Avondale Shipyard

Description

Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2011, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard was part of Huntington Ingalls Industries.It closed in October 2014.The yard was located on the west bank of the Mississippi River in an area called Bridge City, approximately 20mi upriver from New Orleans, Louisiana near Westwego, Louisiana. It was the site of the modernization of the in the early 1980s and also constructed some of the lighter aboard ships (LASH). At one time, it was the largest employer in the state of Louisiana with about 26,000 employees.HistoryAvondale Shipyards was founded in 1938 as Avondale Marine Ways by James Grinstead Viavant, Harry Koch, and Perry N. Ellis. It was primarily a repair and barge construction facility for craft working the Mississippi River. In 1941, the company employed only 200 workers.They were awarded a contract to build tugboats for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. This led to further contracts to build destroyers and destroyer escorts.After World War II, Avondale took advantage of the expansion of the oil industry in Louisiana to build drilling barges and offshore oil rigs. They also built other commercial vessels such as fishing boats. They again obtained government contracts to build military vessels during the Korean and Vietnam wars.