Description

Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts

Bethlehem Steel’s Fore River Shipyard was founded in 1884 by Thomas A. Watson, who previously worked with Alexander Graham Bell on telephone technology, as the Fore River Engine Company. The firm started building steel ships in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1896 and was purchased by Bethlehem Steel in 1913. It went on to become one of the largest commercial and military shipyards on the East Coast, producing destroyers, battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines, and merchant ships. Due to its proximity to MIT, the yard also provided practical field trips to MIT’s Naval Architecture students for decades. It was sold to General Dynamics in 1964, and closed for good in 1986.