For forty years, The Dravo Corporation filled Wilmington’s waterfront with industrial activity. Its greatest contributions came during World War II as the nation faced its greatest challenge. Without the efforts of more than 10,000 men and women who worked in Dravo’s Wilmington, Delaware Shipyard, America’s invasion of Europe could have been stopped in its tracks. The Landing Ships, Tank (LST), Destroyer Escorts (DE), and Landing Ships, Medium (LSM) carried American Soldiers and their equipment across vast reaches of ocean and protected them from harm. During the course of the war many sailors and soldiers wrote to the company thanking the workers for their efforts. The government awarded the yard numerous distinctions for efficiency and safety. (Urban, Reflections of Dravo, 2001:1).

In 1941 the U.S. Navy designated Dravo as the lead shipyard for production of LSTs, LSMs and DEs. Within 11 months, Dravo renewed and expanded the Wilmington shipyard, and commenced building and delivering a new concept in warships with the LSMs, and new methods of production overall that revolutionized shipbuilding for years to come. In total, the Dravo Wilmington shipyard’s contribution to the war effort was astonishing: 34 LSMs; 5 LSTs; 15 DEs; 6 Anti-submarine Patrol Craft (PCs); and 17 Gate Vessels (YNgs), designed to place anti-submarine nets to protect strategic harbors.

The Dravo Corporation, founded as a bulk construction materials company in Pittsburgh in 1891 by Francis Rouaud Dravo, formed a shipping division in 1915 and quickly was called on to meet the needs of the Emergency Fleet Corporation during World War I, supplying heavy equipment such as cranes and barges. In peacetime, Dravo hoped to continue selling barges to their established east coast customers but needed a more convenient way to deliver them. They expanded to Wilmington, Delaware, close to Delaware Bay, establishing a barge assembly plant at the foot of Madison and Beech streets on the west bank of Christina River. Because Dravo had experimented with innovative construction methods for economic efficiency early in the 20th century, they were poised to respond immediately to the urgent call of the U.S. Navy for World War II shipbuilding mobilization. By 1939, they had replaced riveted hull construction with welded assemblies for faster, lighter ships. They had also implemented assembly line procedures for barge production and converted to upside-down hull construction that allowed less experienced welders to work safely, or “downhand.” Dravo designed and built an innovative “whirler” crane, a traveling behemoth with a 360-degree turning radius that proved essential to the productivity demands of World War II. In addition to being agile, the cranes could work in tandem to flip hulls constructed in the Dravo upside-down method and move them to shipways for decking. Having established a relationship with the U.S, Navy in 1933, Dravo received contracts from them in 1940-1941 for defense craft and shipyard readiness equipment for Charleston, Norfolk and Philadelphia. With the assistance of other Wilmington manufacturers and inland shipyards, the Dravo Corporation overall eventually contributed two-thirds of the Navy’s fleet of over 1,000 LSTs, developed by British and American engineers for critical troop and tank delivery to enemy beaches. In their 150th anniversary book, “I Remember ’42,” Dravo called the LSTs “…the most unusual boat that had been built by man since Noah’s Ark.” LSTs had a multiplicity of uses that even the U.S. Navy failed to forecast. Exemplifying this is the history of the Wilmington-built LST flagship No. 21, Blackjack Maru. Figuring prominently in the Normandy invasion, the ship was outfitted with rails to deliver rolling stock to the beachhead, and in the same offensive acted as a muscular tug, pushing a Buffalo-type ferry in a separate trip. Blackjack Maru later was outfitted as a prison ship, taking captured Nazis from France.

Wilmington residents and regional workers responded to the call for American Homefront production in Wilmington with an abundance of patriotic enthusiasm. At the peak of World War II production, Dravo Wilmington was one of the largest employers in the state with more than 10,500 workers, a city within a city. Black and white workers and trainees came from diverse cultural backgrounds – native born as well as Polish, Irish, Italian and Chinese immigrants. Actors, athletes, homemakers, streetsweepers, architects and others applied for training, with a common mission that superseded race, gender and personal aspirations. That mission was to build the best ships as quickly as possible to help win the war and save lives. Women and people of African ancestry, traditionally under-represented in 20th century shipyards, were hired in record numbers, finding rewarding work in everything from administration and blueprint reading to electrical, welding, sheet-metal cutting and other tasks. One woman was elevated to crane operator, a coveted, high-skill job. Enthusiastic Wilmington Dravo workers, like those of other local yards, met all of their special war bond drive quotas, inspired by the meticulously planned rallies that included the likes of Hollywood starlets “Annabella” (aka, Mrs. Tyrone Power) and Shirley Patterson, and others, leading Delaware to exceed its quota by $9M over seven war bond drives. On October 2, 1943, Commander Alexander commended the dedicated Wilmington Dravo workers for their efforts and is credited with two of their enduring slogans, “Build ’em fast, built to last. Build ’em right, fit to fight.” In many instances, the Dravo workers made enormous sacrifices, working long hours under difficult conditions to meet demanding production timelines.

