After WWI, there was a slump in shipbuilding. BIW Ltd. went into bankruptcy and all tooling was sold at auction. Keyes Fibre Company of Waterville decided they wanted to produce paper pie plates in the yard because their contractor, Hyde Windlass Company, created the pie plate machines in a lot beside BIW. However contracts fell through, giving William “Pete” Newell, an M.I.T. graduate and manager of Engineering at BIW during WWI, an opportunity to step in. He was determined to recover BIW back to its former glory. With some help, he was able to purchase the abandoned yard in 1927 and brought it back to life, changing the name from Bath Iron Works Ltd. to Bath Iron Works Corp.
