Kneass Boat Works


[Image:USC&GS Taku.jpg|thumb|right| an 1898 70-foot survey ship]
Kneass Boat Works was a shipbuilding company in San Francisco, California. To support the World War 2 demand for ships, Kneass Boat Works built: US Navy Sub chasers, US Army barges and tugboats. Kneass Boat Works was started by California native George Washington Kneass in 1868, at 22 Mission Street, San Francisco. George Kneass started as an apprentice to boat builder Martin Vice. The two became partners operating a shipyard at Pier 70 at 671 Illinois Street, San Francisco. Business was good and in 1898 Kneass opened a second shipyard at 718 3rd Street, San Francisco. At its peak, Kneass employed 50 workers.
George Kneass died in 1923 and his two sons, George Jr. and Webster, took over the shipyard. Kneass built small boats, launches, rowboats, barges, lifeboats), sailboats, and a few wooden cruisers. For World War 2, in 1941 the company built a small emergency shipyard. The shipyard closed in 1970, but the site is now the art studio of Ruth Kneass; she kept the boatyard name for her studio.

Honors

The United States Government awarded Webster Lincoln Kneass a certificate of Outstanding Service to the Country for both its WWI and WWII efforts in 1945. Kneass Boat Works built over 5000 watercrafts for World War 1 and World War 2. Many of the watercraft were lifeboats and patrol boats. but some 150-foot minesweepers were also built. The U.S. Navy still uses a lifeboat that was designed by George Kneass.

Submarine chaser

Kneass Boat Works built submarine chasers that were of the design that had a displacement of 94 tons with a length of, a beam of, a draft of, a top speed of. They had a crew of 28. Power was provided by two 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 guns, two depth charge projector "Y guns", and two depth charge tracks.

Notable ships

Notable ships include: