Standard Shipbuilding

Shooters Island NY

Most recent update: August 24, 2021.

This yard started life as Townsend & Downey and was a major yacht builder, most notable for building "Meteor" for the Kaiser. In 1917, Downey sold it to a group of Cuban financiers and started a new yard - Downey Shipbuilding - in the Arlington section of Staten Island. The Cubans expanded the Shooters Island yard from 25 to 50 acres, effectively occupying the entire island, which is just off the Richmond Terrace section of Staten Island. At its peak, it had about 4,500 employees. How did they get to work? Was there a pontoon bridge from the mainland? After the war, the island became a ship's graveyard: it has since been cleaned up but the view from the air on Google here still shows a forest of wrecks off the west side of an island that is now totally covered with trees.

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USSB # O/N Name Customer Type Tons Delivered Notes
Built by Townsend & Downey
167974 Sabine 453 1901
130942 North Beach NY & College Pt. Ferry Co. ferry 833 1901 to US Army 1918 as Gen John F. Weston
93152 Muriel Charles Smithers yacht 72 1901
145887 Thistle Robert E. Tod yacht 235 1901
230326 Bache US C+GS research 325 1901 later Kingfisher 1927, abandoned 1940
136893 Elmina F. F. Brewster yacht 72 1901
117065 Sculpin II Frank L. Sheppard yacht 16 1901
93347 Meteor H. I. M. Emperor William II yacht 228 1902
145924 Tekla yacht 92 1902
117145 Shenandoah Charles Fahnestock yacht 207 1902
117111 Santos 216 1902
136976 Neola H. M. Pynchon yacht 39 1902
200400 Cornell Cornell Steamboat tugboat 435 1902 later Istrouma 1916, scrapped 1954
Resolute yacht 128 1903
200334 Atlantic yacht 303 1903 to USCG 1941 as WIX-271, sold 1948
201343 Azara yacht 96 1904
200789 S.O. Company No. 94 S.O. of New York tank barge 4,167 1904
200955 S.O. Company No. 95 S.O. of New York tank barge 4,167 1904
WAGL-18 Crocus USCG tender 210 26 Jul 2005 sold 1946
Built by Standard Shipbuilding
1 215822 Jupiter/Democracy USSB freighter 4,430 Nov 1917 to USN as SP-2215, Point Arena 1937, Irish Plane 1941, wrecked off Cork 1947
2 216220 Scandinavic/Muscatine USSB refrigerated freighter 4,444 May 1918 to USN as SP-2226, Floridian 1928, Elizabeth 1938, torpedoed and lost 1942
3 216290 War Unit/Passaic/Ice King USSB refrigerated freighter 4,451 June 1918 to USN as SP-3160, Georgian 1928, Hilton 1936, scrapped 1950
4 216607 War Speed/Montclair USSB refrigerated freighter 4,773 June 1918 to USN as SP-3497, scrapped 1936
5 216779 Englewood USSB freighter 5,138 Aug 1918 scrapped 1935
6 216778 Galesburg USSB freighter 5,138 Sep 1918 later Volkhovstroi 1930, scrapped 1960
7 216777 Morristown USSB freighter 5,138 Oct 1918 to USN as SP-3580, scrapped 1936
8 217170 War Pride/Hickman USSB freighter 5,120 Nov 1918 to USN as SP-3554, scrapped 1932
9 217318 Monmouth USSB freighter 5,125 Dec 1918 scrapped 1936
10 217421 Dallas USSB freighter 5,125 Jan 1919 later Deneprostroi 1930, scrapped 1965
11 217538 Belvidere USSB freighter 5,123 Mar 1919 scrapped 1935
12 217537 Aledo USSB freighter 5,123 Apr 1919 later Svirstroi 1929, bombed and lost 1941
13 217539 Shooters Island USSB freighter 5,123 May 1919 later Kenzan Maru 1938, torpedoed and lost 1943
14 AM-9 Finch US Navy minesweeper 1,950 10 Sep 2018 captured by Japan and scuttled 1942
15 AM-10 Heron US Navy minesweeper 1,950 30 Oct 2018 later AVP-2, sold 1946
16 1288 218165 Balsam USSB freighter 5,104 June 1919 scrapped 1933
17 1289 218371 East Side USSB freighter 4,400 July 1919 scrapped 1933
18 1290 218656 Glen Ridge USSB freighter 5,104 Sep 1919 later fish factory ship Aleut 1929, scrapped 1970
19 1291 218835 Bannack USSB freighter 5,104 Sep 1919 later Kopperston 1938, scrapped 1948
20 1292 218866 Rockaway Park USSB freighter 4,844 Dec 1919 scrapped 1932
21 1293 219202 Palisades USSB freighter 4,844 Dec 1919 scrapped 1933
22 1294 219518 Tenafly USSB freighter 5,092 Jan 1920 scrapped 1932
23 1295 219724 Kerhonkson USSB freighter 5,092 Mar 1920 later Ryuzan Maru 1938, torpedoed and lost 1943
24 1296 219953 Hinckley USSB freighter 4,755 Apr 1920 scrapped 1933
25 1297 219958 Chappaqua USSB freighter 4,755 June 1920 scrapped 1933
26 233749 Hibueras Cuyamel Fruit Co. freighter 1,445 Aug 1920 scrapped 1949
27 233738 Nicarao Cuyamel Fruit Co. freighter 1,445 Sep 1920 torpedoed and lost 1942
28 Mexico San Teodoro Eagle Oil Transport tanker 6,100 11 Feb 2021 scrapped 1935
29 Mexico San Tiburcio Eagle Oil Transport tanker 6,100 29 Jan 2021 mined and lost 1940
30 Mexico San Ubaldo Eagle Oil Transport tanker 6,100 5 Mar 2021 scrapped 1955
31 Mexico San Ugon Eagle Oil Transport tanker 6,100 16 Apr 2021 scrapped 1935
32 221833 John Purroy Mitchell City of New York fireboat 334 July 1921

Printed from shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net