Aerial photos of Bath, 1945. Click on any image to view it in more detail.

Beginning in 1934, Bath Iron Works completed 83 destroyers and destroyer-minelayers by the end of World War II—the largest destroyer output of any builder (see table at bottom). Among these were the first ships to commission of the Gleaves, Fletcher, Allen M. Sumner and Gearing classes—Gleaves, Nicholas, Barton and Frank Knox, respectively. Fastest from keel laying to commissioning was Knapp at 191 days, one of five launched in a wartime record 124 days (Noa, commissioned after the war, held Bath’s overall launch record at 110 days).
     The aerial photos at left show the shipyard and the town of Bath, Maine as they appeared late in the war, with approximately 14 Gearing-class destroyers visible. Launches were timed to occur during slack water at high tide, when there would be no current to carry a new ship the short distance upstream into the Kennebec River bridge.
     Purchased by General Dynamics in 1995, Bath Iron Works is today Maine’s largest private employer. Lead designer and builder of Arleigh Burke-class AEGIS guided missile destroyers, in 2001 it began launching ships from a Land Level Transfer Facility (LLTF) with floating drydock (top right) rather than from an inclined slipway.

Sixty-seven Bath-built Fletcher-, Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers commissioned in 38½-months. Excluding first-in-class ships, this reflected a new fleet addition every 17.3 days—standard deviation 2.5 days.

   Photos of the 19 May 2007 christening of Sterett, DDG 104, will appear on this site as soon as they are available.

Gray indicates ship commissioned after World War II.