The work pace maintained by Dravo’s workers during construction of LSTs, destroyer escorts (DEs) and medium landing ships (LSMs) was nothing short of astonishing. The Wilmington workers maintained an impressive rate of delivery for DEs, averaging two per month through February 1944. They received a Navy contract in 1943 for design and construction of a new, lighter breed of landing ship designed for Pacific Island hopping and delivered the nation’s first LSM (LSM 201) in April 1944. The first ship took about 1.5 months; they progressed to 16 days, accelerated to one per week, and peaked at an unimaginable delivery rate averaging one ship every 3.2 days until their contracts were fulfilled in 1945. Clearly, Dravo workers took the challenge from Admiral S. S. Robinson, Chief of the Bureau of Ships for the United States Navy, seriously when he said on January 8, 1942, “If these vessels are produced in the time required, the war will be one year shorter than it will be if we fail.” They did not fail. The yard motto “T.N.T.,” Today Not Tomorrow,” was much more than a slogan.

With the close of wartime production, dramatic changes swept through the Wilmington yards. From its peak in 1942 of 10,500 workers, by 1946 only 126 workers remained. In their 1946 retrospective, “I Remember ’42,” Dravo Corporation extolled the virtues of their workforce and promised to do everything they could to find other positions for them, working closely with the U.S. Employment Service which had been given desks in the yard office building. Dravo continued to produce barges in Wilmington but was hampered by the decline in inland river trade. By the time that the Wilmington yard closed in 1965, only 80 employees remained. Some of its buildings were adapted to new manufacturing and retail uses, but the memory of personal accomplishment that workers and their families carried did not fade. They internalized the idea that their work and sacrifices had shortened the war, and thus saved the lives of their loved ones and others that they would never meet. The legacy of Dravo and its immense contributions to the war effort, the local economy, and the shaping of the early riverfront are still very much alive and honored in Wilmington, both physically and in the public memory.

Four Dravo whirler cranes, described above, remain on the Christina Riverfront as the most prominent physical reminders of the vast, bustling Wilmington yard of World War II. Developed in the late 1920s to perfect barge construction, the agility of the cranes enabled the Wilmington and Pittsburgh yards to achieve their seemingly impossible ship delivery schedule of World War II. The Wilmington cranes, dating to between 1928 and 1942, were powered by diesel electric motor trucks mounted near the ground. They moved about the yard on iron rails and were equipped with safety bells that rang when they were in motion. In addition to carrying out general lifting duties in the busy yard, Dravo whirler cranes worked in tandem to flip completed, upside-down hull sections and move them to the shipways for the next phase of assembly. Though the rails that the whirler cranes traveled on have been removed, the lines are represented in contrasting pavers on the present Riverwalk. Two cranes adorn the commemorative Dravo Plaza, and two others stand singly further east. While documentation of the number of cranes working the Dravo Wilmington shipyard during World War II has not been located to date, analysis of shipyard aerial photographs indicates at least 17 cranes at the height of production. The remaining collection of four cranes is likely the largest single collection of whirler cranes in the nation and has been evaluated as eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

Following the United States’ declaration of War against Japan and Germany in 1941, the Pusey and Jones Corporation, a shipbuilding and machinery factory established in 1848, had their shipbuilding operations placed under the U.S. Maritime Commission’s program. Virtually all work on papermaking machines, the company’s highly successful product during peace time, was curtailed as much of the equipment in shops and foundries was converted to war production of ships, as well as boilers and other machinery needed by neighboring yards. Large scale operations were quickly underway, and hundreds of employees were added to the payroll, eventually reaching 3,600. Bond rallies were held among the workers, and in 1941, Hollywood actress, Paulette Goddard visited the yard to present the “Minute Man Flag” to company president, A.G. Spiegelhalter, in recognition of reaching an impressive subscription rate of 96.4% among employees.

