Soule Steel Company

Soule Steel Company was a manufacturer of fabricated steel building products. The main office was in San Francisco, California with branch offices in Los Angeles, California, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Soule Steel worked on major construction projects like: the reinforcing steel on the footings for the Golden Gate Bridge, California Memorial Stadium at University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco high rises buildings, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Vincent Thomas Bridge, Space Needle and the Grand Coulee Dam.[1][2][3][4] For World War II Soule Steel built landing crafts and floating derricks for seaplane moving, a class YSD-11 Class Seaplane Wrecking Derrick in the Terminal Island shipyard. Soule Steel also built steel barges for the war. After the war the shipyard built some tuna fishing ships.[5] Soule Steel was started by Edward Soulé in 1911. Edward Soulé was a civil engineer in San Francisco and saw the damage done by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. So, in 1911 started a steel rebar business, called Edw. L Soulé Campany to help make new buildings stronger. The company name was changed in 1927 to Soule Steel Company. The family-owned business grew and at its peak had nine 9 fabrication shops, a steel mill (1959 in Long Beach, California), a division for building steel buildings, and a steel window and doors division. Edw. L Soulé retired in 1945 and Stanley Soul continued the company, and later Edward Lee Soule Jr. (1917-2003) and his brothers: Howard Stephen Soule (1924-2010), Lee Soule and Peter Soule. Soule Steel and Zamil Steel founded a joint venture in 1930. Soule family was also a family of philanthropy and gave to many charities. Soule Steel closed in 1986. The San Francisco plant and Portland plant are now business centers. The Wilmington Ave Los Angeles plant is now The Plaza Americana. The Seattle plant is now Ferguson Plumbing warehouse. The Phoenix site is now a food court. San Jose site is a vacant lot. Fresno site is now apartments.[6][7][8][9]

YC 1073 Barge (non-self-propelled) built in 1945 by Soule Steel
Edw. L Soulé Campany's main office on Army street in San Francisco, California in 1923
Edward L Soulé founder of Soulé Steel Company in 1905

Soulé Software

Third-generation Soule, Sandy Soule, started Soulé Software based in Valencia, California, which is also run by fourth-generation Soule, Kevin Soule. Soulé Software product is Contract management software, that also supports rebar fabrication and placers.[10]

Built for World War II

Soule Steel produced tons of rebar for the war effort.[11]

LCM(3) and LCM(6)
Landing Craft Mechanized in 1943

For the war Soule Steel built LCM(3) and LCM(6), these are Landing Craft Mechanized Mark 3 and Mark 6.[12]

Seaplane Wrecking Derrick
Seaplane Wrecking Derrick

Soule Steel San Francisco plant built SD-11 Class Seaplane Wrecking Derrick for the US Navy for World War 2:

  • YSD 60 Worked 17th Naval District for WW2, remove Navy 1 December 1977, transferred to the City of Long Beach, CA, 15 December 1999, abandoned on Terminal Island in 2008.[13]
  • YSD 61 Worked 13th Naval District at Whidbey Island, remove Navy and sold on 27 October 1960 to Western Marine Construction, Inc., Seattle, WA, (ON 284150) in 1961, abandoned on Snohomish River in 2011.[14]
  • YSD 62 Worked Roi, Kwajalein for WW2, move from Kwajalein to Pearl Harbor aboard Whetstone (LSD-27) in 1947. removed by 1967.[15]
  • YSD 63 Worked din Guam and Saipan for WW2, worked Subic Bay, remove from Navy 16 July 1993.[16]
  • YSD 64, became Sandcaster YM-31. Worked Fourteenth Naval District at Pearl Harbor, to Ulithi in 1945, Towed to Kerama Retto, Okinawa by (ARS-16) in 1945, worked Fourteenth Naval District to 1955, worked as Service Craft Unit 1 for diving school at Pearl in 1958, made YM-31 in 1968, rename Sandcaster on 14 December 1968. worked Vietnam, hit Mine on Cua Viet River, Vietnam with 7 Vietnam crew killed on 25 February 1971, remove Navy on 1 September 1972. scrap on 21 February 1973.[17]
  • YSD 65 Worked 13th Naval District at NAS Tongue Point, removed Navy on 15 June 1974, sold 7 April 1975 to WIlliam H. Weber, Long Beach, CA, as Hiawatha (ON 565326) in 1976, out of service in 2005[18]

