“He did not cease to be a student when he left school.” This fact to a
very great extent accounts for the achievements of Charles H. Cramp,
who is the president of the largest shipbuilding enterprise in the
United States. He was born in Philadelphia, May 9, 1828, and is the
oldest son of William Cramp, who was the founder of the industry which
bears his name. After receiving a thorough schooling and graduating
from the Philadelphia high school, he learned the shipbuilding
trade with his father. He is now recognized as the head of naval
architecture on the American continent. Mr. Cramp’s services in the
reconstruction of the navy and in connection with the revival of the
American merchant marine alone entitle him to permanent distinction.
Beginning in 1887 his firm built, in rapid succession, the Yorktown
(gunboat), the Vesuvius (dynamite torpedo vessel), Baltimore (protected
cruiser), Philadelphia (protected cruiser), New York (armored cruiser),
Columbia (protected cruiser), Minneapolis (protected cruiser), Indiana
(battleship), Massachusetts (battleship), Brooklyn (armored cruiser),
and the Iowa (seagoing battleship). The fleet has an aggregate of
nearly eighty thousand tons of displacement and one hundred and
forty-seven thousand indicated horse-power. The shipyard covers thirty
acres of ground, employs six thousand men and was capitalized at
$5,000,000 in 1894. The William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building
Co., from a simple shipyard, has reached the status of the greatest and
most complete naval arsenal in the western hemisphere.