On February 12, 1941, the yard’s first C1-A cargo vessel, Marina, was also the first broadside launch on the Atlantic coast during World War II, necessitated here because at 413 feet, the ship was longer than the Christina River was wide. Pusey and Jones, one of only two yards producing these high-quality, versatile troop and cargo ships, received orders for 16 other C1-A cargo vessels from the Maritime Commission and delivered them. The yard also constructed barges, tugs and minesweepers, as well as sea-going, twin screw hopper dredges, the most modern and praised ships of their type assigned to the U.S. Engineer Department’s dredge fleet. They were essential in clearing channels, shoals and sandbars for the passage of deep draft ships.

Shipbuilding at the yard ceased after the war, and the company focused on paper-making machinery until the plant closed in 1960. Several buildings of the Pusey and Jones Corporation still stand. One was repurposed as the Opera Delaware headquarters, and others stand ready for reuse.

The Wilmington “Jackson and Sharp” plant of American Car & Foundry Company (ACF), well-known for railcar production, was called on to build wooden sub-chasers and several schooners for the U.S. Navy during World War I. During World War II, the very successful ACF small yacht factory was turned over to the production of wooden minesweepers (10), plywood chemical warfare barges (131) used to create smokescreens, as well as aluminum pontoons (226) and net tenders (4). The Jackson and Sharp Plant and Bethlehem Steel’s Harlan Plant (adjacent to Dravo) together supplied almost 1000 45-50-foot “tank lighters” or Landing Craft Medium, lightweight landing craft made to carry one or two light vehicles, small tanks, or supplies under 10,000 pounds, and could be carried on a larger transport for shallow water deployment. At other plants, ACF was a major supplier of World War II tanks. The Wilmington plant closed in 1945, and some of its repurposed structures are extant.

After mobilizing in 1915 to supply the European Allies with smokeless gunpowder and TNT, the Du Pont Company, founded and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, spent the inter-war years improving on wartime products and experimenting with new chemical processes and fabrics. As the conflicts in Europe escalated in 1939 and 1940, Du Pont was pressed again by the mobilizing European forces to supply large quantities of improved smokeless gunpowder. Beginning in June of 1940, Du Pont devoted over five years to providing materials needed for the security of the U.S., which quickly aligned itself with Britian’s cause. DuPont retooled existing plants, implementing more efficient production methods for the most critical supplies and by putting their fledgling proprietary products to new uses. Neoprene plants turned out synthetic rubber for military tires, airplanes, tanks and personal military gear such as shoe soles. Du Pont patented “Cordura” rayon fabric, used in vehicles and bomber tires to protect them from harsh terrain. General Motors, a DuPont company since 1919, converted over 100 plants to produce defense goods, including firearms, automobiles and airplane parts. They committed their auto factories and labor solely to the efficient production of military equipment from February 10, 1942, through September 9, 1945.

Du Pont’s Engineering Department built 54 plants for the U.S. government of various sizes at 32 locations and retooled others. Between December 1940 and August 1945, the company produced a greater volume of smokeless gunpowder and TNT in plants across the U.S. than had ever before been produced by one organization, anywhere. At peak capacity the volume of smokeless powder rose to a ton per minute. The first government smokeless powder plant, the world’s largest, was built by 28,000 Du Pont workers in Indiana. Total wartime production came to 4.5 billion pounds of explosives, three times the WWI output. The bulk was made in company-built, government-owned plants.

At peak World War II production, over 75,000 Du Pont workers were engaged in building and operations. The company achieved new safety records with accident rates that averaged 1.44 per million person hours worked, a rate that was six times safer than the pre-war chemical industry, and nine times safer than the U.S. Industry average (Du Pont, 1952:115). Safety and precision went hand in hand with productivity; productivity saved lives in the theatres of war, as all wartime emergency producers had come to embrace.

Even before WWI, many of the companies based in Wilmington, including those featured here, were producing goods that were necessary in both war and peacetime (waterproof textiles, rubber tubing, paper, railcars, sheet metal, ships, boilers, etc.) so their factories required less conversion and reconversion before and after the war. When war production work stopped, companies like Du Pont were well positioned to create jobs in management and research that continued into peacetime. Many factories converted their war profits and war-related research into consumer production, even as others wound down.

The institution now known as the Walnut Street YMCA (1000 Walnut Street) was built in 1940 and dedicated to the needs of the African American community of Wilmington. This was the first such separate “Y” facility in the state. In a few short years, the nimble Y model, “Caring for Mind, Body and Spirit,” enabled the Walnut Street Y to transform itself into a center for World War II services. The comprehensive program featured classes as diverse as first aid, home nursing, blueprint-reading and air raid protection. They opened a civilian defense office for the registration of volunteers; housed defense workers in the dormitory; and, with the USO Council, assisted in referring women for defense plant work. The institution remains as a YMCA-affiliated youth programming center, though much of the building was rebuilt in the 1990s. The original clock tower was incorporated into the new building, as were several salvaged, bas relief panels depicting African American artists, educators, and scientists. A Delaware Public Archives Marker commemorates the site.

