ABSD-3 is an

advanced base sectional dock An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy, auxiliary Dry dock#Floating, floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repai ...

, constructed of nine advance base dock (ABD) sections for the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as an

auxiliary floating drydock An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy, auxiliary Dry dock#Floating, floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repai ...

for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. ABSD-3 was delivered to the US Navy in April 1944, and was commissioned on 27 October 1944. Advance Base Sectional Dock-3 (Auxiliary Floating Dock Big-3) was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943. Each section was 3,850 tons and 80 feet long. Each section had a 256 feet beam, 75 feet molded depth and 10,000 tons lifting capacity. There were four ballast compartments in each section. With all nine sections joined, she was 844 feet long and 28 feet tall (keel to welldeck), with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches. The length includes 3 feet between each section and 50 platforms at each end. There were 12 ballast tanks in each section. ABSD-2 had a traveling 15-ton capacity crane with an 85-foot radius and two or more support

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s. The two side walls were folded down under tow to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity. ABSD-3 had six capstans for pulling, each rated at at . Four of the capstans were reversible.Building the Navy's Bases in World War II, History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps 1940-1946 Chapter IX, Floating Drydocks
/ref>
/ref>

Construction

The nine sections that made up dock ABSD-3 were built at four different shipyards, to speed up construction: *Section A -

Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company 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, Califo ...

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

*Sections B & F - Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

*Sections C & E - Chicago Bridge in

Morgan City, Louisiana Morgan City is a small city in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States, located in the Acadiana region. The population was 11,472 at the 2020 census. Known for being "right in the middle of everywhere", Morgan City is located southeast of ...

*Sections D, G, H & I - Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co.,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

World War II

Commissioned on 27 October 1944, the USS ABSD-3 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. It was towed in sections to the

Naval Base Guam Naval Base Guam is a strategic U.S. naval base located on Apra Harbor and occupying the Orote Peninsula. In 2009, it was combined with Andersen Air Force Base to form Joint Region Marianas, which is a Navy-controlled joint base. The Ship Rep ...

Apra Harbor Apra Harbor, also called Port Apra, is a deep-water port on the western side of the United States territory of Guam. It is considered one of the best natural ports in the Pacific Ocean. The harbor is bounded by Cabras Island and the Glass Breakwat ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

Marianas Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

. After assembling she was placed in service to repair ships at Guam with ABSD-6. On an island in the harbor at Guam the Navy built a base to support the crew of ABSD-3 and ABSD-6. At the base were supplies, movie theater, mess hall, officers' clubs, movie theater, and enlisted club. The base was built mostly with

quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel with a semi-circular cross-section. The design was developed in the United States based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I. Hund ...

s. The largest repairs at Guam were that of the USS ''Pennsylvania'' near the end of World War II; the ship was hit by a

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

attack off

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

on 12 August 1945. Due to the ''Pennsylvania''s 28.9 ft (8.8 m) draft with a full load, the battleship had to unload much of her

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

and

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

before entering AFDB-3. The USS ''Idaho'' (BB-42) was also repaired in ABSD-3 after a kamikaze attack on the same day. Able to lift 90,000 tons, ABSD-3 could raise large ships such as

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s, and large auxiliary ships, out of the water for repair below the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...

. She was also used to repair multiple smaller ships at the same time. Ships in continuous use during war need

repair The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installat ...

both from wear and from war damage from

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

and

torpedoes A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

Rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

s and

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s are best serviced on dry docks. Without ABSD-2 and her

sister ships A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, at remote locations months could be lost in a ships returning to a home port for repair. ABSD-3 had

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy. Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...

s, repair shops, and

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tool (machining), cutting tools to make parts, usua ...

s, and could be

self-sustaining Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person, being, or system needs little or no help from, or interaction with others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self ...

. ABSD-2 had two rail track moveable cranes able to lift tons of material and parts, for removing damaged parts and installing new parts. The first ship repaired at Guam was on 5 March 1945 and the last ship on 5 March 1946, after one year of operation. * Ships ABSD-3 repaired during World War 2: * USS ''Napa'' * LST 802 *LST 822 *PC 42 * USS ''Minneapolis'' *LCI 544 *LCI 610 *AK 142 - Cargo Ship * LST 688 *LST 442 *YD USS ''McInteze'' * USS ''Alnitah'' * LST 827 * HM LST-421 *

USS LST-486 USS ''LST/LST(H)-486'' was an built for the United States Navy during World War II. Construction ''LST-486'' was laid down on 31 December 1942, under Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 1006, by Kaiser Shipyards, Yard No. 4, Richmo ...

