Brown Shipbuilding

The Brown Shipbuilding Company was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1942 as a subsidiary of Brown and Root (now KBR) by brothers Herman and George R. Brown to build ships for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Brown Shipbuilding Company ranked 68th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.

In 1941, Navy officials asked the Brown brothers to build four submarine chasers. The brothers had no shipbuilding experience, but had helped build Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. In 1942, the brothers formed Brown Shipbuilding and, with $9 million in Navy funding, built the Green's Bayou Fabrication Yard at the juncture of the Houston Ship Channel and Green's Bayou. After delivering the ships, Brown received orders for landing craft and more sub chasers, and eventually won an order for destroyer escorts at $3.3 million per ship.

Between May 1943 and August 1944, Brown turned out 61 destroyer escorts, an average of one per week. Perhaps the most famous was USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), part of the outgunned Taffy 3 unit that turned back a Japanese battleship force during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Brown also built 254 amphibious assault ships, known as LSMs, between May 1944 and March 1946. By the end of the war, it had produced over 350 Navy warships in contracts totaling over $500 million.

After the war, the shipyard was sold to Todd Shipyards. After Todd's Houston division closed in 1985, the yard was once again used by Brown and Root, this time for barge construction and repair. The property was sold piecemeal to multiple buyers in 2004. In 1961, the company won the $200 million contract to build the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas.

Ships built here
61 Destroyer escorts (built July 1942 - March 1944)
 * 38 of 85 Edsall-class destroyer escort (built July 1942 - December 1943)
 * USS Stewart (DE-238) (commissioned 31 May 1943)
 * USS Sturtevant (DE-239) (16 June 1943)
 * USS Moore (DE-240) (1 July 1943)
 * USS Keith (DE-241) (19 July 1943)
 * USS Tomich (DE-242) (27 July 1943)
 * USS J. Richard Ward (DE-243) (5 August 1943)
 * USS Otterstetter (DE-244) (6 August 1943)
 * USS Sloat (DE-245) (16 August 1943)
 * USS Snowden (DE-246) (23 August 1943)
 * USS Stanton (DE-247) (7 August 1943)
 * USS Swasey (DE-248) (31 August 1943)
 * USS Marchand (DE-249) (8 September 1943)
 * USS Hurst (DE-250) (30 August 1943)
 * USS Camp (DE-251) (16 September 1943)
 * USS Howard D. Crow (DE-252) (27 September 1943)
 * USS Pettit (DE-253) (23 September 1943)
 * USS Ricketts (DE-254) (5 October 1943)
 * USS Sellstrom (DE-255) (12 October 1943)
 * USS Ramsden (DE-382) (19 October 1943)
 * USS Mills (DE-383) (12 October 1943)
 * USS Rhodes (DE-384) (25 October 1943)
 * USS Richey (DE-385) (30 October 1943)
 * USS Savage (DE-386) (29 October 1943)
 * USS Vance (DE-387) (1 November 1943)
 * USS Lansing (DE-388) (11 October 1943)
 * USS Durant (DER-389) (16 November 1943)
 * USS Calcaterra (DE-390) (17 November 1943)
 * USS Chambers (DE-391) (22 November 1943)
 * USS Merrill (DE-392) (27 November 1943)
 * USS Haverfield (DE-393) (29 November 1943)
 * USS Swenning (DE-394) (1 December 1943)
 * USS Willis (DE-395) (12 October 1943)
 * USS Janssen (DE-396) (18 December 1943)
 * USS Wilhoite (DE-397) (16 December 1943)
 * USS Cockrill (DE-398) (24 December 1943)
 * USS Stockdale (DE-399) (31 December 1943)
 * USS Hissem (DE-400) (13 January 1944)
 * USS Holder (DE-401) (18 January 1944)
 * 23 of 83 John C. Butler-class destroyer escort (built August 1943 - March 1944)
 * USS Richard S. Bull (DE-402) (commissioned 26 February 1944)
 * USS Richard M. Rowell (DE-403) (9 March 1944)
 * USS Eversole (DE-404) (21 March 1944)
 * USS Dennis (DE-405) (20 March 1944)
 * USS Edmonds (DE-406) (3 April 1944)
 * USS Shelton (DE-407) (4 April 1944)
 * USS Straus (DE-408) (6 April 1944)
 * USS La Prade (DE-409) (20 April 1944)
 * USS Jack Miller (DE-410) (13 April 1944)
 * USS Stafford (DE-411) (19 April 1944)
 * USS Walter C. Wann (DE-412) (2 May 1944)
 * USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) (28 April 1944)
 * USS LeRay Wilson (DE-414) (5 October 1944)
 * USS Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) (13 May 1944)
 * USS Melvin R. Nawman (DE-416) (16 May 1944)
 * USS Oliver Mitchell (DE-417) (14 June 1944)
 * USS Tabberer (DE-418) (23 May 1944)
 * USS Robert F. Keller (DE-419) (17 June 1944)
 * USS Leland E. Thomas (DE-420) (19 June 1944)
 * USS Chester T. O'Brien (DE-421) (3 July 1944)
 * USS Douglas A. Munro (DE-422) (11 July 1944)
 * USS Dufilho (DE-423) (21 July 1944)
 * USS Haas (DE-424) (2 August 1944)

