Crescent Shipyard
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Crescent Shipyard, located in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA, built a number of ships for the United States Navy and "allied" nations as well during their production run, which lasted about ten years while under the Crescent name and banner. Production of these ships began before the Spanish-American war and occurred far before the "outbreak" of World War I. The man in charge of the shipbuilding operations during this time was a recent emigre from Great Britain Arthur Leopold Busch - who started the yard with Navy Lt. Lewis Nixon (Ret.) in January of 1895 - both men leaving Cramps Shipyard in Philadelphia to venture out on their own... independently - and with freedom to offer more to the United States Navy, as well as commercial vessels for large corporations. Both Nixon and Busch were regarded to be amongst the best in their respected fields - and what they did at this time - as designers and builders of the latest, most advanced types of ships.
Busch, as this shipyard's superintendent, supervised several classes of naval [surface] ships while at Crescent to include Gunboats, Monitors, and Cruisers - in addition to the United States Navy's first officially commissioned submarine, USS Holland (SS-1). This particular craft is considered to be technologically revolutionary in several respects and ultimately gave birth to a new "defensive edge" that those in America would later refer to as "The Silent Service". This submarine was considered a historic first, and revolutionary in a timeline of naval innovations in world history. Internationally, many "advanced" industrialized nations around the world took note... almost immediately - and some acquried the rights to build them soon after the purchase of the Holland VI on 11 April 1900.
Mr. Busch, as shipyard construction chief and naval architect for Lewis Nixon, went on to supervise the building of the proto-type "Fulton", which [followed the USS Holland and] was used as an example [and template] towards the development of America's A-class or Adder class submarines. Busch reviewed the engineering plans of the Fulton with John Holland, who approved the works of Busch while these pioneering underwater craft were being developed under their supervision at Crescent.[1]. These pioneering submarines were built for the "Holland Torpedo Boat Company" named after this company's founder... John Philip Holland. Work on these submarines began at this shipyard in the late fall of 1896 with the keel to the Holland VI being laid down by early December of that year under the watchful sight and hand of Crescent's general superintendent, Arthur L. Busch.
Holland's company's name had changed several years later there after - and was eventually recognized as the Electric Boat Company after this company was officially incorporated on 7 February 1899. [This is a company that Busch would later find himself working for... (again...) as he built more subs for them near the end of 1904, at Quincy's Fore-River Ship and Engine Company... although there were those [at EB] who would rather like to claim otherwise - during the founding of this organization. Japan's first five submarines were developed under Busch's direction while working at Fore-River in Quincy for Electric Boat and Admiral Francis T. Bowles, the shipyards President - who once believed that the cost of Electric Boat's submarines were far too inflated].
Lewis Nixon, founder of Crescent Shipyard and a lifelong confidant of Arthur Busch, was also the (lead) designer of America's first class of battleships at William Cramp and Sons Shipyard, in Philadelphia, PA - at the time [one of] the nation's [most advanced and] largest - and where both men held positions of authority. This is the company (that) both Nixon and Busch worked for before leaving out on their own to start Crescent while designing and building many types of ships for the United States Navy and other nations as well. The General Dynamics Electric Boat Division has its roots beginning with these submarines that were developed at Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard, Elizabeth, New Jersey. The origins of the company can be traced to the birth of these pioneering submarines that were created at Nixon's Crescent Shipyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Electric Boat is still in business to this very day.
Isaac Rice's Electric Launch Company, which was started to build electrically propelled launches and small craft, also began its operations here.
References
* Who Built Those Subs? Naval History Magazine, Published by The United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD., October, 1998. It is this Institutes's 125th Anniversary issue.
* International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 86. Published July 2007. St. James Press/Gale Group under General Dynamics/Electric Boat Corporation. See pages 136 to 139.
External links
- Pioneers Official United States Navy's web page under Arthur Leopold Busch - U. S. Submarine Pioneers
- http://www.geocities.com/gwmccue/ John Philip Holland's website.
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