Permanente Metals
| Industry | Metal refining |
|---|---|
| Headquarters |
Permanente Metals Corporation (PMC) is best known for having managed the Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California, owned by one of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser's many corporations, and also engaged in related corporate activities.[1] These four of the seven west coast Kaiser Shipyards were known for their construction of Liberty ships and later Victory ships.[2]
The company was originally a major producer of magnesium during World War II and derives its name from the Permanente Creek in Santa Clara County, California where mining operations commenced in the early 1930s. To make use of its major product, powdered magnesium, PMC also developed and supplied an incendiary bomb mixture of magnesium powder, asphalt, gasoline and others components (known as "goop", with similar characteristics to napalm); 17,000 short tons of goop-filled bombs were used in World War II (approximately eight percent of the total tonnage of incendiaries that were dropped during that conflict).[3] Permanente ranked 42nd among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.[4]
References
Notes
- ^ Kaiser Industries Corporation, Oakland, California (1968). "The Postwar Gamble". The Kaiser Story (PDF). p. 38. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 16, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 176-91, Random House, New York, NY. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
- ^ Wilson, p.2.
- ^ Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis (1962) Harvard Business School p.619
Bibliography
- Wilson, Mark R. "Making "Goop" Out of Lemons: The Permanente Metals Corporation, Incendiary Bombs, and the Costs of Industrial Overexpansion during World War II" (PDF). Rutgers University. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 3, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
External links
- Richmond Shipyard
- Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park, Richmond Shipyard Haer No. CA-326-M No. 3[permanent dead link]
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