Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company 1919

Beautifully engraved certificate from the Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company issued in 1919. This historic document has an ornate border around it with vignettes of the capitol and an allegorical woman. This item is hand signed by the company’s president ( Ernest Kreher ) and secretary and is over 84 years old. This is the first time we have seen this certificate.

Tampa Shipbuilding and Engineering Company began its operations in February 1917.

Prior to WWII, the Roosevelt Administration was disturbed by the inability of American shipyards to compete with foreign yards and aware that the clouds of war gathering in Europe and Asia might soon cover the United States. The passes an Act that was to fund the construction of ten merchant ships a year for ten years. For American shipyards, which had constructed only two dry cargo vessels between 1922 and 1935, the Merchant Marine Act much needed.

In anticipation of the war, Ernest Kreher had borrowed $750,000 to build a drydock in Tampa. Shortly after the September 1, 1939 German invasion in Poland, he got a contract for four 10,000-ton ships for $8,000,000, and put 2,000 men on payroll. At the peak production levels during the war, employment reached nearly 23,000 in three major Tampa shipyards.

During World War II, Tampa Shipbuilding launched more than 100 Liberty ships, destroyers and escorts. Some of these ships included:

USS SLATER (DE-766) AD-18 USS Sierra AD-17 USS Piedmont AD-18 USS Sierra AD-19 USS Yosemite Rondo Ammunition Ships - AE's 3,4,5,6,8,9 and 13. They displaced about 13,000 tons. Each was powered by 2 Nordberg diesels.

Tampa Shipbuilding filed Chapter 11 in July 1996.