Chapter XXXIII

Industrial Manager, USN, Eighth Naval District

 

The office of the Industrial Manager, Eighth Naval District, was established 1 May 1942 to superintend repair, overhaul, outfitting, and conversion of vessels in the Eighth Naval District. Established in compliance with a Secretary of the Navy directive of 25 March,1 it was under the technical direction of the Bureau of Ships and the Bureau of Ordnance, and the Commandant, Eighth Naval District, had coordination control over it. The office took over the functions and staff of the District Material Officer, who had been a member of the Commandant's staff.

The history of the District Material Office begins before the reactivation of the Eighth Naval District. In 1940 Destroyer Squadron 30 was operating in the Caribbean. The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts contracted with a private yard (Todd-Galveston) in the Galveston area to effect repairs and overhauls of the destroyers. The negotiation of individual ship contracts, and the supervision of work on the various ships were the responsibility of the commanding officers. This was not the best possible arrangement.

An inspection of the facilities at Galveston by the District Material Officer, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Naval Districts, on 30 May 1940 resulted in his recommending to the Commandant in Charleston that

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an assistant to the District Material Officer be appointed to supervise repair and reconversion work in the Galveston Area. The Commandant embodied his suggestion in a request to the Bureau on 10 June; as a result on 29 June 1940 the Office of Conversion and Repair, Galveston, Texas, was established. Another office, the Office of the Assistant District Material Officer, Mobile Area, was established in November 1940. When the Eighth Naval District was reactivated 15 December 1940, a District Material Officer, Eighth Naval District, was among the members of the Commandant's staff.

During the year 1940 all repair work for the Navy in this district was effected in private yards; i.e., Todd-Johnson Drydocks, Inc., New Orleans, Todd-Galveston Drydocks, Inc., Galveston, and Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company, Mobile. Contracts with these yards were signed in August.

The staff of the District Material Officer was small,2 during 1941, and the office did not expand rapidly until after Pearl Harbor. During the year only twenty-four vessels, all local defense vessels, were repaired in New Orleans. In Mobile nine conversions and seven overhauls of vessels ranging from DD's to YP's were completed. And in Galveston six local defense vessels were repaired.

After Pearl Harbor a heavy workload, that of arming merchant vessels devolved upon the District Material Officer. This work remained an important part of the total workload throughout the war. The following table shows the number of initial armings completed by the District

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Material Officer, and his successor, the Industrial Manager, during the war years:

  1942 1943 1944 1945
New Orleans 128 98 72 29
Galveston 60 120 126 26
Mobile 131 95 119 61

Little repair and reconversion work was done by the District Material Officer in the last four months of his existence.

When the District Material Office passed out of existence, the District Material Officer became Industrial Manager. The officers of his staff at the time numbered approximately fifty.3 There were about ninety enlisted personnel and civilians attached. At the end of the year the staff numbered approximately ninety officers, and was steadily expanding.

The expansion of the staff continued until the end of 1944,4 when it leveled off. The number of enlisted personnel and civilians grew, however, until July 1945, at which time there were 1,545 officers, enlisted men, and civilians under the Industrial Manager. The following table shows sketchily the growth of officer personnel:

May 1942 54
December 1942 90
December 1943 180
December 1944 258
July 1945 222

During 1942, 1943, and 1944 the number of yards performing work on Naval ships under cognizance of the Industrial Manager increased steadily

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as the following table shows:

SHIP REPAIR YARDS PERFORMING WORK
ON SHIPS UNDER COGNIZANCE OF
THE INDUSTRIAL MANAGER, USN, 8ND

YARD DATE
ESTABLISHED
(Date of Contract)
DATE
DISCONTINUED
New Orleans Area
Naval Repair Base 22 Mar. 1942  
Todd-Johnson Drydocks, Inc. 15 Aug. 1940  
Pendleton Shipyards, Inc. August, 1943  
Boland Machine & Mfg. Co. 10 Apr. 1942  
Gulf Engineering Co., Inc. 24 Nov. 1943  
Dixie Machine Welding & Metal Wks. 5 Apr. 1944  
Avondale Marine Ways, Inc. 27 Dec. 1943
(Sub-contract)
 
Kansas City Bridge Co., Plaquemine, La. 22 May 1944 January, 1945
U. S. Engineering Depot, Memphis, Tenn. March, 1943
(No contract)
27 Jan. 1944
 
