Bethlehem Steel played an instrumental role in manufacturing the U.S. warships and other military weapons used in World War I and later by Allied forces in ultimately winning World War II. Over 1,100 Bethlehem Steel-manufactured warships were built for use in defeating Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in World War II.

Highly esteemed in the US, Bethlehem Steel's production of munitions is attacked in this German propaganda broadsheet from World War I. World War I proved to be an intensely profitable time for Bethlehem Steel, turning the company into one of the largest in the world.

Apr 19, 2020 · At the time, south Bethlehem was packed with 31,000 workers making guns, shells, armor plate, submarine parts and other materiel for the First World War. The company was the No. 1 munitions maker in America and had been frenetically serving the Allied cause since the war began in 1914.

Dec 22, 2017 · Wartime meant big business for Bethlehem Steel. When the first World War broke out in 1914, Bethlehem enjoyed record profits as it produced armaments, first for embattled European countries, then for the US Army and Navy.

Aug 18, 2019 · Bethlehem Steel was the first American steel mill to incorporate the revolutionary Bessemer process in its manufacturing methods. The process—discovered by Henry Bessemer in 1856—removes impurities from iron ore by blowing oxygen into molten pig iron.

Jul 7, 2021 · Twenty years and one day after David Thomas’ momentous first cast of anthracite iron at Lock 36, an equally important event occurred in Bethlehem: John Fritz arrived to begin building the Bethlehem Iron Works—the company which became Bethlehem Steel.

United States enters World War II, and Bethlehem Steel’s operations shift to all-out war production of steel plate for ships and tanks, structural steel for defense plants and forgings for guns, shells, and aircraft engines.

Jan 18, 2025 · The story of Bethlehem Steel begins in the 1840s when the Lehigh Canal and the coal it carried triggered the American Industrial Revolution in the Lehigh Valley. (A historical marker located in Bethlehem in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.)

Due to a combination of poor business management, labor strikes, and a general transition away from traditional steel manufacturing in the United States, the Bethlehem Steel Corporation fell into a period of decline in the late 1970s from which it never recovered.

1 day ago · Bethlehem Steel’s first rolling mill and blast furnace were completed in 1863, and immediately put to work producing railroad rails and steel armor plating for the U.S. Navy. In the early 1880s, the Navy decided to upgrade its aging fleet and Bethlehem Steel won the contract to produce ordnance, large caliber guns, and battleships that played ...