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Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This site is devoted to the people and ship's of Sun Oil's Marine Department, but an important part of this heritage is where these vessels began their lives along the Delaware River in Chester, Pennsylvania. Sun's marine history cannot be documented without this vital piece. Almost all of Sun's tankers were built here and many employees floated from one division to the other. |
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Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company was founded in 1916 by Sun Oil Company
and was exclusively a builder of merchant ships. At the start of World War II, it was one of the five major pre-war shipbuilders, in continuous operation, building mostly tankers and in full operation at the beginning of the emergency. Its 8 ways were increased to 20 in the second wave of shipbuilding expansion, with $28mm from the USMC, and to 28 ways in the fifth wave, making it the single largest shipyard in the country. At its peak it employed 40,000 people. Sun Company announced its withdrawal from shipbuilding in 1979 and sold Sun Ship to Pennsylvania Shipbuilding (Penn Ship) in 1982. |
| I will not add anymore information about the shipyard, because there is an excellent website that is devoted entirely to the history of Sun Ship created by Dave Kavanagh. Please visit his website, to get the rest of the story of this amazing division of Sun Oil: |
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| Other links for information on Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company: |
Copyright ©2006 by Minor W. Kates, Jr. - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
