Thirty percent of the workers at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company were blacks and many of them were in skilled positions. Work stations were completely desegregated.
Wilmington's population skyrocketed to over 100,000 during the war years as workers, military personnel and their families moved to the area. Barracks were built for workers and public housing projects were hastily built to handle the influx. Also, 1,400 homes were built, many in what is today Sunset Park. Some of the projects still exist today.
The Maritime Commission also leased busses to transport workers from Catolina Beach, Southport, Warsaw and Wallace.
The last NCS Company, the SS Santa Isabel, was launched April 16, 1946, and the site sat vacant after that. In 1949, the Maritime Commission leasedpart of it to the North Carolina State Ports Authority. In 1971, the state bought the land outright for $445,000.
Some names remain from the shipyard. Of course, a major road is the Shipyard Boulevard and Burnett Boulevard named for H.C. Burnett, the shipyard's popular assistant personnel director.
File Under Stuff Most People Wouldn't Know. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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