[2] In the past the shipyard located in Sturgeon Bay has operated under several different names and traces its history back to 1918.

[5] In 1975, Bay Shipbuilding had around 800 workers and expected to expand to 1,400 because of a new contract to construct four 1,000 foot long lake freighters for the American Steamship Company and Bethlehem Steel.

In the late 1990s, the yard built a handful of smaller vessels including a ferry, two tugs, a dredge and the 475 foot tank barge Seneca (later named DBL 140).

[12] Prior to 2015, Fincantieri added a new floating dry dock and Computer-aided manufacturing equipment during a $26 million capital expansion plan.

On July 1, 2022, the MV Mark W. Barker was floated out of the graving dock,[13] becoming the first lake freighter built by the yard since 1987.

[citation needed] The river-class freighter entered regular service on July 27 and was formally christened on September 1 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sturgeon Bay SB&DDC changed ownership in April 1934 and employed around 90 workers at the time.

During the war Sturgeon Bay SB&DDC built some Design 210, 150 foot Steel Diesel Retrieving Vessels for the U.S. Army (H-2 to H-12).

[7] After the war, Sturgeon Bay SB&DDC built ferries, tugboats, towboats, a yacht or two and fishing vessels.

During World War II, Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding built some Type N3 ships and a number of 175 foot PC-461-class submarine chasers, like USS Munising (PC-1228).

[7] As mentioned above, in 1970 Christy Corporation's yard was purchased by the Manitowoc Company and merged into Bay Shipbuilding.