By the start of World War II, Sun was among the country's five largest shipyards, with eight slipways. Twenty slipways were added during the war, making Sun Ship the country's largest shipyard.Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 121, 268-9, 274, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. . At its peak, the company employed more than 40,000 workers at four shipyards. During World War II, Sun Shipbuilding was the largest private-sector employer of African-Americans in the United States and controversially segregated many of the black workers to yard #4.
