Bath Iron Works, Limited (Vignette of a an early destroyer) - Maine 1917

Beautifully engraved RARE uncancelled certificate #A23 from the Bath Iron Works, Limited issued in 1917. This historic document was printed by American Bank Note Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of a destroyer. This item has the signatures of the Company's President and Secretary and is over 89 years old.




Certificate Vignette

Bath Iron Works (BIW) is located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. Since it was founded in 1884 by Thomas W. Hyde, BIW has built private, commercial, and military vessels. Its biggest customer has been the U.S. Navy, for which BIW has built (and often designed) a battleship, frigates, cruisers, and destroyers, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer—the most advanced surface warship in the world. BIW was purchased in 1995 by General Dynamics. BIW has since at least the 1970s been the largest private employer in the state of Maine, though that title may recently have slipped to the Hannaford grocery chain.

In World War II, the toughness of warships launched by Maine workers gave rise to the saying: "Bath-built is best-built". In 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58), commissioned two years earlier at Bath, survived a mine explosion that tore a hole in its engine room and flooded two compartments.

Time Line

1826 Bath Iron Foundry is founded on the Kennebec River, Maine

1865 General Thomas Worcester Hyde, a civil war hero, purchases Bath Iron Foundry

1882 Goss Marine Iron Works is founded nearby

1884 General Hyde renames Bath Iron Foundry as Bath Iron Works and incorporates company

1888 New England Shipbuilding Company, with General Hyde as an investor, acquires Goss Marine Iron Works

1888 BIW acquires New England Shipbuilding Company

1890 Steamer "Cottage City" is the first BIW-built hull

1893 USS Machias, a gunboat, is the first BIW-built U.S. Navy ship

1894 "City Of Lowell" is the first BIW-built commercial steel vessel

1901 BIW is acquired by United States Shipbuilding Trust

1905 John S. Hyde, eldest son of General Hyde, purchases BIW

1906 USS Georgia, the first and only BIW-built battleship, is delivered

1917 BIW is sold to a syndicate of Maine investors upon the death of John Hyde

1925 BIW is sold at a public auction, operations are idled

1927 BIW is leased by William S. "Pete" Newell and a group of investors, company is incorporated again

1940 Second BIW facility, the Hardings plant, is built in East Brunswick, ME

1940-1945 82 destroyers are built during WWII, totaling more than the entire Japanese Empire

1955 First of a new class of Navy destroyers, USS Forest Sherman, is delivered

1967 Bath Industries, Inc. is established as a holding company for BIW, Pennsylvania Crusher and the Hyde Windlass Co.

1968 Bath Industries, Inc. acquires Congoleum-Nairn, a manufacturer of home furnishings

1975 Bath Industries, Inc. changes its name to Congoleum Corporation

1977 Lead ship of a new Navy class of guided missile frigates, USS Oliver Hazard Perry, is delivered

1983 Floating dry dock is opened in Portland, ME

1984 Tanker "Falcon Champion," is the last BIW-built commercial ship delivered

1986 BIW is acquired by Prudential Insurance

1987 Last Oliver Hazard Perry class ship, USS Kauffman, is delivered

1987 First BIW-built, guided missile "AEGIS" cruiser, USS Thomas Gates, is delivered

1991 The lead ship of a new Navy class of guided missile "AEGIS" destroyers, USS Arleigh Burke, is delivered

1993 Last BIW-built AEGIS cruiser, USS Lake Erie, is delivered

1995 Bath Iron Works becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics

1996 Awarded contract under an Avondale Shipyard-led alliance to build four of the Navy's new dock landing ships, the San Antonio-class (LPD 17)

1998 Groundbreaking for Land Level Transfer Facility.

2001 BIW hosts dedication ceremony for Land Level Transfer Facility (LLTF) and the Manufacturing Support Center (MSC)

2001 BIW Launches MASON (DDG 87). Last ship to slide down incline ways

2002 Realignment of DDG 51 and LPD 17 construction contracts.

2002 BIW Christens CHAFEE (DDG 90) First ship on Land Level Transfer Facility

2003 BIW subcontract for DD(X) Phase III program

History from Wikipedia and OldCompanyResearch.com.