Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Could the American Mariner have evolved from this with ASC picking up the building slot if US Steel backed off on any further construction at Bay Shipbuilding due to the legal issues with the Gott. It is interesting in the Detroit Marine Historian excerpt provided in the third post on this thread by Guest on October 6, 2026 that Hull 723 contracted to ASC as being similar to the Joseph L. Block in much the same way the Scanner report is also worded in describing the proposed vessel. Interestingly, the American Mariner was originally intended to be named Chicago.

It also equally possible that the report in the Scanner journal was incorrect with US Steel not becoming serious in contracting the construction of a vessel for its stone fleet operations other than a proposed program.

Obviously in the end, US Steel had no new vessel built for its stone fleet during this period. I seem to recall a report during the early 1980s that US Steel was considering the transfer of its three AAA class steamers (Anderson, Callaway, and Clarke) to its stone fleet division but that also never happened, so that may have been an incorrect or premature report also.

I imagine Bay Shipbuilding's 1979 $100 million libel suit filed against United States Steel would have cooled that proposal significantly, as well as another Bayship suit claiming United States Steel still owed the firm $1.6 million for the Gott.

This is a link to an article on Bay Shipbuilding newbuilds in the August 1978 issue of the Detroit Marine Historian.

Perusing the list reveals no mention of any vessel for U.S. Steel, other than the Edwin H. Gott.

https://images.maritimehistoryofthegrea ... /page/4?n=

Yes, I had seen that byline about US Steel's Bradley Division ordering a sister to the Joseph L. Block, and I've only ever read it in the Mid-Summer 1978 issue of the Scanner. No mention of such a vessel ever appeared again.

I came across the following report while reviewing some old Toronto Marine Historical Society's Scanner from the 1970s:

"Meanwhile, U.S. Steel has ordered a third new vessel, this one to be built at Sturgeon Bay as a sister to Inland Steel's JOSEPH L. BLOCK. The self-unloader, relatively small by today's standards, will be for the "Bradley" division of the fleet and thus will appear in that section's gray livery rather than in the familiar red as will EDWIN H. GOTT."

This is from the Volume 10 No. 9 Issue dated Summer 1978.

This is the only time I have ever heard of this proposed construction of a new vessel for US Steel's stone fleet during the 1970s. Obviously, this never happened but was just wondering if anyone has any further insight into this?