Northwest Steel

45.50451°N 122.66976°W / 45.50451; -122.66976

West Shore, one of the "West" boats built at Northwest Steel

Northwest Steel was a structural steel fabricator and shipbuilding company in Portland, Oregon. During World War I the yard built cargo ships for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Some 37 of the 46 ships ship built at Northwest Steel were the West boats, a series of 5,500-gross register ton (GRT) steel-hulled cargo ships built for the USSB on the West Coast of the United States as part of the World War I war effort.^[1]

The Northwest Steel Company was incorporated in August 1903.^[2]

In July 1913, NW Steel began construction of a new plant, to be complete February 1914, after its present site was purchased by the public dock commission.^[3] Location of the new plant is a newly built 300x350 feet dock.^[4] Planned are a 60x800-foot main shop, 50x100-foot blacksmith shop, 50x100-foot machine shop and a 50x100-foot template shop.^[5]

Work on shipyard facilities began with dredging on April 1, 1916. everything built was as extensions of the existing company plant. The mold loft was begun the first week of May, the ways were constructed starting in late May. The first keel was hurried and laid down on July 9, 1916 with some improvisation in the still not fully finished yard. Eventually there was also a large rivet and bolt shop erected to handle the demand, including for boat spikes of the numerous wooden hull constructors in the vicinity, production for the boat spikes alone amounting to 14 tons a day in 1918.^[6] See also: 1921 Industrial Map of Portland. The shipyard was sandwiched between the river to the east, the yard of the Columbia River Shipbuilding Company to the south, railroad tracks to the west and the Portland Lumber Company mill to the north. Northwest Steel was the largest of the 4 steel shipyards in the Portland / Vancouver region.

In May 1918, contracts were awarded for a $17,500 mold loft to be built at the company's site at the foot of Sheridan Street.^[7] In July 1918, NW Steel planned to build 4 additional slipways at its plant site.^[8]

In February 1919 it was announced that Northwest Steel had retired from the structural steel field. The Northwest Bridge & Iron Co., headed by W.H. Cullers, was taking over this end of the business and was looking for a new plant site.^[9] In January 1920, Bridge & Iron took over the rest of Northwest Steel's business.^[10]

It was headed by Joseph R. Bowles, who was indicted for bribing a government official in about 1918 and then convicted of contempt of court.^[11] He was later described as a "greedy, domineering and difficult person, with no sense of civic responsibility."^[11]

The first ship built at Northwest Steel was the cargo ship War Baron, originally launched on March 31, 1917, as the Cunard Line ship Vesterlide,^[1] a British-flagged ship sunk by German submarine U-55 in January 1918.^[12] The final ship built was the 8,200 GRT tanker Swiftwind, completed in June 1921.^[1]

31 Men Tackle City Wood Yards

Thirty-one men reported this morning for work in the municipal woodyard, located in the sheds of the old Northwestern Steel Company, foot of Sheridan Street. The yard was opened upon recommendation of the mayor's committee on unemployment to allow men who need board and lodging an opportunity to earn it without loss of self respect by begging.

Oregon Daily Journal, December 20, 1921

Ships

Names in parentheses are original names, changed before the ship was launched, or in the case of War Baron changed shortly after launch. All requisitioned ships were cargo ships of 8,800dwt.

Yard#	Owner	Name	Engine[lower-alpha 1]	Launched[lower-alpha 2]
1	Shipping Controller	Vesterlide (War Baron)		31 Mar 17
2	Shipping Controller[lower-alpha 3]	(Vesterlen) War Viceroy		2 Aug 17
Requisitioned by the USSB
Yard#	Orig. Owner	Name	Engine	Launched
3		(Hallgrim) West Wind	GE 508nhp	4 Nov 17
4	Shipping Controller	(War Archer) West Shore	GE 508nhp	13 Jan 18
5		(Landaas) Westland	GE 508nhp	14 Sep 17
6	Shipping Controller	(War Ally) Westchester	GE 508nhp	5 Dec 17
7		(War Pearl) Westhampton	GE	8 Feb 18
8		(Umpqua) Western Wave	DeLaval 579nhp	6 Mar 18
9	French Line	(Joffre) Western Ocean	GE	19 Mar 18
10		(Marne) Western Chief	GE 508nhp	20 Apr 18
11		(Verdun) Western Spirit	GE	6 May 18
12		(Pershing) Western Light	GE	27 May 18
13		(Aisne) Western Maid	DeLaval 594nhp	6 Jul 18
14		(Argonne) Western Comet	DeLaval	23 Jul 18
15		(Somme) Western Scout	DeLaval	12 Aug 18
16		(Meuse) West View	DeLaval	26 Aug 18
USSB contract
Yard#	USSB#	Name	Engine	Launched
17	1073[lower-alpha 4]	West Kyska	GE	7 Oct 18
18	1074	West Zeda		26 Oct 18
19	1075	West Wauna		9 Nov 18
20	1076	West Compo		27 Nov 18
21	1077	West Modus		21 Dec 18
22	1078	West Tacook		14 Jan 19
23	1079	West Togus		28 Jan 19
24	1080	West Nohno		12 Feb 19
25	1414[lower-alpha 5]	West Cherow		28 Feb 19
26	1415	West Celeron		17 Mar 19
27	1416	West Celina		28 Mar 19
28	1417	West Chaska / Deer Lodge		11 Apr 19
29	1418	West Chatala / Tripp		23 Apr 19
30	1419	West Chatala		3 May 19
31	1420	West Segovia		21 May 19
32	1421	West Cheswald		20 Jun 19
33	2368[lower-alpha 6]	West Raritan	Vulcan	6 Aug 19
34	2369	West Pocasset	Midwest	18 Aug 19
35	2370	West Saginaw		6 Sep 19
36	2371	West Jaffrey	Fletcher	30 Sep 19
37	2372	West Joplin / J.R. Gordon	HOR2
38	2373	West Minsi / Centaurus		17 Nov 19
39	2374	West Matas / Clauseus
n/a	2375	West Croswicks	cancelled
	2376	West Paramas
	2377	West Bomoken
by Northwest Bridge & Iron
40	2865[lower-alpha 7]	Swiftsure	HOR	15 Dec 20
41	2866	Swiftarrow		18 Jan 21
42	2867	Swiftstar		5 Feb 21
43	2868	Swiftscout		12 Mar 21
44	2869	Swifteagle		9 Apr 21
45	2870	Swiftlight
46	2871	Swiftwind

