subsidiary industry shipbuilding founded 1884 founder thomas w. hyde headquarters bath maine usa number of locations bath maine parent general dynamics website www.gdbiw.com bath iron works from nas brunswick photo gallery bath iron works biw is a major american shipyard located on the kennebec river in bath maine . since its founding in 1884 as bath iron works limited biw has built private commercial and military vessels most of which have been ordered by the united states navy . the shipyard has built and sometimes designed battleships frigates cruisers and destroyers including the arleigh burke class which are currently among the world s most advanced surface warships . since 1995 bath iron works has been a subsidiary of general dynamics the fifth largest defense contractor in the world as of 2008 . during world war ii ships built at biw were considered by sailors and navy officials to be of superior toughness giving rise to the phrase bath built is best built . 1 contents 1 history 2 notable ships built 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit bath iron works was incorporated in 1884 by general thomas w. hyde a native of bath who served in the american civil war . after the war hyde bought a local shop that helped make windlasses and other iron hardware for the wooden ships built in bath s many shipyards . he expanded the business by improving its practices entering new markets and acquiring other local businesses . by 1882 hyde windlass was eyeing the new and growing business of iron shipbuilding ; two years later it incorporated as bath iron works . on february 28 1890 biw won its first contract for complete vessels two iron gunboats for the u.s. navy . the machias one of these 190 foot 58 m gunboats was the first ship launched by the company . historian snow see further reading says the gunboat was commanded during world war i by chester nimitz an assertion that is not supported by nimitz s biographers . citation needed in 1892 the yard won its first commercial contract for a steel vessel the 2 500 ton steel passenger steamer city of lowell . in the 1890s the company built several yachts for wealthy sailors . in 1899 general hyde suffering from the bright s disease that would kill him later that year resigned from management of the shipyard leaving his sons edward and john in charge . that year the shipyard began construction of the georgia the only battleship to be built in bath . the ship dominated the yard for five years until its launching in 1904 and was at times the only ship under construction . the yard faced numerous challenges because of the weight of armor and weapons . in sea trials the georgia averaged 19.26 knots 35.67 km h for four hours making her the fastest ship in her class and the fastest battleship in the navy . the company continued to rely on navy contracts which provided 86 % of the value of new contracts between 1905 and 1917 . the yard also produced fishing trawlers freighters and yachts throughout the first half of the century . at peak production during world war ii 1943 1944 the shipyard launched a destroyer every 17 days . bath iron works ranked 50th among united states corporations in the value of world war ii military production contracts . 2 in 1981 falcon transport ordered two tankers the last commercial vessels built by biw . mv mighty servant 2 carrying mine damaged roberts on 31 july 1988 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 . over the next two years biw repaired the roberts 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 engine room 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 . 3 by surviving a hit that naval sea systems command engineers thought should have sunk her the roberts validated the penny pinching design of the oliver hazard perry class the u.s. navy s largest post wwii class until the burkes citation needed ; and validated the navy s against the odds decision to have picked biw to design it . in 2001 biw wrapped up a four year effort to build an enormous concrete platform the land level transfer facility for final assembly of its ships . instead of being built on a sloping way so that they could slide into the kennebec at launch hulls were henceforth moved by rail from the platform horizontally onto a moveable dry dock . this greatly reduced the work involved in building and launching the ships . 4 the 750 foot 28 000 ton dry dock was built by china s jiangdu yuchai shipbuilding company for 27 million . 5 the centennial shipbuilders workers monument in bath maine is by american artist guillermo esparza and is part of the smithsonian american art museum collection . in 2015 bath iron works signed a contract with us navy for new destroyers littoral combat ships and new landing craft . the shipyard will build the ralph peralta ddg 115 thomas hudner ddg 116 daniel inouye ddg 118 and the yet to be named ddg 120 . the ddg block buy for bath also includes ddgs 122 124 and 126 . on march 27 bath received a 610.4 million contract modification to build ddg 122 . this ship was funded in the 2015 defense appropriations act . 