Bath Iron Works
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.
BIW repaired the
Roberts in 1988-89 in unique fashion. The guided missile frigate was towed to the company's
dry dock in
Portland, Maine, and put up on blocks, where its damaged engineroom was cut out of the ship. Meanwhile, workers in Bath built a 315-ton replacement. When it was ready, the module was floated south to Portland, placed on the dry dock, slid into place under the
Roberts, jacked up, and welded into place.
"A Bath boat is the Stradivarius of destroyers!"*
Bath Iron Works website*
USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) under repair at BIW's Portland dry dock* (Historic and contemporary photos of BIW.)
* (Describes the construction of
USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) at BIW.)
* (The definitive work on BIW from 1884-1987.)
* (First general history of BIW.)
