This work describes the monumental accomplishments of the World War II shipyards in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, they built and launched thousands of vessels--Liberty ships, Victory ships, tankers, aircraft carriers, submarine chasers, and many kinds of landing craft--to help defeat the Axis powers and preserve the way of life of the free world. Robert La Du viewed firsthand these activities from his home overlooking shipyards on the Willamette River. His father worked at Albina shipyard, his sister worked at Henry Kaiser's Swan Island shipyard, and he himself, as a high school student, worked nights at Commercial Iron and Steel shipyard. These experiences inform and enhance the pages of Her Finest Hour.

1900-1999, Commerce, Construction navale Oregon Portland Histoire 20e siècle, Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 Oregon Portland, History, Kaiser Company (Portland, Or.), Kaiser Company (Portland, Or.) History, Oregon Portland, Portland (Or.) Commerce History, Shipbuilding, Shipbuilding Oregon Portland History 20th century, World War, 1939-1945 Oregon Por

Dedication Photo credits Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Henry J. Kaiser Six companies Battle of the Atlantic Merchant Marine Act Kaiser/Todd Maritime Commission William F. Gibbs British shipbuilding mission Edgar F. Kaiser Oregon shipyard Worker training Vancouver shipyard Escort aircraft carriers Women Workers Worker housing Swan Island shipyard Tanker Schenectady Child care centers Treatment of blacks Commercial Iron Works Willamette iron and steel Albina Engine and Machine Works Gunderson Brothers Engineering Soule Steel Company Portland Shipbuilding Company Columbia Steel Casting Company Iron Fireman Manufacturing Company Oregon war industries Buckler-Chapman operations Kaiser Permanente Summing up Appendix Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index