Cramp Shipbuilding Co. v. United States

The plaintiff corporation was formed in July 1940, at the request of the Navy Department, to acquire and operate a shipyard in Philadelphia which had not been operated since 1927. During the years 1941 to 1946 it did $275,000,000 worth of work for the Navy, under twelve separate cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts for the construction and conversion of naval vessels. In 1946, after all its contracts had been completed, or terminated for the convenience of the Government, it discontinued shipyard operations.

The plaintiff’s first claim is for sums of money which, it asserts, were a part of the costs…