Consolidated Steel Corporation

The Consolidated Steel Corporation was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Formed on 18 December 1928,[1] the company built ships during World War II in two main locations: Wilmington, California, and Orange, Texas. It was created by the merger of Llewellyn Iron Works, Baker Iron Works and Union Iron Works,[2] all of Los Angeles. The company entered the shipbuilding business in 1939.[3] In 1948, now a pioneer producer of large-diameter pipelines, Consolidated Steel was renamed Consolidated Western Steel and acquired by U.S. Steel and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The San Diego–based Consolidated Aircraft Corp. is not related and neither is the Union Iron Works of San Francisco. The company did not produce steel (the Llewellyn Iron Works did so during 1916 to 1923), neither from iron ores nor from pig iron, but rather fabricated standard steel mill product (plates and bars) into steel products (buildings, ships, pipes). In the 1950s, the company contributed ground equipment to the Project Nike missile system. In 1964, Consolidated was merged into the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel.

Orange shipyard

The Orange, Texas, shipyard lay on the banks of the Sabine River at (30.08635°N, -93.72434°W[4]), a few miles upstream of the Sabine Pass that grants access to the Gulf of Mexico (Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc. in Beaumont, Texas, made use of it as well). Consolidated Steel bought the Orange Car and Steel Company (railcars) property in February 1940[5] with the original intention of going into the business of barge and tug construction. Before November 1922 this company was called the Southern Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company,[6] which operated five building ways for wooden hull construction for the United States Shipping Board,[7] of which six were launched and at least one, Gonzalis (1918), was fitted with engines.

The modest facilities were expanded when Consolidated Steel was awarded destroyer contracts from the U.S. Navy in September 1940. After the war the site was sold to U.S. Steel

Wilmington shipyard

The Consolidated Steel Wilmington shipyard (33.76767°N, -118.27254°W) in Wilmington, California was an emergency yard built in 1941 in the Port of Los Angeles West Basin after Consolidated Steel was awarded Maritime Commission contracts. At its peak, it employed 12,000 people, working on eight shipways on the 95-acre facility at 1100 W Harry Bridges Blvd, Wilmington. Production peaked on May 29, 1944, when it launched three large ships in only a 2 1/2-hour period. The yard was built as a temporary facility and, like most such war plants, it was closed after the war ended.

Together, the shipyards ranked Consolidated 29th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.[17]

Fifteen of the C1-B were built with steam turbines supplied by Joshua Hendy Iron Works ("JH") instead of those built by Westinghouse ("WH"). Hendy also provided the 36 triple expansion steam engines that went into the patrol frigates.

The yard changed to a 2-shift rotation (10.5 hours) on June 12, 1944.[18]

List of contracts:[19]

Long Beach shipyard

The former Long Beach Shipbuilding Company yard was the first Consolidated Steel facility to become operational. It was located at the entrance of Channel No. 3 on the south side (33.76892°N, -118.21599°W).

On Liberty Fleet Day, September 27, 1941, the yard launched SS Alcoa Polaris, a C1-B type cargo vessel, as one of the fourteen ships launched nationwide on the same day to show the magnitude of the shipbuilding program.[113][114]

18 of 95 C1-B[115][116]
SS Agwimonte (1941) (MC-75), launched as Cape Mendocino 14 November 1940[117]

Maywood plant

On 26 June 1927 Union Iron Works formally opened the first unit of a new multi-million dollar plant on their 25-acre tract at Stauson and Garfield avenues (33.9822°N, -118.14218°W).[145]

26 July 1930, Consolidated Steel purchased 50 acre at NE corner of Eastern and Stauson avenues (33.98645°N, -118.1613°W).[146]

The Union, Baker and Llewellyn Iron Works were competitors prior to consolidation in the markets of steel fabrication and erection in the Los Angeles area.[147]

In August 1930 plans were being implemented to erect the typical shops of a steel plant on the tract at Slauson and Eastern. The projected cost was $1,000,000 including machinery. Predecessor plants were to be dismantled and moved to the new location.[148]

During World War II 761 Landing craft mechanized were constructed to completion in the plant and their motors and hull integrity tested on site in a large water tank.

After the war

Shortly after the end of the war, in September 1945, Consolidated Steel bought the assets of the Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, another wartime shipbuilding firm, for $6,217,373.[153] The property consisted of main plants at South San Francisco and Vernon and small plants serving local industries in Taft, Fresno and Phoenix.[154][155]

In October 1946 a shipyard on Manicani Island off the coast of Samar in the Philippines came under the control of Consolidated and Bechtel interests under the name of Philippine Consolidated Shipyards. Initial contracts from the U.S. Navy for conversion, repair and construction of small craft,[156] which was completed in August 1947 after which Philippine Consolidated carried on with similar work in Manila and Cavite.[157]

Baker Iron Works

The Baker Iron Works had its start at Los Angeles, California, about 1874,[203] when Milo Stannard Baker (1828–1894) acquired a small machine shop there. The business, begun on a small scale as M.S. Baker & Company, grew quite rapidly. A much larger facility was erected in 1886 and in June of that year the business was incorporated as the Baker Iron Works with capital stock of $75,000. Five directors were named: Milo S. Baker, E.H. Booth, Charles F. Kimball, Fred L. Baker (Milo's son), and H.T. Neuree. Less than a year later, Baker erected a $15,000 building on Buena Vista Street near College.

