by William Lafferty » December 3, 2017, 3:19 pm
In 1950 Congress passed legislation to allow Great Lakes operators to purchase surplus government vessels for conversion, citing the exigencies of the Korean conflict. At the time, Great Lakes shipyards had full order books, with around six large newbuilds, which forced the construction of the Johnstown, Sparrows Point, and Elton Hoyt 2nd to the coast. Consider the three Republic C4s that cost the government $24.5 million to build that were sold to Troy Browning as agent for Nicholson-Universal for a mere $308,000, so the economic incentive was huge to convert surplus vessels. Hanna and Sand Products acquired a seven year old state-of-the-art turbine propulsion system and about a quarter of a ship and Maryland Dry Dock Company and Ingalls turned that into a virtually new ship for less than $5 million, the cost of the much smaller carferry Spartan then building at Sturgeon Bay. The government sale also included a generous tax provision allowing Hansand to write-off 60% of the construction cost as depreciation in five years. As an aside, the Marine Robin when launched was touted as having been constructed solely by African-America labor at Sun Shipbuilding's segregated No. 4 yard at Chester, Pennsylvania.
In 1950 Congress passed legislation to allow Great Lakes operators to purchase surplus government vessels for conversion, citing the exigencies of the Korean conflict. At the time, Great Lakes shipyards had full order books, with around six large newbuilds, which forced the construction of the [i]Johnstown[/i], [i]Sparrows Point[/i], and [i]Elton Hoyt 2nd[/i] to the coast. Consider the three Republic C4s that cost the government $24.5 million to build that were sold to Troy Browning as agent for Nicholson-Universal for a mere $308,000, so the economic incentive was huge to convert surplus vessels. Hanna and Sand Products acquired a seven year old state-of-the-art turbine propulsion system and about a quarter of a ship and Maryland Dry Dock Company and Ingalls turned that into a virtually new ship for less than $5 million, the cost of the much smaller carferry [i]Spartan[/i] then building at Sturgeon Bay. The government sale also included a generous tax provision allowing Hansand to write-off 60% of the construction cost as depreciation in five years. As an aside, the [i]Marine Robin[/i] when launched was touted as having been constructed solely by African-America labor at Sun Shipbuilding's segregated No. 4 yard at Chester, Pennsylvania.