Tampa Shipbuilding Company

Tampa Shipbuilding Company, or TASCO, was one of a number of shipyards in Tampa, Florida. It operated from 1917 to after World War II, closing in 1947.[1]

History

Originally Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, founded in 1917, the yard built ships under the United States Maritime Commission's pre-war long-range shipbuilding program. Also called Tampa Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. The company was sold and renamed Tampa Shipbuilding Company (TASCO) after financial difficulties.[2]

USS Cates (DE-763)

Immediately before and during the United States entry into the Second World War the company built US Navy auxiliaries. Tampa Shipbuilding built: Admirable-class minesweepers and type C2 cargo ship, like USS Lassen, USS Mauna Loa and the MS Sea Witch (1940), which gained some note in a last attempt to deliver U.S. Army planes to Java, though the twenty-seven crated P-40’s had to be destroyed after delivered to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands.[3] During the war TASCO also built Cannon-class destroyer escort like the: (USS Cates, USS Sutton and USS Slater. At its peak, it was the largest employer in Tampa, employing 16,000 people. Tampa Shipbuilding closed after the war in 1947, and few traces remain of its facilities.[2]

Tampa Shipbuilding (TASCO), Tampa FL

References
  1. Tampa shipbuildinghistory.com, Shipbuilding (TASCO), Tampa FL
  2. T. Colton.
  3. Craven & Cate 1948, p. 397.
  • Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea (1948). Plans and early operations, January 1939 to August 1942. The Army Air Forces In World War II. One. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 091279903X. LCCN 83017288.
  • T. Colton (April 11, 2013). "Tampa Shipbuilding (TASCO), Tampa FL". ShipbuildingHistory. T. Colton. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
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