General Dynamics Corporation Shipyard, 97 East Howard Street, Quincy, Norfolk County, MA

Significance: Throughout its more than eighty year history, the General Dynamics Corporation/Quincy-Fore River Shipyard was one of the leading private shipyards in the United States. Producing both military and merchant vessels, it built more ships than any other U.S. yard in World War I; was among the five largest producers in World War II; and produced some of the largest and most innovative ships launched in the U.S. for the merchant marine in the difficult post-war period. It set records for production speed in both wars, and built the first true aircraft carrier, the first nuclear powered surface ship, and some of the largest commercial vessels ever built. The shipyard pioneered the technique of pre-outfitting or modular construction of ships. From the original construction in 1901-1902 of the largest forge in the U.S. to the installation in 1974 of the giant 1200 ton Goliath gantry crane, still the largest crane in the western hemisphere, the shipyard's facilities were at or near the state of the art in ship building in the U.S. A number of the facilities from each period are still extant on the site, providing examples of important technological changes in shipbuilding.
Survey number: HAER MA-26
Building/structure dates: 1901-1902 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1916-1917 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1919 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1940-1945 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: c 1955- 1963 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1974 Subsequent Work