The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles  
Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson
Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar  
Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company   Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers: 
Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard  
Andover Motors Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer   Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation in World War Two
Newport News, VA
1923-1930 Detroit, MI
1930-1936 Newport News, VA
1941-1946 Newport News, VA


This page updated 11-28-2022.

 John and Horace Dodge of Niles, MI, are well known for the automobiles that still bear their name and are sold today.  The boat company started by the same family is little known.  Both Dodge brothers passed away in 1920, but Horace's namesake, Horace E. Dodge, Jr., was most interested in speedboats that were the rage among Detroit automobile workers and executives of the time.  Chris-Craft and Gar Wood, both in Algonac, MI, were two boat manufacturers located in southeast Michigan that were providing pleasure craft to meet this demand. 

In 1923, twenty-three year old Horace E. Dodge, Jr. was ready to start making his own way in the world.  The same year, he began building boats as the Horace E. Dodge Boat Works at 2670 Atwater Street in Detroit, MI.  This location was right on the Detroit River and today is the site of the Robert C. Valade Park.  Not long afterward, Mr. Dodge moved his operation to Lycaste Street four miles further north up the Detroit River. 

In 1928, Walter Chrysler purchased the Dodge Brothers automobile company for $170,000,000.  After the family divided up the $170,000,000 from the sale, Horace E. Dodge, Jr. had a few extra dollars in his pocket to spend.  In 1930, Mr. Dodge renamed his company the Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation and built a new $2,000,000 plant on a 100 acre green field site at Newport News, VA.  On March 13, 1930, the plant began to manufacture small pleasure craft on an assembly line basis similar to what the auto industry was using.  1930, during the Great Depression, was not a good time to start a new business for something as non-essential as pleasure boats.  However, it appears Mr. Dodge kept the operation going in order to build a high-speed boat to win the American Power Boat Association's Gold Cup.  He did this in 1932 with Delphine IV, reaching a top speed of 59.2 mph with a Packard marine engine.  He won again in 1936 with Impshi with a Packard engine.  This time the top speed was only 47.1 mph.

At this point, Mr. Dodge had two Gold Cups and had spent a lot of money achieving his goals.  He had a large boat factory for which there were no buyers for its output, and he closed the operation.  The plant was dormant until May 19, 1941, when the company was awarded a $386,000 contract by the Army Quartermaster Corps to build 27 42-foot rescue boats.  This was the first of twelve major contracts the company was awarded by both the Army and Navy during World War Two. 

At the end of World War Two, the plant was closed again, and in 1946 it was sold to Gar Wood.


The Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation won the Army-Navy "E" Award three times during World War Two.
The company received its first award on June 22, 1944, its second in December 1944, and its third on May 31, 1945.

Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation World War Two Products:  The company produced 2,602 boats of five different types for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.  The total amount of contracts was $19,820,000. 

Of the $19,820,000, $17,949,000 was for LCVPs 36-foot wooden landing craft with ramps.  This was 91% of total value of the contracts.  The LCVP is also known as the Higgins Boat after its inventor, Andrew Jackson Higgins.   The Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation, the Matthews Company, the Owens Yacht Company, and the Richardson Boat Company also built the LCVP.  Dodge built 10.8% of the 23,358 total LCVPs constructed during World War Two.  It was the third largest producer of the LCVP behind Higgins and Chris-Craft.

In July 1945, the company employed over 300 hourly workers.

Table 1 - Total Number of Horace E. Dodge Boats built during World War Two
The types and quantities of boats in this table was published in the September 4, 1945 issue of the Newport News, VA Daily Press.
Type Quantity Boat Numbers Comments Unit Cost - Calculated
42-Foot Army Crash Boats 27 P-42 - P-68 Inclusive Ordered May 21, 1941 for Army Air Corps use.  Contract 3111-QM-76. $386,000/27 = $14,296 per boat
26-Foot Yawls 25 MT-31 - MT-55 Inclusive U.S. Army.  Contract 3111-QM-00318. $86,000/25 = $3,440 per boat
45-Foot Crash Boats 5 ? U.S. Navy.  Contract NOS-1706. $92,000/5 = $18,400 per boat
72-Foot Motor Launch Patrol Boats 12 Q-1171 - Q-1182 Inclusive U.S. Navy for Lend-Least to Great Britain.  Contract OBS-588L. $948,000/12 = $78,500 per boat
36-foot LCVP Landing Craft 2,533 See Table 3. U.S. Navy.   Contracts 2789-TC-161, OBS-1031, OBS-1245, OBS-1952, OBS-2002, and OBS-2027. $17,949,000/2,533 = $7,086 per boat
Total 2,602      

 

