How women flooded Oregon’s Kaiser shipyards in 1942 to help build the Liberty ships that won WWII

The amazing female welders of Kaiser shipyards

Henry J. Kaiser built Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation in 1941 along the Willamette River near Portland. In January 1942, Kaiser signed contracts with the U.S. Maritime Commission to build ships for the Pacific war against Japan.

The shipyard built 330 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1945. Liberty ships were basic cargo vessels designed to move troops and supplies across the Pacific Ocean.

By 1944, women welders made up 30% of the workforce at Portland’s Kaiser shipyards, using electric torches to join metal pieces that formed ship hulls.

Mary Carroll Becomes America’s First Woman Shipyard Welder

Mary Carroll became the first woman hired as a welder at Kaiser’s Portland shipyards in April 1942. Her 27-year-old son had died in the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines, driving her to contribute to the war effort.

Carroll worked alongside Jeanne Wilde, the second woman welder hired. Wilde and her daughter shared a home with Carroll’s family in Lake Oswego near Portland.

Both women earned $1.20 per hour, the same rate as male welders. This wage represented a huge increase from typical women’s jobs like office work or retail sales.

Breaking Union Barriers for Women Workers

Women initially faced exclusion from the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union, which controlled access to shipyard jobs. The union consisted entirely of white male workers who resisted change.

In July 1942, union members voted 12,000 for and 7,000 against women’s membership, but the vote failed on a technicality. On September 8, 1942, 22 women welders and burners stormed the Boilermakers union offices in Sausalito, California.

Two days later, union leaders rewrote their rules to grant women official membership. War production demands made women’s labor too valuable to lose.

Rapid Training Programs Transform Housewives Into Welders

When Oregon Shipbuilding hired its first two women welders in April 1942, it became the first U.S. Maritime Commission yard to employ women in production jobs.

Previous shipyard work for women had been limited to office tasks and cleaning. Word spread quickly about the shipyard’s willingness to hire female workers.

Welding schools began training more women, and by early 1943, all major shipyards ran training programs. Women learned to operate welding torches, read blueprints, and work with steel plates in just a few weeks.

Record-Breaking Production With Female Workforce

Oregon Shipbuilding sustained a production rate of 17 days on the construction slips through mid-1943. Liberty ships were typically assembled in just over two weeks at Kaiser yards.

Production hours per ship dropped from 523,569 to 349,494 between September 1942 and June 1943. Oregon Shipbuilding built the Joseph N. Teal in only 10 days between September 13-23, 1942.

This record impressed government officials and boosted worker morale. Women welders contributed directly to these production gains through their skilled work on ship construction.

Women’s Workforce Explodes From Hundreds to Thousands

By March 1943, Kaiser shipyards employed over 20,000 women across all locations. At Portland’s Kaiser shipyards in 1944, 28,000 women comprised 30% of the workforce.

The two Portland shipyards—Oregon Shipbuilding and Swan Island—employed 16,000 women at their peak. Recruiters traveled to Midwest and Eastern cities to find workers.

They offered transportation, housing, and wages that attracted women from across the country to Oregon. The numbers represented a complete transformation of American manufacturing, with women filling jobs that had never existed for them before.

Three-Shift Schedule Keeps Ships Moving Around the Clock

Oregon Shipbuilding operated as an “emergency shipyard” with massive construction orders to fill quickly. Kaiser worked with federal agencies to recruit women for urgent wartime jobs.

The workday was divided into three 8-hour shifts to maintain continuous production. Ships moved through construction stages 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Women made up approximately 30% of the workforce across all three shifts. Day shift, swing shift, and graveyard shift all employed women welders working on different ships simultaneously.

Revolutionary Childcare Centers Support Working Mothers

Kaiser built two large child-care centers at Oregon Shipbuilding and Swan Island shipyards. The centers operated around the clock during all three work shifts to accommodate working mothers.

Centers were located at shipyard entrances and could care for up to 450 children daily. At their peak, the two Portland child-care centers cared for 700 children.

The centers provided meals, education, and medical care for children aged 18 months to 6 years. Professional staff included trained teachers and nurses who worked the same shifts as the mothers.

Grandmothers and Teenagers Join the Welding Lines

A “Grandma Crew” at Oregon Shipbuilding had 6 grandmothers out of 8 production workers in 1944. Older, married women asked for and received jobs in wartime industries, breaking traditional labor patterns.

Women from all backgrounds showed up at employment offices, including those who had retired or never worked. The well-paid jobs attracted women from throughout the region.

Age became irrelevant when ships needed building. Women in their 60s worked alongside teenagers, teaching each other welding techniques and sharing family stories during breaks.

All-Women Ship Launch Showcases Female Achievement

Oregon Shipbuilding conducted an all-woman launch of the S.S. Nehalem with an entirely female crew. Hermina “Billie” Strmiska won the Oregon Shipbuilding Welderette contest in March 1943, beating 100 other women welders.

The Bos’n’s Whistle magazine featured welder Mary Carroll as a “War Mother” in its August 13, 1942 edition. Some women were awarded leadership roles as journeymen in the shipyards.

Ship launches became celebrations of women’s achievements, with thousands of spectators watching as women christened vessels they had helped build.

Wartime Production Ends and Women Face Layoffs

Female employees were the first to receive “quit-slips” when the war began to wind down. Oregon Shipyard Corporation laid off its last three women welders in October 1945.

By the end of 1945, only about 10,000 men and 2,000 women worked in the three Northwest Kaiser yards. Kaiser shipyard operations ceased completely after the war ended.

Victory brought unemployment for most women shipyard workers, as companies expected them to return to domestic roles and make room for returning soldiers.

Visiting Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park

The former Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation site in St. Johns now operates as Radius Recycling (formerly Schnitzer Steel Industries). This active industrial facility processes scrap metal and is not open to public visitors.

Tom McCall Waterfront Park Memorial houses the U.S. Merchant Marine and Liberty Ship Memorial at 1020 SW Naito Parkway in downtown Portland. The 36-acre park runs along the Willamette River between the Steel Bridge and RiverPlace Marina. The memorial commemorates the wartime shipbuilding era and workers who built Liberty ships.

Oregon Maritime Museum operates aboard the steam-powered sternwheeler Portland, moored at SW Naito Parkway at Pine Street in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The museum displays shipyard artifacts, photographs, and exhibits about World War II shipbuilding and the merchant marines who sailed Liberty ships. Open Friday through Sunday. The last tour begins at 3:15 PM and tours last 45 minutes. The museum is accessible by an ADA-approved ramp to the main deck, but contains stairs and tight spaces throughout the ship.

Oregon Historical Society Research Library at 1200 SW Park Avenue preserves the world’s largest collection of Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation photographs and documents. The library includes images of women welders, the all-woman launch of the S.S. Nehalem, and shipyard operations from 1942-1945. The research library is free and open to the public without appointment. The collection includes over 2,500 volumes and 22,000 photographs related to maritime history.

The battleship Oregon Memorial in the park honors naval history from the same era. Portland Saturday Market operates weekends from March through December at the north end of the park. All dogs must be leashed in the park.

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