World War II

Our shipyard played a pivotal role in War World II, where we completed 82 warships for the US Navy—building more destroyers than any other shipbuilder during that time period. At the peak of production in 1943-45, destroyers were launched and delivered at the rate of one every two weeks. Click the arrows in the slideshow below to view some of our ships that fought during the war.

  • BATH IRON WORKS SHIPYARD DURING WWII

    After War World I, the U.S. Navy found itself with a huge surplus of newly-built destroyers, many of which spent their time in the 1920s and 1930s 'mothballed' in the Reserve Fleet.

  • USS LAMSON (DD 367) - LAUNCHED JUNE 17, 1936

    USS Lamson survived the Solomons, the Philippines, a kamikaze hit in Okinawa, and was a target at the Bikini Atoll A-bomb tests in 1946.

  • USS HUGHES (DD 410) - LAUNCHED JUNE 17, 1939

    BIW built a pair of Sims class destroyers: the lead ship Sims (DD 409) and Hughes. These reverted to the lighter armament of earlier destroyers, with 4 x 5-in. guns, but a speed of 35 kts. and displacement of 2,200 tons.

  • USS EMMONS (DD 457/DMS 22) - LAUNCHED AUGUST 23, 1941

    Emmons survived five hits by kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa in April 1945, but was scuttled to prevent her running ashore.

  • USS NICHOLAS (DD 449) - LAUNCHED FEBRUARY 19, 1942

    The "Nick" is the most decorated US destroyer in history. The ship earned 16 battle stars from WWII, 5 from the Korean War and 9 from the Vietnam War.

  • USS O'BANNON (DD 450) - LAUNCHED FEBRUARY 19, 1942

    With 17 battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation, O'Bannon is the most decorated destroyer of War World II.

  • USS TAYLOR (DD 468) - LAUNCHED JUNE 7, 1942

    Taylor earned 15 battle stars during its career. It was reclassified as an escort (DDE) during Korean War service (1951-53) and made two Vietnam tours in 1966-69. Transferred to the Italian Navy, Taylor served as NMM Lanciere (D 560) until 1971.

  • USS DE HAVEN (DD 469) - LAUNCHED JUNE 28, 1942

    De Haven served in the Pacific in 1944-45 and was at Inchon during Korean service in 1950-53. From 1973-1993 De Haven was the Korean Navy's DD 98 (later DD 918) under the name Incheon.

  • USS LAFFEY (DD 724) - LAUNCHED NOVEMBER 21, 1943

    USS Laffey became known as "the ship that would not die" after surviving a massed attack by bombers and kamikazes in April 1945. Laffey shot down eleven enemy planes, took five hits, and sailed on. Today the ship's a National Historic Landmark, with a permanent home at Patriots Point, near Charleston, SC.

  • USS MADDOX (DD 731) - LAUNCHED MARCH 19, 1944

    Involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The ship served in the Taiwanese Navy as ROCS Po Yang from 1973-1985.

  • USS MANNERT L. ABELE (DD 733) - LAUNCHED APRIL 23, 1944

    One of the first ships sunk by an Oka-manned flying bomb in April 1945.

  • USS BUCHANAN (DD 131)/HMS CAMPBELTOWN (I42) - LAUNCHED JANUARY 2, 1919

    Disguised as a German destroyer and loaded with explosives, Campbeltown rammed the drydock gates at St. Nazaire, France in 1942 to deny the port to German warships. The explosion—a day after this photo—destroyed ship and dock.