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A dry dock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft.
The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport. The primary role of NSY Long Beach at the time of its closure was overhaul and maintenance of conventionally-powered US Navy surface ships, but it also had served as the homeport for several auxiliary ships during its operating history.
HMS Sceptre (P215) was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in April 1943, she spent the majority of her career in the North Sea, off Norway. After an uneventful patrol, the submarine participated in Operation Source, an attack on German battleships in Norway using small midget submarines to penetrate their anchorages and place explosive charges. However, the midget submarine that she was assigned to tow experienced technical difficulties and the mission was aborted. During her next four patrols, Sceptre attacked several ships, but only succeeded in severely damaging one. She was then ordered to tow the submarine X24, which was to attack a floating dry dock in Bergen. The operation, codenamed Guidance, encountered difficulties with the attacking submarine's charts, and the explosives were laid on a merchant ship close to the dock instead. The dock was damaged and the ship sunk, and X24 was towed back to England. Sceptre then conducted a patrol in the Bay of Biscay, sinking two German merchant ships, before being reassigned to tow X24 to Bergen again. The operation was a success, and the dry dock was sunk.
Garden Island is an inner-city locality of Sydney, Australia, and the location of a major Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base. It is located to the north-east of the Sydney central business district and juts out into Port Jackson, immediately to the north of the suburb of Potts Point. Used for government and naval purposes since the earliest days of the colony of Sydney, it was originally a completely-detached island but was joined to the Potts Point shoreline by major land reclamation work during World War II.
The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at Kearny Point where the mouth of the Hackensack River meets Newark Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The shipyard site is now part of River Terminal, a massive distribution facility that is partially a foreign trade zone.
USS Artisan (ABSD-1), later redesignated as (AFDB-1), was a ten-section, non-self-propelled, large auxiliary floating drydock of the United States Navy. The only U.S. warship with this name, Artisan was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943 by the Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, in Everett, Washington; the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, in Eureka, California; the Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company, in Stockton, California; and the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, in Morgan City, Louisiana. This ship was commissioned at Everett, Washington, on 10 May 1943, Captain Andrew R. Mack in command. With all ten sections joined, she was 927 feet long, 28 feet tall, and with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches.
An Auxiliary repair dock (ARD) is a type of floating drydock employed by the U.S. Navy, especially during World War II. The Navy commissioned 33 ARD vessels: ARD-1 through ARD-33. ARDs were self-sustaining in World War II. ARDs have a rudder to help in tow moving, making ARDs very mobile, and have a bow to cut through waves. ARDs have a stern that can be opened or closed. The stern can be closed with bottom-hinged flap gate, operated by hydraulic rams. This stern gate can be lowered for ship entrance into the submerged dock, and then closed to keep out waves. ARDs were built by the Pacific Bridge Company, in Alameda, California.
Mort's Dock is a former dry dock, slipway, and shipyard in Balmain, New South Wales, Australia. It was the first dry dock in Australia, opening for business in 1855 and closing more than a century later in 1959. The site is now parkland.
The Morse Dry Dock and Repair Company was a major late 19th/early 20th century ship repair and conversion facility located in New York City. Begun in the 1880s as a small shipsmithing business known as the Morse Iron Works, the company grew to be one of America's largest ship repair and refit facilities, at one time owning the world's largest floating dry dock.
Evans Deakin & Company was an Australian engineering company and shipbuilder. In 2019, the company was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of its major contributions to the Queensland economy for nearly a century through excellence in heavy engineering, construction and ship building.
Bay Shipbuilding Company (BSC) is a shipyard and dry dock company in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. As of 2015, Bay Ships was a subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Group and produces articulated tug and barges, OPA-90 compliant double hull tank ships and offshore support vessels. It also provides repair services to the lake freighter fleet. In the past the shipyard located in Sturgeon Bay has operated under several different names and traces its history back to 1918.
The Type B ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II barges. Barges are very low cost to build, operate and move. Barges were needed to move large bulky cargo. A tug boat, some classed as Type V ships, could move a barge, then depart and move on to the next task. That meant the barge did not have to be rushed to be unloaded or loaded. Toward the end of World War 2, some ships that had not been completed in time for the war were converted to barges. US Navy barges are given the prefix: YWN or YW. Due to shortage of steel during World War II, concrete ship constructors were given contracts to build concrete barges with the prefix YO, YOG, YOGN. Built in 1944 and 1945, some were named after elements.
