At its peak, Avondale Shipyard employed 26,000 people — more than the population of most Louisiana cities. For seventy-six years, the yard on the west bank of the Mississippi near Bridge City built the vessels that carried American military power across oceans: destroyers, amphibious assault ships, the USS Somerset. It started in 1938 as Avondale Marine Ways, a small barge repair operation founded by James Viavant, Harry Koch, and Perry Ellis with 200 workers. World War II changed everything. Government contracts for tugs and transport vessels turned the yard into the largest private employer in Louisiana. Generations of West Bank families — Bridge City, Westwego, Harvey — built their lives around the shipyard's shifts and the industries that fed it. When the last naval vessel departed on February 3, 2014, the closure left a hole in the regional economy that a decade hasn't filled. The Port of South Louisiana acquired the site in 2023, and redevelopment plans are underway. But the working-class identity of this stretch of river — the lunch-pail, welding-mask, overtime-check culture — was forged at Avondale, and the people who live here still carry it.