Bethlehem Steel Shipyard Crane

Bethlehem Steel's Key Highway Shipyard in Baltimore became a major ship repair center after the Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the Baltimore Dry Dock Company on Key Highway in 1921 to complement its shipbuilding facility at Sparrows Point. During World War II, the yard repaired over 2,500 war-damaged ships and employed 11,000 workers. It was the first shipyard in the country to jumboize an oil tanker by cutting the vessel in half and adding a section in between to increase its capacity. The yards remained the largest ship repair facility in the United States until closing in 1982. On Pier 3, one of three identical whirley cranes used in wartime ship repair stood as a fixture; built by Clyde Iron Works in 1942, it weighed 110 tons, stood 60 feet high, had a boom lift of 90 feet, a lift capacity of 15 tons, and could rotate 360 degrees.

Baltimore, Maryland · United States