Portland factories substitute wood and mass-produce landing craft

Liberty Factory follows wartime shipbuilding beyond the major Kaiser yards into established Portland engineering firms. Gunderson Brothers brought prewar steel-fabrication experience to a rapidly expanded covered waterfront plant. Its resin-pressed plywood lifeboats used modern compound-curved panels and substituted timber when metal shortages constrained national boatbuilding. Maritime Commission testing produced an order for one thousand boats, and the workforce grew from a few dozen people to roughly five hundred. The company ultimately made thousands of lifeboats, rafts, and other craft. Material substitution and factory expansion widened maritime production.