Credit: Standard Oil Company
After American entry into World War II, the Sun Ship yards in Chester expanded from 8 to 28 ways, making it the largest single shipyard in the country and the world's largest producer of tankers. During peak operations it employed more than 40,000 people, organized in four adjacent yards, one of which was manned almost exclusively by African-American workers. Sun Ship constructed 228 hospital, troop, and cargo ships, and 281 oil tankers during the war.
