REMEMBERING TODD PACIFIC SHIPYARD

Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division was a shipyard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, which dates back more than a century. The yard built more than 130 ships between 1917 and 1989. Its foundation came about after investors, led by E.G. Ekstrom, came together in November 1916 to plan for a shipyard at San Pedro. A 69-acre site on Smiths Island was chosen, but it was marshland which needed to be reclaimed and reconditioned at a cost of up to $5 million before the shipyard could be created.

But the land was reclaimed, and in April 1917 the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company was founded, initially to fill a perceived gap in the market in California for a shipbuilding and repair yard in Los Angeles. Established during the United States’ brief military operations in World War I, the yard enjoyed an initial boom of business, receiving contracts for the construction of 35 cargo ships under the terms of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) of the United States Shipping Board. Of these vessels, 30 were to be