The Alabama Drydock & Shipping Company (ADDSCO), located in Mobile, has been in continuous operation since 1917, with active roles during World War I and World War II. The shipyard was originally a repair yard for large ships. ADDSCO also provided the management staff and land for one of nine emergency shipyards. They were just one of four shipbuilding companies that built tankers used in World War II.

Mobile, Alabama was a relatively small town, but the employment went from one thousand employees to nearly 30,000 at the start of the war years. Newspaper articles and radio interviews encouraged women to participate in the war effort by working in the shipyards and other wartime industries. ADDSCO alone employed over 2,500 women, many of whom were in jobs such as welding or quality control. These were fields which had never allowed female employees prior to this time. In fact, women held over one quarter of all defense-related jobs in the city of Mobile during the wars. The wartime work completely overwhelmed the city of Mobile. Nearly everyone who showed up at the shipyards and wanted to work was hired. Asbestos exposure has been a big issue concerning this shipyard.

Early in 1941, an order for 260 ships was placed with several shipyards, including those in Mobile. Speed was of the essence in building these vessels, known as Liberty ships. Over one-quarter of the Liberty ships were intended to be sent to the support of Britain. When the Lend-Lease program was implemented shortly thereafter, ship orders doubled. Several new shipyards were established, and the existing shipyards such as ADDSCO were dramatically enlarged.

During the wars, U.S. shipyards were able to build 2,751 Liberty ships. Nationwide, the average construction time for one Liberty ship was only 42 days. The American shipyards, including that of Alabama Drydock and Shipping Company, were actually building Liberty ships extremely fast. The Liberty Ships were members of the U.S. Merchant Marine, and gun crews on the ships were members of the U.S. Naval Armed Guard.

The ships far outlasted their expected life, with many still operating commercially as late as the 1970s. The techniques are still used in the shipbuilding businesses today.

A total of 20 type EC2-S-C1 ships were built at the Alabama Drydock and Shipping Company during the wars.

In the years after the close of World War II, the Alabama drydock and shipping area returned to normal operations of being a repair facility. After 1989, the plant was sold to Atlantic Marine Holdings. Today, the shipyard remains a repair facility, but does some shipbuilding as Alabama Shipyard.

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