Northwest Steel was a structural steel fabricator and shipbuilding company in Portland, Oregon. During World War I the yard built cargo ships for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Some 37 of the 46 ships built at Northwest Steel were the West boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built for the USSB on the West Coast of the United States as part of the World War I war effort.

History The Northwest Steel Company was incorporated in August 1903.

In July 1913, NW Steel began construction of a new plant, to be complete February 1914, after its present site was purchased by the public dock commission. Location of the new plant is a newly built 300x350 feet dock. Planned are a 60x800-foot main shop, 50x100-foot blacksmith shop, 50x100-foot machine shop and a 50x100-foot template shop.

Work on shipyard facilities began with dredging on April 1, 1916. everything built was as extensions of the existing company plant. The mold loft was begun the first week of May, the ways were constructed starting in late May. The first keel was hurried and laid down on July 9, 1916 with some improvisation in the still not fully finished yard. Eventually there was also a large rivet and bolt shop erected to handle the demand, including for boat spikes of the numerous wooden hull constructors in the vicinity, production for the boat spikes alone amounting to 14 tons a day in 1918. See also: 1921 Industrial Map of Portland. The shipyard was sandwiched between the river to the east, the yard of the Columbia River Shipbuilding Company to the south, railroad tracks to the west and the Portland Lumber Company mill to the north. Northwest Steel was the largest of the 4 steel shipyards in the Portland / Vancouver region.

In May 1918, contracts were awarded for a $17,500 mold loft to be built at the company's site at the foot of Sheridan Street. In July 1918, NW Steel planned to build 4 additional slipways at its plant site.

In February 1919 it was announced that Northwest Steel had retired from the structural steel field. The Northwest Bridge & Iron Co., headed by W.H. Cullers, was taking over this end of the business and was looking for a new plant site. In January 1920, Bridge & Iron took over the rest of Northwest Steel's business.

It was headed by Joseph R. Bowles, who was indicted for bribing a government official in about 1918 and then convicted of contempt of court. He was later described as a "greedy, domineering and difficult person, with no sense of civic responsibility."

The first ship built at Northwest Steel was the cargo ship , originally launched on March 31, 1917, as the Cunard Line ship Vesterlide, a British-flagged ship sunk by German submarine U-55 in January 1918. The final ship built was the tanker Swiftwind, completed in June 1921.

Ships

Names in parentheses are original names, changed before the ship was launched, or in the case of War Baron changed shortly after launch. All requisitioned ships were cargo ships of 8,800dwt.

Yard# Owner Name Engine Launched 1 Shipping Controller Vesterlide () 31 Mar 17 2 Shipping Controller (Vesterlen) 2 Aug 17 Requisitioned by the USSB Yard# Orig. Owner Name Engine Launched 3 (Hallgrim) GE 508nhp 4 Nov 17 4 Shipping Controller (War Archer) GE 508nhp 13 Jan 18 5 (Landaas) GE 508nhp 14 Sep 17 6 Shipping Controller (War Ally) GE 508nhp 5 Dec 17 7 (War Pearl) GE 8 Feb 18 8 (Umpqua) DeLaval 579nhp 6 Mar 18 9 French Line (Joffre) GE 19 Mar 18 10 (Marne) GE 508nhp 20 Apr 18 11 (Verdun) GE 6 May 18 12 (Pershing) GE 27 May 18 13 (Aisne) DeLaval 594nhp 6 Jul 18 14 (Argonne) DeLaval 23 Jul 18 15 (Somme) DeLaval 12 Aug 18 16 (Meuse) DeLaval 26 Aug 18 USSB contract Yard# USSB# Name Engine Launched 17 1073 GE 7 Oct 18 18 1074 26 Oct 18 19 1075 9 Nov 18 20 1076 27 Nov 18 21 1077 21 Dec 18 22 1078 14 Jan 19 23 1079 28 Jan 19 24 1080 12 Feb 19 25 1414 28 Feb 19 26 1415 17 Mar 19 27 1416 28 Mar 19 28 1417 / Deer Lodge 11 Apr 19 29 1418 / Tripp 23 Apr 19 30 1419 3 May 19 31 1420 21 May 19 32 1421 20 Jun 19 33 2368 Vulcan 6 Aug 19 34 2369 Midwest 18 Aug 19 35 2370 6 Sep 19 36 2371 Fletcher 30 Sep 19 37 2372 / J.R. Gordon HOR2 38 2373 / Centaurus 17 Nov 19 39 2374 / Clauseus n/a 2375 West Croswicks cancelled 2376 West Paramas 2377 West Bomoken by Northwest Bridge & Iron 40 2865 HOR 15 Dec 20 41 2866 18 Jan 21 42 2867 5 Feb 21 43 2868 12 Mar 21 44 2869 9 Apr 21 45 2870 46 2871

Buildings

The Northwest Steel Co. was contracted to furnish structural steel for at least these buildings:

Contract Building Tonnage Ref Nov 1910 Corbett Building 1,000 May 1912 Sandy River Bridge 119 Oct 1912 a building in Portland for the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. (see) 1,203 Jan 1913 Eagle Creek Bridge, Portland 300 Aug 1913 public dock No. 1 299 May 1914 Meier & Frank Building, Portland 3,500 July 1914 highway bridges at Astoria 101 May 1915 Coliseum building, Seattle 404 June 1915 First National Bank Building, Portland 340 May 1916 two 400-foot wireless towers for the U.S. Government in Keyport 233

References

Bibliography