Neafie & Levy

Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Company, commonly known as Neafie & Levy, was an American ship and engineering companies from Philadelphia, which existed from the mid- 19th to the early 20th century. Neafie & Levy, 'first to obtain specialized shipbuilder " in the United States and was probably the first company in the country that combined the construction of iron ships in the manufacture of steam engines to drive it. The company acted in his early years as the largest supplier of screw propellers for other North American Schifsbauunternehmen. In the early 1870s, it reached its peak and was Philadelphia's busiest and most capitalized shipbuilders.

After the death of his owner, John P. Levy, in 1867, the company grew more conservative and has developed into a niche shipbuilders for smaller high-quality vessels such as steam boats and tugs. A few years after retirement and the death of its founder and longtime CEO Jacob Neafie 1898, it took the company through a series of mediocre corporate governance, poor public perception and unprofitable U.S. Navy contracts is increasingly being eroded.

Among the most notable built by the company ships Several of vessels built, such as the Tug Jupiter and Tuff -E - Nuff (until 2007 was the first submarine of the U.S. Navy, the USS Alligator, and the first destroyer USS Bainbridge from 1899. ) and the Yankee ferry today, over 100 years after its commissioning, still in service. Overall, the company built in its 63- year history, more than 300 ships and 1,100 steam engines for navigation, in addition to non-marine production, which included cooling systems and equipment for the production of sugar.