histories of about 200 businesses are offered.

The U.S. shipbuilding industry now confronts grave challenges in providing essential support of national objectives. With recent emphasis on renewal of the U.S. naval fleet, followed by the defense builddown, U.S. shipbuilders have fallen far behind in commercial ship construction, and face powerful new competition from abroad. This book examines ways to reestablish the U.S. industry, to provide a technology base and R&D infrastructure sustaining both commercial and military goals. Comparing U.S. and foreign shipbuilders in four technological areas, the authors find that U.S. builders lag most severely in business process technologies, and in technologies of new products and materials. New advances in system technologies, such as simulation, are also needed, as are continuing developments in shipyard production technologies. The report identifies roles that various government agencies, academia, and, especially, industry itself must play for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to attempt a turnaround.

This book, first published in 1985, presents a comprehensive overview of the world shipbuilding industry. It contrasts the conditions which foster its development in newly-industrialised countries such as Japan, South Korea and Brazil with the problems leading to its decline in Western Europe and North America. The book discusses the supply and demand factors peculiar to shipbuilding and notes the inherent instability of the industry due to the conditions placed upon it by the economic environment. Reactions to this instability are examined from the point of view of both shipbuilding enterprises and governments. The book concludes by assessing current trends and discussing likely future developments. It is shown that much will depend on shipping costs, industrial organisation and the level of state support.

Global Shipbuilding Industry Handbook Volume 1. European Union- Strategic Information and Contacts