Steel barges
LCM-3 at Battleship Cove

Soule Steel built steel barges for the US Navy for World War 2, a Type B ship.

Hull typeNameTypeTonsLengthDeliveredNotes
YC1073Open Lighter1381101945
YC1074Open Lighter1381101945
YC1075Open Lighter1381101945
YC1076Open Lighter1381101945
YC1077Open Lighter1381101945
YC1078Open Lighter1381101945
YC1079Open Lighter1381101945Later renamed YRB 22, YR 92, sold 2005
YC1080Open Lighter1381101945
YC1081Open Lighter1381101945Scuttled off Oahu 2019[19]
YC1082Open Lighter1381101945
YC1083Open Lighter1381101945
YC1084Open Lighter1381101945Later renamed YFNX 46, active[20]
YC1085Open Lighter1381101945[21]
YC1086Open Lighter1381101945
YC1087Open Lighter1381101945
YC1088Open Lighter1381101945
YC1107Open Lighter1381101945
YC1108Open Lighter1381101945
YC1109Open Lighter1381101945
YF436Covered Lighter80951943Later renamed YCK 16, disposed of 1946
YF437Covered Lighter75801943Later renamed YCK 17
YF438Covered Lighter75801943Later renamed YCK 18, disposed of 1946
YF439Covered Lighter75801943Later renamed YCK 19, disposed of 1946
YF440Covered Lighter75801943Later renamed YCK 20, Later renamed YD 173
YF441Covered Lighter75801943Later renamed YCK 21, disposed of 1948
YF442Covered Lighter75801943Later renamed YCK 22, disposed of 1948
YCK29Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK30Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK31Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK32Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK33Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK34Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK35Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK36Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK37Open Lighter75801943Lost 1945
YCK38Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK39Open Lighter75801943Lost 1945
YCK49Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK50Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YCK51Open Lighter75801943Disposed of 1947
YFN808Covered Lighter1701101943
YFN809Covered Lighter1701101943
YFN810Covered Lighter1701101943
YFN811Covered Lighter1701101943
YFN812Covered Lighter1701101943
YFN813Covered Lighter1701101943To MARAD 1946

See also

References
  1. Soule Steel Company News letter 1968
  2. "SOULE', Edward Lee Jr". Sfgate.com. 2003-09-03. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  3. Soule Steel Company Products
  4. Soulé Steel Company : building the West, by John L Van Landingham, book [2002
  5. Pacific marine review 1945, Page 53
  6. Soulé salute; published printed for Soulé Steel War Workers
  7. Howard Stephen Soule, September 2, 2011
  8. Stanley Eldon Soule. "Stanley Soule Obituary (2003) - Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles Times". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  9. "Other Wartime Pacific Coast Boatbuilders". Shipbuildinghistory.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  10. "Soule Software Inc. - We offer a Complete Software Suite for Rebar Fabricators and Placers". Soulesoftware.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  11. Inland Steel page 198
  12. Small Landing Craft - LCM
  13. YSD 60 navsource
  14. YSD 61 navsource
  15. YSD 62 navsource
  16. YSD 63 navsource
  17. YSD 64 navsource
  18. YSD 65 navsource
  19. "Naval Vessel Register - NO NAME (YC 1081)". Nvr.navy.mil. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  20. "Naval Vessel Register - NO NAME (YFNX 46)". Nvr.navy.mil. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  21. "Naval Vessel Register - NO NAME (YC 1075)". Nvr.navy.mil. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
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