An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the floating dry dock, raising the ship out of the water. The ship becomes blocked on the deck of the floating dry dock for repair. Most floating dry docks have no engine and are towed by tugboats to their destinations. Floating dry docks come in different sizes to accommodate varying ship sizes, while large floating dry docks come in sections and can be combined to increase their size and lift power. Ballast pontoon tanks are flooded with water to submerge or pumped dry to raise the ship.
USS AFDM-2,, is an AFDM-3-class medium auxiliary floating drydock built in Mobile, Alabama by the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company for the U.S. Navy. Originally named USS YFD-4, Yard Floating Dock-4, she operated by Todd Shipyards at New Orleans, Louisiana for the repair of US ships during World War II. YFD-4 was renamed an Auxiliary Floating Dock Medium AFDM-2 in 1945 after the war.
ABSD-3 is an advanced base sectional dock, constructed of nine advance base dock (ABD) sections for the US Navy as an auxiliary floating drydock for World War II. ABSD-3 was delivered to the US Navy in April 1944, and was commissioned on 27 October 1944. Advance Base Sectional Dock-3 was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943.
ABSD-6 is an advanced base sectional dock which was constructed of nine advance base docks (ABD) sections for the US Navy as an auxiliary floating drydock for World War II. ABSD-6 was built by Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California. ABSD-6 was commissioned on 28 September 1944. Advance Base Sectional Dock-6 was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943. Each section are 3,850 tons and are 93 feet long each. Each Section had a 165 feet beam, a 75 feet molded depth and had 10,000 tons lifting capacity each. There were 4 ballast compartments in each section. With all nine sections joined, she was 825 feet long, 28 feet tall, and with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches. ABSD-2 had a traveling 15-ton capacity crane with an 85-foot radius and two or more support barges. The two side walls were folded down under tow to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity. ABSD-6 had 6 capstans for pulling, each rated at 24,000 lbf (110,000 N) at 30 ft/min (0.15 m/s), 4 of the capstans were reversible.
Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company was established in 1942 to build ships needed for World War II. As part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program the US Navy provided some of the capital to start Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding at Port Gardner Bay in Everett, Washington. Everett-Pacific was sold in 1945 to the Pacific Car and Foundry, who was already a major manufacturer of railcars and trucks. Pacific Car and Foundry was building barges for the US Navy during World War II at plants in Renton, Seattle and Tacoma in the state of Washington. The lease for the shipyard in Everett, Washington ended in 1949 and the yard closed. Pacific Car and Foundry in 1972 changed its name to Paccar Inc. to reflect its major products. The Everett-Pacific shipyard site later became part of Western Gear, a heavy machinery manufacturer. in 1987 the shipyard became part of Naval Station Everett. Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding was started by William Pigott Jr. a Seattle businessmen and his brother Paul Pigott (1900-1961). William Pigott Jr. was born in 26 Aug. 1895 in Pueblo, CO and died on 8 July 1947 in San Francisco, CA.
Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company was established in 1942 to build ships needed for World War II. As part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program the US Navy provided some of the capital to start Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding at Stockton, California. The shipyard was located at San Joaquin River and Stockton Channel, near Louis Park. After the war the shipyard closed down in February 1946.
Hurley Marine Shipyard of Hurley Marine Works also site of Naval Reserve Armory, Oakland and the Naval Industrial Reserve Repair Facility, Oakland was a shipyard in Oakland, California. The Hurley Marine Shipyard opened in 1940, in 1951 the yard was operated by Crowley Maritime Corporation. In 1964 the site was operated by Pacific Dry Dock and Repair Company. The shipyard closed in 1992, today most of the shipyard is vacant land with part of the land now Leal Seal Boat Works owned by Leal Charonnat, of Leal Charonnat - Architect & Engineering. A small boatyard operated at the site from 1935 to 1940. The shipyard was located at 321 Embarcadero Oakland on the San Francisco bay, Inner Oakland Harbor. Crowley Maritime Corporation was the parent corporation of Pacific Dry Dock, which used the shipyard to repair its fleet of tugboats and other ships. Pacific Dry Dock also operated a shipyard across from Coast Guard Island till 1991 at 1414 Embarcadero Oakland.
References
- Betty, John. "An Elusive Lady: Darwin's Floating Dry Dock" (PDF). Journal of the Australian Naval Institute . 109: 37–40. Retrieved 14 May 2019.