Shipbuilding History

New Orleans LA

Avondale Shipyards was founded in 1938 as Avondale Marine Ways, in Westwego LA, on the west bank of the Mississippi river in New Orleans. The original owners were James Viavant, Harry Koch and Perry Ellis. Initially the yard built barges and a few tugs but when the war effort started, it expanded to build large tugs and small cargo ships for MARCOM. After the war, it expanded to its present site and also to a repair yard on the Harvey Canal. In May 1959, the original owners sold it to Ogden Corporation for $14 million and it became Avondale Shipyards Inc. as of July 1st, 1960. In 1985 Ogden sold it, together with a number of other Ogden interests, to an ESOP called Connell Partnership and the new group became Avondale Industries. In 1987 the shipyard was spun off from the rest of the group as Avondale Industries. The new company was then publicly traded until it was acquired by Litton Industries in 1999 and became Litton Ship Systems, Avondale Operations. Litton was itself acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2001 and Avondale was integrated with Ingalls and became formally known as Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Avondale Operations. In January 2008, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems was integrated with Newport News as part of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. In July 2010, Northrop Grumman announced its intention to close Avondale after it completed LPD 25, which was expected to be in late 2013. In 2011, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was spun off as Huntington Ingalls Industries, (HII), which confirmed the decision to close the yard after it completed LPD 25. In October 2013, LPD 25 was delivered and, shortly after, the yard was closed.

Over the years, Avondale also operated several small yards. Their original yard, Avondale Marine Ways, in Westwego, closed in 1963, was reopened in 1988 as the Avondale Boats Division and closed in 1998. This yard also encompassed an entity called Safticraft, which built steel launches for both commercial and recreational uses: it was sold in 1951. The original repair yard, Harvey Quick Repair, was sold to Bollinger in 1994. In 1987, Avondale took over Todd Shipyards' repair yard in Algiers LA, and operated it as Avondale Ship Repair: it closed in 2004. Another small yard, known as the Bayou Black Division, was opened in the late 1960s, in Morgan City LA: it closed in the mid-1970s. A Hovercraft Division was established in 1985, in Gulfport MS, to build air cushion landing craft, (LCACs) for the Navy: it closed in 1993. Finally, a Composites Manufacturing Division was established in 1990, also in Gulfport MS, to build mine hunters, (MHCs) for the Navy: it became Northrop Grumman's Composites Manufacturing Division and closed in 2014.

Avondale's hull numbers reached 2500, because most of its output was barges (including over 1000 LASH barges) and small vessels. Boats and barges built by Avondale Marine Ways, in Westwego, were given numbers in the same series as the main yard, but when it was revived in 1988 as Avondale's Boats Division, the boats built there were given a new series of numbers. Finally, a surprising number of the barges built by Avondale cannot be found in the register, resulting in a lot of gaps.