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Cramp's Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA., circa 1910.
Credit: Charles Hardy
From the 1700s into the late 1940s, the lower Delaware River was a major shipbuilding center. Using Bethlehem steel, William Cramps and Sons constructed the Battleship Maine and other vessels for America's Great White Fleet. During World War I and II, Delaware River shipyards constructed and repaired a broad range of steel-hulled vessels.