12 of 343 PC-461-class submarine chasers:
 * USS PC-565 (25 May 1942)
 * PC-566 (15 June 1942) (named Honesdale 1956, to Venezuela 1960 as Calamar, struck 1978)
 * PC-567 (27 June 1942) (named Riverhead 1956, to USAF 1960)
 * USS PC-568 (13 July 1942)
 * PC-608 (18 August 1942) (to Mexico 1952 as Guardacosta, scrapped 1964)
 * PC-609 (7 September 1942) (to Thailand 1947 as Khamronsin)
 * PC-610 (28 September 1942) (wrecked 1950 and used as a target)
 * PC-611 (26 October 1942) (sold to Dulien Steel 1948, scrapped)
 * PC 1251 (27 February 1943) (named Ukiah 1956, scrapped 1960)
 * PC 1252 (27 March 1943) (named Tarrytown 1956, to Venezuela 1960, used for parts )
 * PC 1253 (30 March 1943) (to Thailand as PC-7)
 * PC 1254 (13 April 1943) (to Taiwan 1954 as Po Kiang)

32 of 923 Landing Craft Infantry:
 * Hull numbers 319 - 350
 * LCI(L)-326 (15 February 1943) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-327 (31 October 1942) (destroyed at Kwajalein 30 October 1947)
 * LCI(L)-328 (31 October 1942) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-329 (31 October 1942) (scuttled at Kwajalein 16 March 1948)
 * LCI(L)-330 (8 November 1942) (sold 1946 as ferry Siasconset)
 * LCI(L)-331 (9 November 1942) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-332 (16 November 1942) (scuttled at Kwajalein 28 September 1947)
 * LCI(L)-333 (17 November 1942) (destroyed 1946)
 * LCI(L)-334 (24 November 1942) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-335 (27 November 1942) (to NDRF 1946)
 * LCI(L)-336 (3 December 1942)
 * LCI(L)-337 (21 December 1942) (sold 1947)
 * LCI(L)-338 (26 December 1942) (to NDRF 1948)
 * LCI(L)-339 (30 December 1942) (destroyed by aerial bombs at the landing at Lae)
 * LCI(L)-340 (12 December 1942) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-341 (26 December 1942) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-342 (30 December 1942) (to NDRF 1948)
 * LCI(L)-343 (8 January 1943) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-344 (18 January 1943) (to NDRF 1948)
 * LCI(L)-345 (22 January 1943) (sold 1948)
 * LCI(L)-346 (25 January 1943) (sold 1946)
 * LCI(L)-347 (27 January 1943) (to NDRF 1948)
 * LCI(L)-348 (27 January 1943) (to NDRF 1948)
 * LCI(L)-349 (31 January 1943) (to NDRF 1948)
 * LCI(L)-350 (4 February 1943) (to NDRF 1948)

254 of 558 Landing Ship Medium
 * LSM-1 - LSM-125, LSM-354 - LSM-388, LSM-459 - LSM-552