Galveston Area
Todd-Galveston Drydocks, Inc. 16 Aug. 1940  
Gulf Marine Ways of Galveston, Inc. 12 Jun. 1944 27 Nov. 1944
Gray's Iron Works, Inc. 15 Nov. 1944 15 Jan. 1945
Texas Coast Shipyards, Inc. 16 Jan. 1945  
Port Houston Iron Works 31 May 1944  
Brown Shipbuilding Corp., Houston, Tex. 12 Jul. 1944  
Levingston Shipbuilding Co., Orange, Tex. 22 Jun. 1945  
Gulfport Boiler & Welding Wks., Port Arthur, Tex. 18 Jun. 1945  
Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex. 1 Jul. 1945  
 
Mobile Area
Alabama Drydock & Shipbuilding Co. 15 Aug. 1940  
Waterman Steamship Corp. 6 Jan. 1944  
Choctaw Boat Wks., Mobile, Ala. 1943 August, 1944
Jones Construction Co., Panama City, Fla. January, 1944
(no contract)
 
Smith Shipyards, Inc., Pensacola, Fla. 19 Jan. 1944  

 

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The number of vessels upon which the Industrial Manager worked increased until late in 1944 and early in 1945 when it reached its peak. A decrease in number of ships came during the last few months of the war. There were eighty different types of U. S. Navy ships and boats which were granted availabilities for repair, overhaul, or conversion under the cognizance of the Industrial Manager. This does not include numerous British, French, Mexican, and other foreign Navy ships.

A total of 2,941 different Naval vessels (including foreign vessels) were granted at least one availability. Some of the ships had several availabilities at different periods. These were designated as pre-shakedown, post-shakedown, and operating availabilities.5 A total of 5,479 availabilities were handled during the period from 1 May 1942 to 14 August 1945. (Exact figures on the number of availabilities handled by the Material Officer January - May 1942 are not available.) The following summary indicates the number of ship availabilities under cognizance of the Industrial Manager, USN, Eighth Naval District, at the various repair yards by years; however, it cannot indicate the actual workload, for on some ships the work required was much less than on others. For example, compare the number of ships granted availabilities during the year 1945 with the cost of the workload for that year as indicated in the table at the end of this chapter.

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YARD May-Dec.
1942
1943 1944 1 Jan. - 14 Aug.
1945
TOTAL
Todd-Johnson 84 316 357 63 820
Gulf   4 123 48 175
Pendleton   34 722 188 944
Florida Ave.   64     64
Avondale   2 23 7 32
Boland 23 151 215 125 514
Dixie     27 14 41
Naval Repair Base 119 379 421 110 1,029
Todd-Galveston 131 335 568 211 1,245
Gulf Marine Ways     21   21
Brown Shipbuilding     12 63 75
Port Houston   7     7
Texas Coast       154 154
Gray's       3 3
Levingston       3 3
Gulfport       2 2
Consolidated       14 14
Alabama Drydock 7 41 85 129 262
Waterman     10 1 11
Jones   31     31
Pensacola   1 5   6
Choctaw 5 9 12   26
TOTAL 369 1,367 2,608 1,135 5,479

The amount of money paid out to contractors during the term 1 January 1943 - August 1945 is indicated in the table appended at the end of this chapter. This table, of course, does not include the expenditure at the U. S. Naval Repair Base, New Orleans, which was a Navy run yard with all Naval personnel.

The character of the workload changed considerably during the war years. In 1942 most availabilities were granted for overhaul and repair work on operating craft and conversions of commercial vessels. In December 1942, however, the first LST arrived at the Repair Base, New Orleans, for outfitting. Early in 1943 the LST program was well under way and the primary job of the Industrial Manager became that of

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outfitting now vessels end making them ready for sea. There had been some PC's, SC's, and LCT's outfitted in 1942, but these too, did not begin to arrive in great volume until 1943. Also in March 1943 DE's and DD's began to make their appearance and require outfitting.

It must not be assumed that repair and overhaul of operating craft ceased when the outfitting program got underway in full force; such necessary work was carried out right through the war, and, indeed, in the spring and summer of 1945 began to compose more of the workload, for then landing craft and other ships from the European Theater were being repaired for service in the Pacific.

Two other functions besides ship repair and ordnance installation work were performed under the supervision of the Industrial Manager by the Radio Material Division and the Degaussing Division. One of the members of his staff, the Radio Material Officer (originally called the District Radio Material Officer, and finally called the Electronics Officer in June of 1945), supervised the installation of all radio, radar, and sonar equipment on ships, regulated the issuance of spares and replacement material, supervised repair work on ships throughout the District, and had charge of the upkeep of the shore-based radio stations. Although at the outset of the war his organization was undermanned, and although time was required to establish an efficient organization comprised of highly trained men, his division accomplished the following imposing achievement:

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13,080 installations of radio, radar, and sonar were made on 1,839 vessels during the war.

