7246359515.jpg &&& WHEN Paul E. Atkinson arrived at the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., in Chester, in 1942, the place was going full blast. Even before World War II broke out, the shipyard was busily filling orders for tanker ships, but when the war started, the yard was expanded to include 28 shipways, and 35,000 workers were put on the payroll. Paul Atkinson, a native of Long Island, N.Y., had just graduated from the famous Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, sometimes called "America's toughest school." He plunged into the maelstrom of booming war work in which the yard produced a ship every six weeks. He held numerous positions through the war and over the next 35 years, becoming Sun Ship president in 1961. He retired in 1977. Paul Atkinson, who also found time to become active in Philadelphia civic organizations, died Aug. 4 of complications of a fall at his Palo Alto, Calif., home, where he had lived since 2004. He was 88. On his watch, Sun Ship remained even after the war as one of the region's largest employers. It maintained a steady production of oil tankers for its parent company, Sun Oil, now Sunoco Inc. Both companies were controlled by the Pew family. The shipyard company, founded in 1917, was sold to Pennsylvania Shipbuilding in 1982, and closed in 1989. During the war years, Atkinson undertook many varied assignments in both new shipbuilding and ship-repair operations. In addition to building new ships, the yard was kept busy repairing ships that had been damaged by German U-boats. During the Korean War, Atkinson became general superintendent of all operations, and, in 1956, became vice president of operations. In 1957, he led a rebuilding of the shipyard with fewer but greatly enlarged shipways. Among the innovations was creation of the largest floating drydock in the U.S. In 1965, he conceived the gas turbine-propelled cargo ship Adm. William M. Callaghan, which served the Navy for decades. Atkinson was a pioneer in the development of roll-on/roll-off vessels, which carried tractor-trailers and other heavy vehicles. The company owned Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE), operating to Alaska. In 1968, the Central Intelligence Agency commissioned Sun Ship to build the Glomar Explorer, with the cooperation of Howard Hughes, to raise a Russian submarine that had sunk in the Pacific in April 1968. The cover story was that the ship was to be used to extract manganese nodules from the ocean floor. But its true mission, dubbed Project Jennifer, was to raise the sub. The operation was only partly successful and the ship is now used as a deep-sea drilling platform. Under Atkinson's watch, the yard also converted the USS Manhattan for two pioneering ice-breaking voyages through the Northwest Passage to Alaska. Also under his direction, the yard built a new level launch facility, including a larger floating drydock, once again the largest in the U.S. Things began to deteriorate at Sun Ship in the late 1970s when an extensive diversification plan was scuttled. In late 1980, the parent company announced the withdrawal of Sun Ship from new ship construction. In 1968, Atkinson and others, including former Sun Ship vice president Eugene Schorsch, incorporated Chester Challenge LLC to pursue a lawsuit claiming irregularities in the company's financial dealings. The complex case was still pending in the federal courts at Atkinson's death. Atkinson married the former Bernice Mulcahey in 1942. They lived in the Philadelphia area until her death in 1981, when Paul moved into Society Hill Towers. He remained there until he moved to California. He was former vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia. He is survived by two sons, Paul E. and Peter Atkinson, and a daughter, Mary Hafner. Services: A memorial service will be held at a later date.