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Lifting the Curtain on Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay

The 210-foot super yacht at Palmer Johnson Yachts drew a lot of attention during the tour. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

Shipbuilding has been a way of life in Sturgeon Bay since the first sloop-rigged sailboat was built there in 1836. Generations since then have contributed to the city’s rich and continuing maritime history, but much of their work has always been carried out behind closed shop doors, so we forget sometimes the scope of their achievements or even that they are still there building amazing vessels.

On Saturday, May 4, the curtain was lifted, so to speak, when the Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay sponsored its annual Shipyard Tour.

Tour participants were treated to insider views of the history and current operations of two builders of pleasure craft – Great Lakes Yacht Services and Palmer Johnson, Inc., where visitors oohed, aahed and snapped many pictures of the 210-foot super yacht that Palmer Johnson employees are readying for launch.

While it was fun to ogle boats of the rich and famous, the blue collar history of shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay came to life during the Bay Shipbuilding Corp. portion of the tour, where each station in the sprawling 50-acre shipyard was manned by veteran shipbuilders who had worked the yard for decades, men such as Gerald Schmidtke, who was in charge of crane operations until his retirement in 1988, and Tom Leist, who spent 35 years building ships until his retirement almost five years ago.

Standing beneath the 158-foot overhead gantry crane that can lift up to 20 tons, Schmidtke evoked a picture of wartime Sturgeon Bay, when thousands were employed at the yard to build a variety of warships during World War II. He said you can still see the tiny government homes that were built during the WWII shipbuilding boom on Sturgeon Bay’s Delaware Street.

The huge section of one of the two 303-foot platform supply vessels being built for the offshore oil industry at Bay Shipbuilding dwarves tour members.

Bay Shipbuilding is owned by the Italian firm Fincantieri Marine Group, which also owns Marinette Marine, and Wisconsin and Ace Marine of Green Bay. In addition to building vessels, Bay Shipbuilding repairs and renovates commercial vessels. Sixteen of the 60 commercial carriers that ply the Great Lakes spent the winter here for repairs.

A couple of current projects were on display during the tour. The company has been renovating a Canadian barge called the Port Huron for its first tour of duty as a stone carrier on the Great Lakes. Modifications included installation of a loading boom, new generator and anchor system, and restoring the hold walls.

Visitors also got a look at giant sections of a 303-foot platform supply vessel being built for use in the offshore Louisiana oil industry. Bay Shipbuilding received a contract for two of the vessels, the first to be delivered in June and the second in November.

The 140-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mobile Bay was also open for free guided tours. The crew was stationed at their respective duty stations to let the public know their mission. The Mobile Bay is an efficient ice breaker that uses bubble technology that reduces friction as the vessel moves through ice. The Mobile Bay is now actively engaged in placing buoys in Green Bay and Lake Michigan with the help of a barge that is pushed by the Mobile Bay.

The annual shipyard tour is a project of the Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay. A significant portion of the profits from this year’s shipyard tour will go to Door County Rotary Interact, a service organization for 14- to 18-year-olds.