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(cont'd)
Diagram of Berth 240
Click on the image to view a larger map
Following the war, Southwestern Shipbuilding continued to construct and repair
vessels, although on a much smaller scale. In 1920, when the Port laid out the
extension to Seaside Avenue, the Port reduced Southwestern Shipbuilding's shipyard
to approximately 38 acres, and when the main channel was widened in 1926, the
yard was further scaled down. On January 1, 1922, Bethlehem acquired the Southwestern
Shipbuilding plant. Bethlehem rearranged the shipyard into a repair plant (although
it continued to do some shipbuilding). It transferred four sections of a 15,000-ton
floating dry dock from the Bethlehem Union Iron Works plant in San Francisco to
the San Pedro location, creating a 14,000-ton dry dock. Ames Construction Company
in Seattle originally built the dry dock in 1919 and installed it at the Union
Iron Works in San Francisco. In 1924, the fifth section was added to the dry dock,
creating a 15,000-ton capacity. The sectional design of the dry dock allows it
to accommodate both small and large ships. At the time, the floating dry dock
was the largest of its kind on the West Coast.
Construction at Berth 240
Bethlehem constructed a number of facilities at Berth 240 in the succeeding
years, including a boilermaker shop, a carpenter shop, an electrical shop, a joiner
department, a machine shop, a marine-machine shop, a pipe shop, a rigger shop,
a plate shop, a pattern shop, and a blacksmith shop. Union Pacific Railroad and
Southern Pacific Railroad served the plant, and concrete boulevards enabled trucks
and automobiles to reach the docks and piers. The yard was equipped to build,
recondition, and repair all sizes and types of wood and steel vessels, including
tugs, yachts, and barges.
Historic view of ship repair work
During this period, Bethlehem operated other plants around the nation, including
one at Potrero and Hunter's Point in San Francisco, as well as the Alameda plant
in Alameda, California. The company's Atlantic coast plants were located in Sparrows
Point, Maryland; Baltimore, Maryland; and Boston, Massachusetts.
 
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