The Holocaust Memorial stands in Freedom Plaza, a landscaped space in the Government Center of Wilmington. The sculpture by Elbert Weinberg (1979, copper and concrete) was donated to the City of Wilmington by the Jewish Federation of Delaware and dedicated on December 2, 1979 to the memory of Jews brutalized by the Nazis. Weinberg chose to incorporate the Brutalist architectural style, popular at the time, perhaps to both reflect the nature of the Holocaust and to incorporate all that the commissioners asked of him, such as the names of every concentration camp embossed in rough concrete. Along with representations of tortured bodies, the artist offers an aspect of hope to counter brokenness. The site hosts an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoa) by the Jewish congregations of Wilmington in the spring.

The World War II Memorial by Timothy Duffield (1991, bronze) is located in H.B. duPont Plaza on Delaware Avenue, in the corporate center of Wilmington. It depicts five figures of male and female soldiers who seem to emerge from a column of dark stone. The inscription reads: In Memory of Those and in Gratitude to Those Who Served 1941-1945—Freedom from Want; Freedom from Fear; Freedom of Speech; Freedom of Worship. The work is owned and maintained by the City of Wilmington.

Dravo Plaza, part of the Michael N. Purzycki Christina Riverwalk and Jack A. Markell Trail, commemorates the extraordinary efforts of the Dravo Shipbuilding Corporation and their diverse Wilmington workforce that mobilized to end World War II through a burst of American industry. Unveiled on D-Day anniversary in 1999, in the presence of Dravo veterans, family, retired Naval officers and other dignitaries, the Plaza pavers form the “Points of Remembrance” compass rose, inset with the names of some of the DEs and landing ships manufactured at the Christina River yard. Public response to the ceremony and related media was overwhelming: Approximately 140 Delawareans called and wrote to the Delaware Historical Society and Riverfront Development Corporation offices to share their stories.

On November 12, 2000, hundreds of people gathered at the Riverfront Arts Center to honor the work of former Wilmington Dravo employees, continuing the honors that began with the dedication of Dravo Plaza. The event occurred on the same weekend as the groundbreaking ceremony in Washington D.C. for the National World War II Memorial. A special raffle held at the Wilmington event raised several thousand dollars for the national memorial.

The Dravo Oral History Project was born from the response of former workers and their families to the Dravo Plaza dedication. Participants answered questionnaires about their lives and employment at Dravo and some were interviewed. The collection is housed at the Delaware Historical Society (DHS) library, on Market Street in Wilmington. It contains materials gathered during the 1999-2001 project, including taped interviews, written questionnaires, a variety of photographs and memorabilia submitted by interviewees, and a student essay collection. Some of the invaluable, first-hand accounts were gathered into a book and published by the DHS and the Riverfront Development Corporation, Reflections of Dravo, by Richard J. Urban in 2001. Descendants of the Dravo founders applauded the effort in the book’s prologue. The collection is available to researchers, and the taped interviews await transcription by new and seasoned historians for the enjoyment and education of new audiences.

The Delaware Historical Society (DHS), headquartered in downtown Wilmington, created a World War II Primary Resource Packet booklet (2020) for use by educators and the general public. This 36-page, richly illustrated resource covers the Delaware experience in five categories of Homefront and military life: The Start of WWII, WWII Curfews, Scarcity, Rationing, and Baseball. It relies heavily on DHS’s extensive Minker Family archive of letters, photographs and scrapbooks of World War II. The resource packet also provides reflection questions and additional primary sources. The booklet is free and downloadable: https://dehistory.org/learn/educator-resources/primary-sourcepackets/wwii-in-delaware/

In 1999 and 2000, over 20 local historians collaborated with the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC) on a public history program, "Heritage of a Great River," that would eventually place 21 interpretive panels in key locations along the left bank of the Christina River, thanks to funding by the Delaware Department of Transportation. The program topics include Indigenous Americans, Black Methodism, the Underground Railroad, riverfront industry and conservation. Three panels honoring the World War II efforts of the Dravo Corporation’s Wilmington shipyard are located near the commemorative Dravo Plaza. They commemorate Dravo workers, the significance of advances in efficient ship production, and the worldwide impact of the Navy landing craft and destroyer escorts produced in Wilmington. The interpretive panels are maintained by the RDC and are complemented by a free program brochure and map of the same name. The panels remain the primary public history resource of the Riverfront.