1. Midwest - Midwest Engineering Co., Indianapolis, 605nhp compound turbine

   • Vulcan - 605nhp compound turbine
   • GE - General Electric Co., Schenectady, NY, 576nhp-583nhp turbine
   • DeLaval - DeLaval Steam Turbine Co., Trenton, NJ, 676nhp turbine
   • HOR - Hooven-Owens-Rentschler, Hamilton, OH, triple expansion diameters 27.5-46-78, stroke 51
   • HOR2 - 3exp 24.5-41.5-72/48
2. See List of ship launches in 1917 etc. for references
3. Requisitioned and soon after released to original owner.^[13]
4. Hulls 1073-1080: Design 1013 ship, USSB contract No. 157
5. Hulls 1414-1421: Design 1013 ship, USSB contract No. 217
6. Hulls 2368-2377: Design 1013 ship, USSB contract No. 458, 2372,2373,2374 finished privately after cancellation
7. 12,000dwt tanker

Buildings

The Northwest Steel Co. was contracted to furnish structural steel for at least these buildings:

Contract	Building	Tonnage	Ref
Nov 1910	Corbett Building	1,000	[14]
May 1912	Sandy River Bridge	119	[15]
Oct 1912	a building in Portland for the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. (see)	1,203	[16]
Jan 1913	Eagle Creek Bridge, Portland	300	[17]
Aug 1913	public dock No. 1	299	[18]
May 1914	Meier & Frank Building, Portland	3,500	[19]
July 1914	highway bridges at Astoria	101	[20]
May 1915	Coliseum building, Seattle	404	[21]
June 1915	First National Bank Building, Portland	340	[22]
May 1916	two 400-foot wireless towers for the U.S. Government in Keyport	233	[23]

References

1. Colton 2010. sfn error: no target: CITEREFColton2010 (help)
2. "Articles of Incorporation Filed". Morning Oregonian. 24 August 1903. p. 10.
3. "New Business - Oregon". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 3. 17 July 1913. p. 142.
4. "New Business - Oregon". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 7. 14 August 1913. p. 310.
5. "New Business - Oregon". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 19. 6 November 1913. p. 865.
6. "A Modern Steel Shipyard". Pacific Marine Review. May 1918. p. 82.
7. "Up and Down the Pacific Coast". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 62, no. 19. 9 May 1918. p. 1218.
8. "Tool Builders Rear War Machine". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 63, no. 1. 4 July 1918. p. 53.
9. "Here and There in Industry". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 64, no. 8. 20 February 1919. p. 526.
10. "Business Changes Recently Announced by the Trade". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 66, no. 3. 15 January 1920. p. 260.
11. MacColl 1979, p. 29.
12. Helgason.
13. "P.M. Expects to Break Records on Wireless". San Francisco Call. 21 September 1917. p. 16.
14. "World's Iron Markets". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 47, no. 21. 24 November 1910. p. 941.
15. "Chicago". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 50, no. 19. 9 May 1912. p. 988.
16. "Chicago". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 51, no. 16. 17 October 1912. p. 707.
17. "Chicago". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 52, no. 4. 23 January 1913. p. 233.
18. "Structural Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 8. 21 August 1913. p. 324.
19. "Steel Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 54, no. 22. 28 May 1914. p. 943.
20. "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 55, no. 1. 2 July 1914. p. 10.
21. "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 56, no. 20. 20 May 1915. p. 1001.
22. "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 56, no. 25. 24 June 1915. p. 1295.
23. "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 58, no. 19. 11 May 1916. p. 1027.

Bibliography

• Colton, Tim (25 August 2021). "Northwest Steel, Portland OR". Shipbuildinghistory.com. shipbuildinghistory.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
• Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: War Baron". U-boat War in WWI. Uboat.net. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
• MacColl, E. Kimbark (November 1979). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915 to 1950. The Georgian Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-9603408-1-5. LCCN 79022316.
• Maritime Administration. "PORTMAR". Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 25 March 2014.