6 notable ships built edit uss chester cl 1 was the first united states cruiser of the numbering series used through the first half of the 20th century . the last of the four stack destroyers uss pruitt dd 347 being launched from bath iron works in 1920 . yachts ranger successful america s cup defender aras ii presidential yacht known as uss williamsburg corsair iv large yacht built for j. p. morgan jr. lightvessels diamond shoal lightship no. 71 lv 71 nantucket lightship 66 nantucket lightship 106 naval ram uss katahdin monitor uss nevada bm 8 7 denver class protected cruiser uss cleveland c 19 world war i virginia class battleship uss georgia bb 15 launched in 1904 chester class cruiser uss chester cl 1 world war i smith class destroyers uss flusser dd 20 world war i uss reid dd 21 world war i paulding class destroyers uss paulding dd 22 world war i rum patrol uss drayton dd 23 world war i uss trippe dd 33 world war i rum patrol uss jouett dd 41 world war i rum patrol uss jenkins dd 42 world war i cassin class destroyers uss cassin dd 43 world war i rum patrol uss cummings dd 44 world war i rum patrol o brien class destroyer uss mcdougal dd 54 world war i rum patrol tucker class destroyer uss wadsworth dd 60 world war i sampson class destroyers uss davis dd 65 world war i rum patrol uss allen dd 66 8 world war i attack on pearl harbor caldwell class destroyer uss manley dd 74 9 world war i guadalcanal campaign operation flintlock battle of saipan philippines campaign 1944 45 two of the seven bath iron works destroyers transferred to the royal navy in the destroyers for bases agreement . the outboard ship made the st. nazaire raid . wickes class destroyers uss wickes dd 75 10 world war i destroyers for bases agreement uss philip dd 76 10 world war i destroyers for bases agreement uss woolsey dd 77 10 world war i uss evans dd 78 10 destroyers for bases agreement uss buchanan dd 131 10 destroyers for bases agreement st. nazaire raid uss aaron ward dd 132 10 destroyers for bases agreement uss hale dd 133 10 destroyers for bases agreement uss crowninshield dd 134 10 destroyers for bases agreement clemson class destroyers uss preble dd 345 11 attack on pearl harbor guadalcanal campaign uss sicard dd 346 11 attack on pearl harbor battle of empress augusta bay uss pruitt dd 347 11 attack on pearl harbor uscgc icarus wpc 110 delivers prisoners from u 352 to charleston navy yard on 10 may 1942 . thetis class patrol boat uscgc aurora wpc 103 12 uscgc calypso wpc 104 12 uscgc daphne wpc 106 13 uscgc hermes wpc 109 13 uscgc icarus wpc 110 13 sank u 352 uscgc perseus wpc 114 13 uscgc thetis wpc 115 13 sank u 157 farragut class destroyers 1934 uss dewey dd 349 14 attack on pearl harbor battle of the coral sea 15 battle of midway guadalcanal campaign battle of the eastern solomons battle of the philippine sea 16 the j class yacht ranger 1936 mahan class destroyers uss drayton dd 366 17 battle of tassafaronga 18 philippines campaign 1944 45 uss lamson dd 367 17 battle of tassafaronga 18 philippines campaign 1944 45 sunk in test able of operation crossroads somers class destroyers uss sampson dd 394 17 uss davis dd 395 17 uss jouett dd 396 17 invasion of normandy sims class destroyers uss sims dd 409 19 battle of the coral sea 20 uss hughes dd 410 19 battle of midway 21 battle of the santa cruz islands 22 naval battle of guadalcanal 23 philippines campaign 1944 45 gleaves class destroyers uss gleaves dd 423 19 invasions of sicily italy and southern france uss niblack dd 424 19 invasions of sicily italy and southern france uss livermore dd 429 24 invasions of north africa and southern france uss eberle dd 430 24 invasions of north africa and southern france uss woolsey dd 437 24 invasions of north africa sicily and italy uss ludlow dd 438 24 invasions of north africa sicily italy and southern france uss emmons dd 457 25 invasions of north africa normandy southern france and okinawa uss macomb dd 458 25 invasions of north africa southern france and okinawa nicholas holds the united states navy record for battle stars with 16 from world war ii 5 from the korean war and 9 from the vietnam war fletcher class destroyers uss nicholas dd 449 26 guadalcanal campaign philippines campaign 1944 45 korean war vietnam war uss o bannon dd 450 26 naval battle of guadalcanal 27 guadalcanal campaign naval battle of vella lavella 28 philippines campaign 1944 45 korean war vietnam war uss chevalier dd 451 26 guadalcanal campaign naval battle of vella lavella 28 uss strong dd 467 26 guadalcanal campaign uss taylor dd 468 26 guadalcanal campaign philippines campaign 1944 45 korean war vietnam war uss de haven dd 469 26 guadalcanal campaign uss conway dd 507 29 guadalcanal campaign philippines campaign 1944 45 korean war uss cony dd 508 29 guadalcanal campaign philippines campaign 1944 45 battle of surigao strait korean war uss converse dd 509 29 guadalcanal campaign battle of empress augusta bay 30 battle of cape st. george 31 battle of the philippine sea 16 philippines campaign 1944 45 uss eaton dd 510 29 guadalcanal campaign philippines campaign 1944 45 uss foote dd 511 29 guadalcanal campaign battle of empress augusta bay 30 philippines campaign 1944 45 battle of okinawa uss spence dd 512 29 guadalcanal campaign battle of empress augusta bay 30 battle of cape st. george 31 battle of the philippine sea 16 philippines campaign 1944 45 uss terry dd 513 29 guadalcanal campaign battle of the philippine sea 16 battle of iwo jima uss thatcher dd 514 29 guadalcanal campaign battle of empress augusta bay 30 battle of the philippine sea 16 philippines campaign 1944 45 battle of okinawa uss