Interviewer: Tyler Priest

Affiliation: University of Houston

John Swoboda’s parents immigrated from Czechslovakia, and John was born in Galveston, Texas. When a third party showed Swoboda’s father plans for an offshore drilling rig, John helped with its fabrication—on the workover rig that became known as Skytop. During College, Swoboda worked for Collins Construction Company, helping to lay offshore pipelines in the late 1950s. After college, Swoboda landed a job building military equipment for jet airplane munitions, at the start of the 1960s, and later assisted with an offshore diamond mining concern. Doing business as a small firm back in the United States, Victoria Machine Works—which his father had founded—Swoboda was able to acquire several contracts from McDermott for barge fabrication. His firm worked on a wide array of projects over the decades, including the U.S. Navy’s historic SEALAB habitat. By the 1990s, the firm employed over 200 people.