Albina Engine & Machine Works was founded in 1904 by William Cornfoot and others.[2][3] In 1920, the company formed a subsidiary, the Albina Marine Iron Works,[4] which also built ships and made ship repairs. Albina Marine was eventually merged into the parent company.[5]
The Albina Engine & Machine Works produced a number of freighters during World War I, but operated mainly as a repair yard during the 1920s and 1930s. The Albina yard expanded its workforce and production during Portland's World War II shipbuilding boom. It specialized in producing subchasers, vessels designed to combat German U-boats. Albina Engine & Machine Works also built Landing Craft Support boats and cargo ships.[2][6]
Business declined in the post-war years, and the company was sold to the Dillingham Corporation in 1969, along with its subsidiary Fabri-Valve.[7] It continued operating as Albina Engine & Machine Works for several years before changing its name to Dillingham Marine & Manufacturing Co. in 1975; its ship repair division was rebranded as Dillingham Ship Repair.[8] The assets of Dillingham Ship Repair were sold to Cascade General in 1987.[9]
Ships constructed
World War I
S.S. Point Bonita (American freighter, 1918) on a trial trip on 22 June 1918, near the yard of her builder, the Albina Engine & Machine Works, Portland, Oregon. This ship was in commission as USS Point Bonita (ID-3496) from October 1918 to April 1919
For World War I in 1918 and 1919, Albina built 17 cargo ships. These were their first ships, Hulls #1 to 17. These were requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Some of the cargo ships built for World War I:[10]
Point Loma/Margit Hull #1, renamed SS Dorothy Phillips
Meriden Hull #16 scuttled in 1946, renamed USS Majaba
Doylestown Hull #17 foundered in 1968
Light vessel
In 1929–1930, the Albina Marine Iron Works built three lightvessels for the U.S. Coast Guard. Each was: length of 133 feet 3 inches (40.6 m), 33 feet (10.1 m) beam and draft of 11 feet 9 inches (3.6 m) These were specially built as a self-propelled ship that would remain on station for nine months of a year. Outfitted with housekeeping and the light
.[11][12][13]
LV 100 Blunts Reef Completed on 10 February 1930, transferred to the US Navy in 1971, taken to Vietnam.[14]
LV 113 Swiftsure Banks Completed on 15 June 1930, donated in 1969 to Sea Scouts, back, then back to USCG, sold for scrap. Sank at shipyard in Willamette River, Portland Or., raised and used for floating restaurant from 1983 to 1987. Sold in 1988 and sank in while being towed to Alaska.[15]
Lightship No. 114Fire Island (WAL-536) Completed 1930. Lightship No. 114 was an active lightship from 1930 to 1971. Her last port was at Portland, Maine. In 1975 she was purchased by the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was not drydocked for normal maintain, her hull rusted. She sank at her station on May 31, 2006, and scrapped.
The U.S. Navy large infantry landing craft USS LCI(L)-551 in May 1945
LCI (L) Landing Craft were not given names. Albina built LCI(L) 1013 to LCI(L) 1033 in 1944. There were Landing Craft Infantry Large. LCI(L) had a displacement 216 tons light, 234 tons landing; and 389 tons loaded. LCI(L) had a length of 158' 5 1/2", beam of 23' 3", light draft of 3'1". To speed of 16 kts and 4 kts continuous. They had four to five Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, each gun was mounted inside of a round gun tub with a shield. LCI(L)-1022 became the USS Rail (AMCU-37).[18]
LCC (1)[19] Albina built 27, LCC 25470 to LCC 25496 in 1943 and 1944. Landing Craft, Control Mark 1: displacement full, 30 tons, length56 feet - 17.1 m, beam 4 m, draft 1.2 m, top speed 13.5 kts, 450 HP, 2 diesel engines, armament two 90 mm gun. Landing Craft, Control were used by Scouts and Raiders leading the Invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. They had new radar system and help guide the landing craft on each landing.[20]
LCC(2) Albina built 15, LCC(2) 39044 to LCC(2) 39058, in 1944. Landing Craft, Control, Mark 2, 56 feet long, 30 tons LDT.
LCS(L) Albina built The Landing Craft Support (Large), or "LCS(L) Mark 3. Built from LCS(L) 61 to LCS(L) 78 and LCS(L) 48 to LCS(L) 60. Built on a standard LCI hull and was add more gunfire support and crew accommodation. They had a single 3"/50 caliber gun and/or two twin 40 mm cannon and numerous 20 mm cannon. Many were used in Pacific Theater invasions in late 1944 and into 1945.
Concrete Barge
These were a type of concrete ship a class of Type B ships. Steel shortages led the US military to order the construction of small fleets of ocean-going concrete barge and ships. Displacement: 245 long tons (249 t), full load: 1360 tons. Length:165 ft 4 in (50.39 m), beam: 42 ft (13 m), draft: 8 ft (2.4 m), crew of 3 men. YOGN were a class Non-self-propelled Gasoline Barge:
YOGN-114
YOGN-115 used to support cooling efforts at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power[21][22]
Built by Manitowoc SB in Manitowoc WI, 174 feet long, 440 tons
YOGN-196 renamed Ex-YO 196, sunk as target 2000
YO 174
YO 175
YO 176
YO 177
YOG 61
YOG 62
YOG 63
YOG 64
YOG 65
C1-MT-BU1
The C1-MT-BU1 was a subtype of a CargoType C1 ship, modified from the C1 design for use as lumber transports, 5,032 DWT, launched in late 1945 and early 1946.[24]
^"Honolulu Firm Acquires Two Portland Companies". The Oregonian. February 12, 1969. p. 7.
^"Albina Engine Changes Name". The Oregonian. June 20, 1975. p. D7.
^Judy Rooks (July 25, 1987). "Vancouver Company Buys Dillingham Assets". The Oregonian. p. A14.
^Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (1918). "Portland Ship Deliveries". Pacific Marine Review. 15 (September). San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 117. Retrieved June 27, 2015.