Bay City is better known for lumber, but for decades its riverfront also launched warships. The Defoe Shipbuilding Company, founded in 1905, built Navy and Coast Guard vessels on the Saginaw River through two world wars and the Cold War. Its story helps explain the destroyer now moored in town and the pride many residents still take in the shipyard.
From boats and motors to a Navy yard
Harry J. Defoe organized the Defoe Boat and Motor Works in 1905 on the Saginaw River. The company won its first Navy contract in 1917, for five spent torpedo chasers, followed in 1918 by eight steel mine planters. Between the wars it built patrol boats and harbor tugs for the Coast Guard and the 92-foot yacht Lenore. The company was renamed the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in 1941.
World War II
During World War II the yard built 154 ships, including four Auk-class minesweepers, 17 destroyer escorts and 11 high-speed transports, plus patrol and landing craft. At its peak it is reported to have turned out a 173-foot patrol craft per week. Some of its ships were lost in action, including the destroyer escort Rich, the Coast Guard cutter Escanaba and the patrol craft PC-1129. The company is also credited with an "upside-down and roll-over" hull-welding method.
Cold War ships and a famous research vessel
After the war Defoe built two Great Lakes freighters, destroyer escorts, four Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyers and three guided-missile destroyers for the Royal Australian Navy. It also built the research vessels Melville and Knorr. Knorr later found the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
The end of the yard
Defoe shut down when its Navy contracts ran out in the mid-1970s. The City of Bay City gives the closing date as December 31, 1975, while other sources give the end of 1976, so we describe it as the mid-1970s. Later the site was used by a scrap business.
Where to see the legacy today
- USS Edson and the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum. The museum ship was not built here, but it is a fitting tribute to the city's naval heritage.
- The Saginaw River Marine Historical Society museum, on Wilder Road, covers Great Lakes shipping history. See the Things to Do page.
- The riverfront. Walk the Riverwalk to see where industry once lined the water. Our riverfront guide has a route.
- History page. Read the full history of Bay City, including the lumber boom.
Sources
Facts are drawn from a public encyclopedia article on the Defoe Shipbuilding Company and the City of Bay City's history page. Sources differ on some details, and we note them where they do.