Workboats, ferries, patrol and rescue boats, fishing vessels and submarines built in the USA for agencies, operators and the military.
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These builders make boats for work, not recreation: aluminum patrol, fire and rescue boats, passenger ferries and research vessels, steel commercial fishing vessels, electrofishing boats for fisheries agencies, and nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy.
Most build to order around each customer's job and sell to governments, the military and commercial operators rather than to the public.
Aluminum commercial vessels, mostly catamarans: high-speed passenger ferries, excursion and whale-watch boats, research vessels for NOAA and universities, patrol boats, Coast Guard motor life boats, and hybrid-electric and hydrogen fuel cell ferries for public and private operators.
Made in: Bellingham, WA (vessels built at its Squalicum Harbor yard since 1987).
Source: WhatcomTalk, checked 10/2026
Bellingham, WA
Electric Boat designs, builds and maintains nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy, including Virginia-class attack submarines and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. It is a General Dynamics company and does not sell boats to consumers.
Made in: Groton, CT (final assembly and launch of submarines, repair and design engineering) and North Kingstown, RI (the Quonset Point plant cuts, machines and bends hull parts and outfits hull sections and mid-bodies).
Source: Electric Boat, Groton, Electric Boat, Quonset Point, checked 10/2026
Groton, CT
Giddings Boat Works builds custom steel-hulled commercial fishing vessels, such as the 67-foot combination boat Patriot, rigged for shrimping, crabbing and tendering from Oregon to Alaska. It has also built passenger boats.
Made in: Charleston, OR (steel vessels, built at its yard on Oregon's South Coast).
Source: Shipbuilding History, checked 10/2026
Charleston, OR
Aluminum boats built to order, including heavy-duty electrofishing boats for fisheries agencies, jon boats, pontoon boats, trawl boats and utility work boats, plus boat and trailer packages and boom kits.
Made in: Oquawka, IL (aluminum boat building and fabrication at its shop on State Highway 164).
Source: American Fisheries Society, checked 10/2026
Oquawka, IL
Aluminum workboats for military, federal, state and local government and commercial customers, built to order around each buyer's mission, such as the Coastal Fast Response Boat delivered to the Navy in 2024.
Made in: Theodore, AL (boat building and outfitting at its main plant; engineering, design and metal stock at a second Theodore site opened in 2024).
Source: Business Alabama, 2024, checked 10/2026
Theodore, ALIf a company makes its products in the USA and is not listed, send us its website.
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A company may be based in the USA while making some products elsewhere. Check the manufacturer's own site for where a specific product is made.