During World War II, Evansville's labor force grew from 17,000 to 76,000 as men and women supported the war effort through shipbuilding and manufacturing. The Evansville Shipyard, operated by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company, began construction in March 1942 and launched its first LST that October. The yard produced 167 LSTs and other watercraft for the U.S. Navy, operating seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day for 44 months before launching its last LST-type vessel on April 20, 1945; the last ship sailed from Evansville on Dec 12, 1945. After a major fire in January 1946, the federal government disposed of the shipyard's equipment, structures, land, and supplies, and by 1949 the last parcel had returned to civilian ownership. Other Evansville manufacturers also held war contracts, with Chrysler producing ammunition and reconditioning M-4 Sherman tanks and army transport trucks, and Republic Aviation opening a plant in 1942 that completed its first P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane five months later and ultimately produced over 5,500 P-47 fighters. A decommissioned tank landing ship, USS LST-325, permanently docked on the Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana, on October 1, 2005, had been launched in 1942 and served in North Africa, at the invasion of Sicily, and at D-Day on Omaha Beach.