Shipbuilding in Texas during World War II – April Lunch Meeting

The April lunch meeting of the Texas Section was held on April 11^th at the Westchase Hilton. The meeting was attended by over 40 people interested in the presentation by Tim Colton on shipbuilding in Texas during World War II. Between 1940 and 1945, shipbuilding was at record levels in the United States, including Texas. Four major shipyards built naval and merchant marine ships in Texas. Over 20 smaller shipyards were building smaller support crafts and barges. At its peak, the shipyards in Texas employed close to 100,000 people. By the end of the war, the biggest yards were turning out ships on a weekly basis. By the end of the war, Texas shipyards had built over 1500 ships, boats and crafts.

Presenter Tim Colton (left) being presented with a token of appreciation by Lars Ronning, Section Chair.

Before the main presentation, Darrel Harvey addressed the attendees soliciting papers for the Offshore Technology Conference in 2007. Darrel is the chair of the SNAME OTC Papers committee and is looking for ideas for topics. Anyone interested in writing a paper for OTC ’07 should contact him at darrelh@acma-inc.com

Attendees networking prior to the lunch presentation