Kneass Boat Works

37.763853°N 122.386429°W / 37.763853; -122.386429

Kneass boat shop on 3rd Street in San Francisco, California, in 1899
USC&GS Taku an 1898 70-foot survey ship
Plaque from the Hr.Ms. Breskens, a Royal Netherlands Navy Beemster-class minesweeper

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 (1859–1923) 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.[1][2][3][4]

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.[5]

Submarine chaser

Kneass Boat Works built submarine chasers that were of the SC-497-class submarine chaser design that had a displacement of 94 tons with a length of 110 feet (34 m), a beam of 17 feet (5.2 m), a draft of 6 feet (1.8 m), a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). They had a crew of 28. Power was provided by two 1,540-brake-horsepower (1,150 kW) 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.[6][7][8]

Notable ships

Notable ships include:

  • USC&GS Taku an 1898 70-foot survey ship.
  • Three Adjutant-class minesweepers.
  • Quic Chakidn 1921 38-foot cruisers built for owner of Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company, Walter Hobert Jr. for his Lake Tahoe home.[9]
  • The Pacific an 18-foot Kneass schooner was sailed in 1882 by Bernard Gilboy from San Francisco 7,000 miles (11,265 km) across the Pacific to Queensland, Australia.[10][11][12]
  • Amy K IV 32-foot 1940 Yacht, was owned by the Terazas family.
  • Merciqme Yacht was owned by Judy and Avery Blake, commodore of the Northern California Classic Yacht Association.
  • Siren 34-foot 1939 Yacht, owned by Alan Bowerman.
  • Marlin 46-foot 1928 Yacht, owned by Thomas Bottenberg of Vintage Yacht Partners
  • Two patrol boats for Peru Navy in 1918, the El Captain I and El Captain 2.[13]
  • M 857 Hr.Ms. Boxtel 1954 114-foot Royal Netherlands Navy Beemster Class minesweeper, scrapped in 1976[14]
  • M 855 Hr.Ms. Breskens 1954 114-foot Royal Netherlands Navy Beemster Class minesweeper, renamed Kalbarrie then Pax
  • USS Nasomee (YTB-260), US Navy Tugboat, Cahto-class district harbor tug.[15]

Ships
Ship IDNameOwnerTypeTonsYear BuiltNotes
naUSC&GS TakuUS C&GSSurvey Vessel1898Retired in 1917
216035Mary FrancisFishing Vessel151918Formerly Marge S, active
naH. D. GeddingsUS Quarantine SvceBoarding Boat1921
naDonald CurrieUS Quarantine SvceBoarding Boat1921
FrancescaY. C. DemmingSloop1922
HummingbirdC. D. ParmaleeSloop1929
231123RejoiceBoy ScoutsUnclassified241931Active
263739SoupfinFishing Vessel111937Active
260797J V FerranteFishing Vessel71939Formerly Jackie Jan, active
281626Amy K IVRecreational121940Active
SC 990US NavySub Chaser136Mar-43Sold in 1948
SC 991US NavySub Chaser136Apr-43Sold in 1948
SC 992US NavySub Chaser136Jun-43Sold in 1948
SC 993US NavySub Chaser136Jun-43Sold in 1948
SC 994US NavySub Chaser136Jul-43Sold in 1948
YT 260NasomseeUS NavyTug400Jul-44Renamed YTB 260, Sold in 1946
251273Sparky AnneRecreational261946Active
502915SigridFishing Vessel101946Active
252049ChristineFishing Vessel91947Active
256552Nina TFishing Vessel91948Active
259369Flying CloudFishing Vessel151950Active
262499Blue NorthernFishing Vessel141951Active
264893Star of the SeaFishing Vessel141953Active
MSC 148BeskensUS NavyMinesweeper3907-Apr-54To the Netherlands 1954 as M 855, returned 1975, Sold in to the Nizam of Hyderabad 1976 as Kalbarrie
MSC 149BoxtelUS NavyMinesweeper39024-Jul-54To the Netherlands 1954 as M 857, struck 1975
MSC 150BrouwershavenUS NavyMinesweeper39030-Oct-54To the Netherlands 1954 as M 858, struck 1974
510669ChichagofRecreational171959Active
523607Charlie TunaFishing Vessel261965Active

See also

References
  1. "G. W. Kneass". shipbuildinghistory.com.
  2. "Pier 70: Kneass Boatyard". www.pier70sf.org.
  3. "Kneass & Sons | Classic Yacht Register". classicyacht.org.
  4. "Kneass Boat Works by Ruth Charlotte Kneass". www.kneassboatworks.com.
  5. "History of the Kneass boatworks tahoeclassicyacht.org". Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  6. navsource.org Submarine Chaser, SC-723
  7. Submarine Chaser (SC) Index, retrieved 21 March 2009
  8. Splinter Fleet, retrieved 16 January 2019
  9. "Quic Chakidn". www.tahoeclassicyacht.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  10. Charles A. Borden (1967). Sea Quest. Robert Hale, London.
  11. Bernard Gilboy (Edited and Annotated By John Barr Tompkins) (1956). A Voyage of Pleasure: The Log of Bernard Gilboy's Transpacific Cruise in the Boat "Pacific" 1882-1883. Cornell Maritime Press. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  12. A Voyage of Pleasure, the Log of Bernard Gilboy’s Transpacific Cruise in the Boat “Pacific 1 ’ 1882-1883, page 5, 16, 63
  13. MotorBoating, May 1918,Page 46
  14. Hr. Ms. Boxtel, M 857, Volume 3 of Historisch overzicht, ISSN 0924-0535, by Everhardus Maria Meijs, Publisher Heemkundige Studiekring voor Boxtel en Omstreken, 1984
  15. navsource
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