William Cramp was born in the Kensington district of Philadelphia in 1807. In 1855, his sons Charles Henry (born 1828)[1] and William C., became partners with their father. In 1872, his other sons Samuel H., Jacob C., and Theodore were taken into the firm. The company was incorporated under the name "The William Cramp and Sons' Iron Shipbuilding and Engineering Company."[2]
In 1940, the Navy spent $22 million to reopen the yard as Cramp Shipbuilding to build cruisers and submarines. Cramp used the long slipways to construct two submarines at a time, with the intention of launching them simultaneously. However, the shipyard's submarine construction program was not especially successful, as poor management hindered the delivery of the boats.[7] The first delivery was made two years after keel laying, and fitting out was then done by Portsmouth Navy Yard. The best construction time for a submarine was 644 days.[8]
Cramp closed in 1947 and the site, on the Delaware River in Philadelphia's Port Richmond neighborhood, was turned into a residential estate in early 2020s.
Aerial view of Cramp shipyard1899 advertisement for William Cramp & Sons
SSValencia, a small ocean liner built for the Red D Line in 1882.[9] She was wrecked on the coastline of Vancouver Island, on January 22, 1906, killing around 116 people.[10]Valencia's loss is considered one of the worst shipwrecks in the region known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.[11][12]
SSSt. Louis(1894) and SSSt. Paul(1895)—the first major ocean liners built in the United States after the collapse of the Collins Line in the 1850s. On 15 November 1899, St. Paul, en route from New York to England with Guglielmo Marconi on board supervising the ship's new wireless telegraph equipment, became the first liner to report her imminent arrival by radio.
USSIowa(BB-4), Battleship No. 4 of the US Navy, launched 28 March 1896
SSMalolo, an American ocean liner and cruise ship built in 1927 for the Matson Line in its Pacific/Hawaiian services and the largest passenger ship built in the United States up to that time at 17,226 registered tones (only the German-built SS Leviathan of the United States Lines was larger in the 1920s). The Matson ship was scrapped in 1977 in Greece after being sold in the meantime.
SS Evangeline, a coastal passenger liner built in 1927 for the Eastern Steamship Company.[13] While operating as the cruise ship Yarmouth Castle in 1965, she caught fire, killing 87 people.[14]
On 6 September 1941, the keel for the Cleveland-class light cruiser designated CL-90 was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company.
On 8 December 1942, the keel to the Cleveland-classlight cruiser designated CL-91, was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company. On 22 April 1943, Oklahomans were outraged, having just learned that the Japanese had executed the captured American pilots from Jimmy Doolittle's bombing raid over Tokyo. That same day, booths were set up in Oklahoma City with a goal to sell $40 million in War Bonds to fund the construction of a cruiser. That goal was topped by $5 million when the booths closed that night. CL-91 then became the USSOklahoma City.
"William Cramp, the Ship-Builder". Bedford County Press and Everett Press. Everett, Pennsylvania. 15 Jul 1870. p.1. Archived from the original on 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
Paterson, T. W. (1967). British Columbia Shipwrecks. Langley, BC: Stagecoach Publishing. pp.72–76. Archived from the original on 2006-09-05. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
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