William Cramp and Sons

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(Redirected from William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company)

William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1825 by William Cramp and was the pre-eminent iron shipbuilder in the United States in the 19th century. Averell Harriman's American Ship & Commerce Corporation bought the shipyard in 1919 but closed it in 1927. In 1940, the United States Navy provided US$22 million toward the cost of reactivating it, and it resumed operations for World War II. The shipyard closed permanently after the war ended and the site, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, is now occupied by an industrial park. The company built many ships for the US Navy and also for the American Line.