In WWII the Arsenal of Democracy built thousands of Liberty ships. Australia’s shipyards played our part – but here the priority was to repair. ⬇️
Those of you who have read Arthur Herman’s masterclass ‘Freedom’s Forge’ may recall the legend of Henry Kaiser who managed to disrupt the entire shipbuilding industry during WWII. Herman’s latest post for First Breakfast focuses on this true Captain of Industry:
“But between 1941 and 1944, Kaiser surged ship production in ways that had never been imagined. Working with a single simple ship design, he and his colleagues produced over 2,710 of the so-called Liberty ships, build in ten shipyards that never existed when Kaiser got his first contract in December 1940. Following on the success of his Liberty ship construction surge, Kaiser went on to build 50 aircraft carriers for the US Navy, the so-called baby flattops of the Casablanca class.”
Herman and fellow Liberty Ship Industrialists built 2,710 of the so-called Liberty ships, and ten new shipyards including the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation monolith you see in the image for this post.
In Australia demand for shipbuilding was also heightened, In total, 113 RAN naval vessels were built at ten Australian shipyards during the Second World War. But what was different about shipbuilding in Australia was that the demand from both the US and Australian military was heavily weighted towards to repair of damaged ships:
” With the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Cockatoo Island was the only place in the south-west Pacific where Allied shipping could obtain major repairs. Australian, British and US warships sought conversions and repairs at the docks and heavy industry used the facility to repair large rotating machinery such as turbines.
The rate at which ships could be repaired was seen to be a primary factor in the duration of the war in the Pacific. Accordingly, repair, refitting and maintenance activities in Australia had precedence over ship-building. The upgrading and installation of the latest types of radar, sonar, fire control, degaussing and other complex technical equipment formed a large part of this work, one of the most valuable contributions of Australian shipyards.”
In total, Australian shipyards carried out 4000 repairs on Royal Australian Navy ships, over 500 repairs on United States Navy ships and 391 repairs on Royal Navy Ships during WWII. Repair, refit and rearming Australian naval, merchant and civil ships and those of our Allies and Partners is likely to be a key part of any future conflict in the Indo Pacific. Ironically, Cockatoo Island remains the largest dry dock in Australia almost 80 years after the end of the WWII.
Food for thought – and once again, read ‘Freedom’s Forge’!
📷 via First Breakfast, First Breakfast article, Australian War Memorial infographic article and parliamentary report on Australian shipbuilding in the comments!