Electronic material valued in excess of $150,000,000 was issued.

Hundreds of radio technicians were trained in the electronic shops and labs (located in the U. S. Naval Repair Base, New Orleans).

All this was accomplished by an organization whose size was 52 officers, 108 enlisted men, 56 civilians, and 28 contract engineers in July 1945.

The Degaussing Division of the Industrial Manager's organization was responsible for accomplishing the neutralization of ships' (both naval and merchant) magnetism by degaussing, including coiling, flashing, wiping, and deperming, and for checking, estimating, or metering the magnetic fields of all ships entering and leaving the major ports of this district by calibration, survey, and ranging. Magnetic survey ranges, channel ranges, and proving grounds were established at New Orleans, Mobile, and Galveston for the checking. Flashing, wiping, and deperming stations were built in New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, and Burrwood for accomplishment of degaussing. A total of 3,862 ships were depermed, 1,597 ships were coiled, and many thousands were checked during the years 1941-1945.

The role played by the Industrial Manager, USN, Eighth Naval District, in the prosecution of the war was of great importance.6 It is fully treated in a history submitted to the Bureau of Ships.

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TABULATION OF MONEY PAID CONTRACTORS FOR WORK ON SHIPS UNDER COGNIZANCE OF
THE INDUSTRIAL MANAGER, USN, EIGHTH NAVAL DISTRICT

 
TIME AND MATERIAL CONTRACTS
  1943 1944 1945 TOTAL
NEW ORLEANS AREA
Todd-Johnson Dry Docks, Inc. $3,658,114.93 $15,419,990.87 $8,775,732.16 $27,853,837.96
Pendleton Shipyards Co., Inc.   5,535,393.59 5,332,093.65 10,867,487.24
Boland 823,192.38 3,006,819.87 1,330,983.92 5,161,001.17
Gulf Engineering   2,252,801.34 2,591,784.29 4,844,585.63
Kansas City Bridge Co.   1,171,671.05 172,040.71 1,343,711.76
Dixie Mach. Weld. & Metal Wks.   52,773.69 68,556.99 121,330.68
Avondale Marine Ways, Inc. 33,918.15 1,317,161.66 321,172.90 1,672.252.71
SUB-TOTAL $4,515,225.46 $28,756,612.07 $18,592,369.62 $51.864,207.15
 
GALVESTON AREA
Todd-Galveston Dry Docks, Inc. $2,840,466.06 $5,661,749.18 $4,776,900.26 $13,279,115.50
Brown Shipbuilding Co.   2,658,204.90 7,133,401.20 9,791,606.10
Gulfport Boiler & Weld. Wks.     140,912.93 140,912.93
Gulf Marine Ways   13,603.15   13,603.15
Levingston Shipbuilding Co.     1,042,925.64 1,042,925.64
Port Houston Iron Works   3,942,404.31 70,675.18 4,013,079.49
Texas Coast Shipyards     1,523.263.56 1,523.263.56
SUB-TOTAL $2,840.466.06 $12.275.961.54 $14.694.892.35 $29,811,319.95

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  1943 1944 1945 TOTAL
MOBILE AREA
Alabama Dry Docks $9,294,935.62 $7,791,051.08 $6,638,617.80 $23,904,604.50
Choctaw Shipbuilding Co. 150,527.16 340,042.16   490,569.32
Bender Weld. & Mach. Co., Inc.   1,126.46 6,014.82 7,141.28
Smith Shipyards, Inc.   223,811.80   223,811.80
Waterman Steamship Co.   2,828,712.37 713,230.35 3,541,942.72
SUB-TOTAL $9,445,462.78 $11,364,743.87 $7,357,862.97 $28,168,069.62
TOTAL $16,801,154.30 $52,397,317.48 $40,645,124.94 $109,843,596.72
 
NEGOTIATED CONTRACTS
Gulf Engineering   $20,429.29 $72,232.76 $92,662.05
Higgins Industries     36,927.17 36,927.17
Avondale Marine Ways   187,447.50 552,895.56 740,343.06
TOTAL   $207,876.79 $662,055.49 $819,932.28
 
GRAND TOTAL $16,801,154.30 $52,605,194.27 $41,307,180.43 $110,613,529.00

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FOOTNOTES

1. SecNav ltr., Ser. 087323, dtd. 25 Mar, 1942.
2. See Appendix L, Plate I.
3. See Appendix L, Plate II, for organization chart.
4. See Appendix I, Part 3.
5. For an indication of the type of work done by the Industrial Manager see Appendix A, History of the U. S. Naval Repair Base, the section on the Industrial Command.
6. For organizational charts of the Industrial Manager organization showing its growth, see Appendix L.

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