33.7655°N -118.2559°WWilmington Boat Works, Inc. or WILBO was a shipbuilding company in Wilmington, California. To support the World War 2 demand for ships Victory Shipbuilding built: Tugboats, crash rescue boats and sub chasers. Wilmington Boat Works opened in 1920 building Fishing boat and yachts, by Hugh Angelman, Willard Buchanan and Tom Smith. After the Korean War the shipyard closed in 1958. The shipyard was located at 400 Yacht Street, Wilmington, the site of the current USC boatyard.[1]
Wilmington Boat Works built tugboats for the US Army in 1943 and 1944. The small tugs had a length of, a depth of, a beam of, a, and a . They were wooden-hulled and diesel-powered. After the war they were sold for commercial use.[2] The tugs were numbered TP 126 to TP 131, TP for "Tug/Passenger".[3]
Wilmington Boat Works Company built two submarine chasers for the United States Navy that were of the design with a displacement of 94 tons, a length of, a beam of, a draft of, and a top speed of 21kn. They had a crew of 28. Power was provided by two 1540bhp General Motors, Electro-Motive Division, 16-184A diesel engines, and two propellers. They were armed with one Bofors 40 mm gun, two Browning M2 .50 cal. machine gun, two depth charge projector "Y guns", and two depth charge tracks. Some of the submarine chasers were lent to Allies of the United States as part of the Lend-Lease program.[4]
The submarine chasers were converted to PGM-1-class motor gunboats six months after completion in 1943.
For the US Army built 85 foot Crash boats
| Ship ID | Name | Built | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 251870 | P 518 | Jun-44 | Later renamed Flying Shark | |
| 256911 | P 519 | Jun-44 | Later renamed Viking, Alaskan Song | |
| 252576 | P 520 | Jul-44 | Later renamed Brigand | |
| P 521 | Jul-44 | |||
| 252762 | P 522 | Aug-44 | Later renamed Vanities, Thunder Cloud, Dry Martini | |
| 255689 | P 523 | Aug-44 | Later renamed Thunderbird | |
| 252985 | P 524 | Sep-44 | Later renamed Thunderer | |
| P 525 | Sep-44 |
Wilmington Boat Works in 1954 built s for the United States Navy with a displacement of 853 tons full, a length of 172feet, a beam of 35feet, a draft of 10feet. They were powered by four Packard ID1700 diesel engines, with and two controllable pitch propellers. The ships had a top speed of . The ship crew was 7 officers and 70 enlisted men. They were armed with one Bofors 40 mm gun and two .50 cal (12.7 mm) twin machine gun. Notable ships include and .[5] [6] [7]