US Navy WW II Floating Dry Docks

[Ray Newman]

"The docks came in two sizes, with the largest ones built out of ten sections, each 256′ long and 80′ wide and with a lift of 10,000 tons. These were welded together side to side to produce an assembled dock 927′ long and 256′ wide that could lift a warship 827′ long, 133′ wide, and displacing up to 90,000 tons. This was sufficient for any ship in the fleet. The smaller version came in seven sections, each 204′ long and 101′ wide and capable of lifting 8000 tons." (emphasis added: RCN)

Read all 'bout it:

https://givemeliberty01.com/tag/advance-base-sectional-docks/

 

[toysoldier]

Something I never read about. Thanks.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Thanks for sharing, that is interesting reading!

 

[coach]

Amazing what we did in WWII to win.

 

[Dan in MI]

Amazing what we did in WWII to win.

We actually tried to win.

 

[Bob Wright]

Dry docks, either on land or floating, canal locks and dam locks have always intrigued me. The idea is of course very simple: build an enclosure in the water, float a ship into it and then pump out the water. Or, as in the case of locks, pump in the water. In either case, its a mighty big vessel and a lot of water.

Just another one of those Modern Marvels.

Bob Wright

 

[Engineerjohn]

Good reading!

 

[caryc]

I spent some time on AFDL 23. It was a floating dry dock in Danang Harbor. We service all the small craft around the Danang area. It was capable of lifting anything up to and including a destroyer escort.

We lived inside those big wing walls. My rack was about 16 feet off the deck. All the racks were set at a slight angle towards the bulkhead. You didn't want to fall out of one of them in your sleep. They towed the thing over from the Phillipines for use in Viet Nam. It had four pump rooms with three big pumps in each room.

To take a craft in, after setting up the correct hauling blocks for it to rest on, they just opened the flooding valves and down the thing went. They would pull in the craft and center it on the blocks and start the pumps and up the dock would come. There was a dock master up top side in charge and he was on head phones to each pump room. He told them what valves to open / close and what pumps to run to see that the thing went down level and most important, come up level when there was a craft in it.

In the engine room there was three huge Cummins models L's with generators on them. We usually ran only one of them at night and two during the day. The thing had four gun tubs, one on each corner with a 50 cal in it and it also had two 30 cals amidships.

We took everything from swift boats, a Coast Guard cutter, Mic6 and mic8 landing craft and the larger LCU landing craft. Also ocean going tugs and various barges.

When we took in the Coast Guard cutter, the story we got was that it was shot up by aircraft. The pilot house was riddle with bullet holes and a lot of damage else where. We heard that everyone was killed except one guy who was on watch down in the engine room when it happened. I think he was wounded when he ran up to see what was going on, but he managed to bring the thing into the harbor.

The bad part was that it was shot up by one of our aircraft. Someone forgot to turn on the running lights and the pilot opened fire on it. There was a curfew on the water and after a certain time in the evening, you'd better be flying an American flag or at least have the proper running lights.

You can see some pics here. http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/28/2823.htm