Bath Iron Works
From Free net encyclopedia
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. Since it was founded in 1884 by Thomas W. Hyde, BIW has built private, commercial, and military vessels. Its biggest customer has been the U.S. Navy, for which BIW has built (and often designed) a battleship, frigates, cruisers, and destroyers, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer—the most advanced surface warship in the world. BIW was purchased in 1995 by General Dynamics. BIW has since at least the 1970s been the largest private employer in the state of Maine, though that title may recently have slipped to the Hannaford grocery chain.
In World War II, the toughness of warships launched by Maine workers gave rise to the saying: "Bath-built is best-built". In 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58), commissioned two years earlier at Bath, survived a mine explosion that tore a hole in its engine room and flooded two compartments.
BIW repaired the Roberts in 1988-89 in unique fashion. The guided missile frigate was towed to the company's dry dock in Portland, Maine, and put up on blocks, where its damaged engineroom was cut out of the ship. Meanwhile, workers in Bath built a 200-ton replacement. When it was ready, the module was floated south to Portland, placed on the dry dock, slid into place under the Roberts, jacked up, and welded into place.
"A Bath boat is the Stradivarius of destroyers!"
External links
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Further reading
- Template:Cite book (Historic and contemporary photos of BIW.)
- Template:Cite book (Describes the construction of USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) at BIW.)
- Template:Cite book (The definitive work on BIW from 1884-1987.)
- Template:Cite book (First general history of BIW.)