Baker Iron Works had a great many different products, manufacturing mining, milling, pumping, hoisting, oil and well drilling machinery, streetcars, boilers, oven and heating furnaces, as well as a line of architectural iron. It seems to have been especially noteworthy for steam boiler fabrication, installation and maintenance. According to one authority, in 1889 Baker produced the first locomotive built in Los Angeles, designed by Milo's son Fred, vice president of the firm.

Another authority says Baker built horse cars and perhaps street cars for Los Angeles, Pasadena and other communities in the Los Angeles area and that they built some larger cars for the Santa Ana & Orange Motor Road in 1898. According to this authority, after Pacific Electric bought this line, the cars were revamped and continued in service until 1920. It is claimed that in the early 1890s, Street Railway Journal reportedly ranked Baker "among the principal car builders on the Pacific Coast."

External links

youtube.com, World War II Shipyards: Orange, Texas
youtube.com, Launch of Cape Mendocino (the last few seconds look like they might be in Texas)
youtube.com, Oil Across Arabia (at 11:00)

References

Investigation of Shipyard Profits U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946^
Consolidated Steel Corporation, Long Beach and Wilmington CA^
Investigation of Shipyard Profits U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946^

Line Pipe

In September 1946 production was to commence on 214 miles and 60,000 tons of 30-inch pipe for the Southern California Gas Company for a contract value of $6m.[178] This 214 mile section between Blythe and Santa Fe Springs was the western section of the first of the El Paso Natural Gas Company's pipelines supplying California from natural gas fields in Texas.[179] Steel plates were provided by the Geneva Steel mill.[180] The pipeline became operational on 13 November 1947.[181] The source material for the process was 30 feet long, 92 inch wide plates, the welded pipe segments were hydraulically expanded (i.e. cold formed) in a closed die, yielding very straight pipe of improved strength. The capacity of the plant in 1947 was 9 miles of pipe per week. Shipped pipes were 60 feet in length, 2 sections welded together at the factory.[182]

In early 1947 Consolidated was contracted to provide 980 miles of pipe for the Bechtel-built Trans-Arabian Pipeline (oil), the National Tube Company of Pittsburgh (a U.S. Steel subsidiary) was to supply another 70 miles.[183] A second production line was installed at the Maywood plant[184] for the construction of 31-inch pipe, which made up 50% of the order and this allowed the volume of shipping and shipping costs be cut in half with one pipe segment stored inside one larger pipe segment. The Trans-Arabian Pipe Line Co. underwrote the cost to increase production capacity to 3 miles per day.[185] The January 1949 issue of U.S. Steel News stated a capacity of 3.5 miles of pipe per day at the Maywood plant.[186] The SS William Tllghman with the first load of pipes[187] (a little more than 5 miles[188]) departed Long Beach for

During delays caused by failure of Tapline to obtain export licenses, 30 and 31-inch pipe was diverted to the Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. to loop the 661 miles between Victoria, Texas and Cornwell, West Virginia laid in 1947 and 1948 with 204 miles of 30/31-inch loop line.[190]

In January 1949 CWS began fabrication of 1840 miles of pipe for the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company's Texas-New York pipeline (natural gas).[191] (FPC Docket No. G-704, certificate issued 29 May 1948[192]) The plates for this pipeline came from Kaiser Fontana. The Basalt Rock Company at Napa (Bay area) also turned Kaiser plates into pipe for that project. The Fontana mill was making plates at an approximate rate of 20,000 tons per month for Consolidated in late 1949.[193]

June 1949, contracts are awarded for Pacific Gas and Electric's 34-inch "Super-Inch" Pipe Line (natural gas) from Topock to Milpitas.[194] Ditching started June 29, 1949 for the 80-mile section between Llanda (near Hollister) and Milpitas, which was to be used as an underground storage reservoir until completion of the whole line, to be ready for the 1949/1950 winter season.[195][196] The pipe segments were produced in South San Francisco and joined in pairs or if conditions permitted in groups of three at a depot near Santa Clara. The depot was then moved to Barstow in late 1949 or early 1950 when the northern leg was about completed. Stockpiling began for the ensuing completion of the pipe, which started from the Arizona border at Topock, heading west.[197]

September 1950, construction to begin on 30-inch pipe for the Kirkuk–Baniyas oil pipeline,[198] which was to loop the existing 12-inch and 16-inch lines of the Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline. Diameters of 30 and 32 inches. Plates fabricated by Geneva Steel. First first shipment sails on 30 September 1950, Construction by Bechtel commenced in November 1950, shortly after the completion of the Trans-Arabia. Last shipment leaves the Port of Los Angeles February 1952 aboard the SS Day Beam.[199] The line went into operation in April 1952.

August 1952, fabrication of parts of a 953-mile 24-inch crude oil pipeline from Wink, Texas to Norwalk, California to begin in a few months.[200]

Consolidated was contracted for 20 miles of 30-inch pipe for an expansion of the California portion of the Texas Pipeline (natural gas) in November 1952, the project expected to be finished in March 1953.[201]

The Provo pipe mill produced 241 miles of 30-inch pipe to be laid in the first half of 1957 between Needles and Newhall, Pacific Lightning Corp subsidiaries (conjecture: SoCalGas), total project cost $24,000,000.[202]