War Time Production
Higgins Landing Craft
Image courtesy of the Libary of Congress
Loan courtesy of Mr. Larry D. Montague
| "Get Sick After the War…:" War Time Production | |
| Strategists and historians have argued that the Allies won their victory over the Axis because the Allied powers could field more men, more material, and more supplies than the opposing forces. The United States possessed the raw materials, workers, and industries that made victory possible. Safe from the threat of Axis bombs, American workers and factories manufactured 181 billion dollars worth of munitions in five years. | Higgins Landing Craft Image courtesy of the Libary of Congress |
| War industries employed more than 8 million Americans, with 29% of the workforce female and 8% African-American. With car production suspended for the duration, automobile companies converted their assembly lines to churn out tanks, aircraft gear, bombs, and engines. Airplane companies designed and produced 185,000 fighters and bombers used by the Army Air Force, Navy, Great Britain, the USSR, and China. Shipyard workers made 88,000 landing craft, 215 submarines, 147 aircraft carriers, and 952 additional warships. | |
| In Sumter, Carolina Industries supplied the Navy with the parts necessary to launch four types of seagoing vessels: the Higgins landing craft, the LSMs which carried Marines or soldiers from the transport ships to the beach, destroyer-escorts, and the MSTs (Machine Shop Tankers) which were floating machine shops for ships at sea. Working three shifts a day and employing an estimated 500 workers, Carolina Industries earned three Army-Navy "E"s during the war for excellence in productions. The parts manufactured in Sumter and welded together at the Charleston Naval Yard participated in landings throughout the Pacific Theatre. | |
| Army Navy E Award Loan courtesy of Mr. Larry D. Montague | |
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