William Cramp and Sons

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William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia was founded in 1825 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder in the 19th century. The American Ship & Commerce Corporation bought the yard in 1919 but closed it in 1927 as many fewer ships were ordered by the U.S. Navy after passage of the Naval Limitations Treaty in 1923. In 1940, the Navy spent $22 million to reopen the yard to build cruisers and submarines. Cramps closed in 1947, and the site, on the Delaware River, became an industrial park. In the photo, the yard began just above Philadelphia Electric Company's bellowing smokestacks (at bottom), and extended to the curving Reading Railroad tracks (at top).

[edit] Notable projects

USS Indiana, Battleship No. 1 of the United States Navy, launched 28 February, 1893.
Russian cruiser Varyag (1899) contracted by Russian Imperial Admiralty, launched October 31, 1899. The cruiser was sunk by the crew in Russo-Japanese War, salvaged by Japanese and then reclaimed by Russians.
On 8 December, 1942, the keel to the Cleveland Class light cruiser, designated CL-91, was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia, PA. 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 the 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 now became the USS Oklahoma City.