Richmond Shipyards, Shipyard in Richmond, California, US
Richmond Shipyards is a group of four large shipbuilding facilities on the shore of San Francisco Bay in Richmond, California. The site features dry docks, heavy cranes, and large industrial buildings, some of which still stand along the waterfront.
Construction of the yards began around 1940, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and expanded rapidly after December 1941. Henry J. Kaiser's company took over all four yards and introduced mass production methods that transformed the speed at which ships could be built.
Parts of the site can be explored on foot, including the waterfront trails and sections of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park nearby. It is worth checking which areas are open to the public before visiting, as some parts of the grounds remain active or restricted.
Henry Kaiser, who ran the yards, created the Kaiser Permanente health care system to provide medical care for the thousands of workers on site. That system still operates today and is one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the US.
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