The largest site on the South Kearny peninsula is the former Federal Shipbuilding yard. Started by a U.S. Steel subsidiary in 1917 to build ships for WWI, it built destroyers and other ships for the next war, employing 32,000 people. The site became a shipbreaking facility in the 1970s, taking apart battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers. Now the River Terminal Distribution Facility, with 5.5 million square feet inside, and 300 acres outside, it makes no use of its waterfront location.