Intermarine Savannah is a specialist in ship casting and repairs but this name is also famous for ship building. Intermarine Savannah started building luxury yachts, motor yachts, super yachts and intermarine in 1909 when a yacht that was used in the World War II as an auxiliary patrol vessel was built by Forest City Foundry.
The Shipyard was acquired by Walter Lee Mingledorff from Savannah in 1912. Mr. Mingledorff changed the company's name to Savannah Machine and Foundry and during the war, Shipyard, under the management of Mingledorff and Walter Lee Jr., his son, built around 20 minesweepers used by the US Navy and six minesweepers used by the Royal Navy together with three submarine type rescue ships.
It was in 1968 when Aegis Corp. acquired Savannah Machine and Foundry. Bound by a contract agreement with the Military Sealift Command, the company business expanded to converting Victory ships into missile carriers and bulk carriers into container ships. In 1984, the yard was acquired by Saylor Marine and it continued with its ship repair operations for commercial operators particularly the US Coast Guard.
In the early 80s, the development of the new mine countermeasures that included the two classes of minesweeping helicopters and ships started was spearheaded by the US Navy. These countermeasures however were underscored in the Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield as well as in the Persian Gulf. It was in 1987 when Intermarine USA leased a portion of the company as a response to the contract with US Navy to build and produce mine hunters with the use of composite materials. The shipyard was then restructured, renovated and converted into a more modern manufacturing facility that uses composite materials.
Some of the ships the newly renovated company produced during that time included the Osprey (MHC 51). These class ships are a type of mine hunter-killers that are capable of searching, identifying and destructing bottom and moored mines. This type of ship can last for 15 days away from the shore depending on the facilities available for re-supply. The hulls of MHC 51 were solid with a continuous monocoque structure that was laminated with special resin and fiberglass. It was easy to maintain this ship as it flexes to absorb and endure the violent shock caused by an underwater mine explosion. These ships were even designed to have acoustic and very low magnetic signatures giving the ships' hulls an added safety margin during the operation.
The CEO and co-owner of the company, Thom Conboy, started driving the shipyard toward the construction of yacht in 1995. What he wanted was to apply the same specialties of the war ships on his yachts. During this time, there were around 320 people working for the company. Much of the specialized testing and construction equipment including its highly trained staff was retained by Intermarine.
The 21-acre shipyard of Intermarine is located along the Savannah River and this company became one of the world's leading builders of world-class motor yachts measuring from95 feet to as long as 145 feet. This shipyard provided full-service refit/repair capabilities for all kinds of yachts, motor, luxury and super yachts up to 500 feet in length. The company's facilities included a covered shed spanning the complete wet slip, a graving dock 535 feet in length, a 160,000 sq ft building for composite materials fabrication and a covered paint booth that can accommodate 2 ships up to 200 feet in length.
Intermarine Savannah built the world's first raised pilothouse motor yacht which is 95 feet in length. Intermarine Savannah delivered it to its owner in November of 2002. It was also in the same year when Intermarine Savannah launched the world's first tri-deck 145 mega yacht. This mega motor yacht was the largest motor yacht launched to date. It has a very elegant interior design and Intermarine Savannah was very confident that this motor yacht showed a better way of building a fiberglass motor yacht. To date, Intermarine Savannah remains to be the name that created a reputation in the history of motor, super and luxury yacht building.