Table 2- Horace E Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation's Major World War Two Contracts
The information below comes from the "Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, June 1940 through September 1945."  This was published by the Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. 
Product - Customer Contract Number Contract Amount Contract Awarded Date Completion Date
Boats - Army Quartermaster 3111-QM-76 $386,000 5-1941 11-1942
Yawls - Army Quartermaster 3111-QM-00318 $86,000 1-1942 4-1942
Launches - Navy OBS-588L $948,000 2-1942 4-1943
Boats - Navy NOS-1706 $92,000 3-1942 9-1942
Small Craft - Navy OBS-244 $280,000 6-1942 4-1943
Boats Landing - Army Transportation Corps 2789-TC-161 $571,000 8-1942 12-1942
Craft Landing - Navy OBS-1031 $2,381,000 4-1943 10-1944
Landing Craft LCVP - Navy OBS-1245 $5,039,000 8-1943 12-1944
Ship Hull Parts - Navy 407-XSX-6381 $79,000 9-1944 10-1944
Landing Craft LCVP - Navy OBS-1952 $1,528,000 9-1944 2-1945
Landing Craft LCVP - Navy OBS-2002 $1,542,000 12-1944 5-1945
Landing Craft LCVP - Navy OBS-2027 $6,888,000 1-1945 1-1947
Total   $19,820,000    

On June 8, 1941, Newport News Mayor T. Parker Host drove the first bolt into the hull of the first of 27 42-foot crash and rescue boats to be built by the Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation. 


This drawing is typical of the 27 42-foot crash and rescue boats built by Dodge.  


In January 1943, the Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation launched the 72-foot motor launch Q-1177.

Horace E. Dodge Boat And Plant Corporation LCVPs:   


This World War Two LCVP is on display at the National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir, VA.  Overlord Research, LLC, Charleston, WV found this LCVP on the Isle of Wight, off the coast of England.  It was identified to be of World War Two vintage and then restored by Hughes Marine Service.  The manufacturer of this LCVP is unknown.  There is a 10% chance it was built by Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation.  Author's photo.

George Schneider, who is also interested in small boats, contributed details on some of the boat numbers used in this section on the LCVP.  I thank him for letting me use his data for Table 3 below.  It should be noted all estimates are mine alone.  Mr. Schneider is not responsible for any errors I have made.

I have only listed two contract numbers to match the estimated C-numbers.  With more groups of C-numbers than contracts, assigning contracts is problematic.  

 Table 3 - Estimated Dodge LCVP C-Numbers
C-Numbers Quantity Year Manufactured Contract Number Comments
C-25142 thru C-25215 Inclusive 74 1942 U.S. Army Transportation Corps 2789-TC-161. It was noted in the September 4, 1945, issue of the Newport News, VA Daily Press that the company's first order for LCVPs was for 74 boats for the U.S. Army.  This group is a confirmed number of LCVPs. Estimated from C-25142 thru C-25215.
C-34823 thru C-35179 Inclusive 356 1943   Estimated from C-34823 - C-343861, C-34980 - C-35049, and C-35175 - C-35179.
C-41988 thru C-42467 Inclusive 480 1944   Estimated from  C-41988, C-42013, C-42226, C-42338, C-42339, C-42348, C-42370, C-42420, C-42450, C-42455, and C-42467.

Boats C- 42409, C-42418, C-42419 are shown in the book "US Landing Craft of WWII, Vol. 1" by David Doyle.  Published 2019 by Schiffer Publishing. Ltd. 
Photos taken of these three boats on 7-25-1944, 8-2-1944, and 8-2-1944, respectfully.

C-54671 thru C-54811 Inclusive 141 1943   Estimated from C-54671, C-54781 C-54794, and C-54811.
C-70883 - C-70892 Inclusive 10 1944   Estimated from C-70883 and C-70892.
C-79680 thru C-79772 Inclusive 93 1945   Estimated from C-79680, C-79701 - C-79722, C-79725, C-79728, C-79748, and C-79772.
C-80958 - C-81027 Inclusive 72 1945   Estimated from C-C-80958, C-80978, C-80993, C-80994, C-81018, C-81020, C-81024, C-81025, C-81027
C-81105 - C-81243 Inclusive 139 1945   Estimated from C-81105, C-81105, C-81146, C-81161, C-81191, C-81243 
C-83862 - C-84275 Inclusive 1,014 1945 U.S. Navy OBS-2027.  This was the last contract which could include the last grouping of C-numbers. Estimated from C-83862, C-83957, C-83973 C-83985 C-83986,C-83994 C-84011 C-84045, C-84046 C-84059 C-84091, C-84096 C-84250, C-84252, C-84275
Total 2,379      

The Newport News, VA, Factory: 


This undated image shows the $2,000,000 Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane factory apparently idle.  The one long driveway runs all the way back to 16th Street.  Image added 11-28-2022. 


The factory has been razed, and this Google Maps satellite view shows the land as not being re-developed.  Image added 11-28-2022. 


This Google Maps satellite view shows the former factory location in the four-o'clock position.  The properties to the east of I-664 are all residential properties, while those to the east are the large shipbuilding companies.  The Newport News Shipbuilding Company was building two aircraft carriers when this image was taken.  Image added 11-28-2022. 

It would appear that the former Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane factory site would be re-developed into residential housing.

 

 

 

 

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