* LCT 840 *LCT 830 *LCT 868 *LCT 846 *AOD 186 * USS LST-546 *LST 646 *LCI 890 *LCI 910 * USS ''Idaho'' * USS ''South Dakota'' * USS ''Arkansas'' *YNT AN-48 USS ''Lancewood'' *YNT AN-47 USS ''Canotia'' *

USS LST-1000 USS ''LST-1000'' was an in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation. ''LST-1000'' was laid down on 26 February 1944 at the Boston Navy Yard; launched on 27 March 19 ...

* USS LST-767 *LST 609 * USS ''Pittsburgh'' *YDGT 7 *SC-760 *SC-1317 *YMS 403 *YMS 361 *YMS 163 *AGS 14 *APC 102 s *APC 25 *APC 45 * USS ''Earle B. Hall'' * USS ''Tillman'' *YMS 845 *AM 50 * USS ''Rescue'' *AK USS ''Edward G. Acheson'' * USS ''Munsee'' *LCI 562 *SC 658 *AV 4 *LST 789 *LSM 476 * USS ''St. George'' *LST 800 *LSM 208 *LCT 971 *LCT 358 *LCT 1182 *LCT 911 *LCT 912 *LCT 945 *LCT 817 *LCI 321 *SC 677 *AK SS E B *AK SS ''Abigail Adams'' *FD 188 US Army *LCT 1185 *YMS 163 *GS 11 *LSM 439 *SC 654 * USS ''Lamar'' * USS ''Kern'' *LCI 1290 *PC 787 *AK SS ''Ida Tarbell'' *Ak SS SS ''Carlos J. Finlay'' *LCT 803 *MS 323 *AN 68 *YMS 275 *YTB 299 *YD *AU 22 *LCT 1010 *LCT 905 * USS ''Pennsylvania'' *APA SS ''B. Dixon'' *GAGL 308 ''Papaw'' * USS ''Wantuck'' *LCI 910 *LCI 784 *BCL 3068 (Concrete#42 ''Uranium'') *YPK 3 * USS ''Mona Island'' *YC 1132 * USS ''Locust'' *YF 771 *LST 621 *LST 831 *

USS LST-931 USS ''LST-931/LST(H)-931'' was an in the United States Navy. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation. Construction ''LST-931'' was laid down on 13 June 1944, at Hingham, Massachusetts, by ...

* LCI 461 * LCI 355 * LST 986 * LCM 184 * LCM 37 * LCM 256 * LCI 689 *YF 768 *APL 15 APL-2 * LCI 817 * LCI 1064 * LCM 140 * LCM 142 * FS-255 *FS 229

Post-war

After the war ABSD-3 was decommissioned from the US Navy on 1 April 1946. Some sections were laid up in the

Atlantic Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and s ...

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. Green Cove Springs is a part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,786 at the 2020 census, up from 6,908 at ...

. Some sections were stored in the

James River Reserve Fleet The James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF) is located on the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia at () near Fort Eustis. James River Reserve Fleet, a "ghost fleet", is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. The Reserve Fleet ships in sto ...

from 1979 to 1982. She was struck from the Naval Register on 1 August 1981. On 1 April 1982 eight sections were sold to

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest ...

Bath, Maine Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. Bath is included in the Brunswick, Maine, Brunswick Micropolitan statistical area, micropolitan area. Bath has a 2024 population of 8,870. It is also the county seat of Sagadahoc County ...

. In 1982 she was towed to

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. Bath Iron Works used the dock to lift new-built

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...

s (DDG) to install

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

domes on the new ships' bows. The USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'' (FFG-58) was one of the ships serviced at the Bath Iron Works in May 1998. Bath Iron Works built a new land dry lock facility and no longer needed ABSD-3.Photos of USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'' on blocks in AFDB-3 in 1988
/ref> In 1999 she was sold and then in 2000 moved to two pieces (four sections) with the

heavy-lift ship A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be transported by normal ships. They are of two types: *''Semi-submersible'' ships that take on water ballast to allow the load—usually another vessel—to be fl ...

MV ''Blue Marlin'' to a shipyard in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

External links

Youtube, BATTLESHIP USS IDAHO REPAIRED AT ESPIRITU SANTO in 1944 in USS Artisan (ABSD-1)1Youtube, August 15, 1944 mighty battleship Idaho at ABSD-1Youtube, Floating Dry Docks WWIIUSS ABSD-3 crew photo with battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) in the dock.Photo of USS ABSD-3 engineering crew basketball team "Champs" in July 1945 at GuamPhoto USS ABSD-3 engineering crew of Section D-E-F, at Guam in July 1945. George "Bing" Crosby - 2nd left - back rowColor Photo of ABSD-3 with USS Idaho (BB-42) in drydockPhoto ABSD-3 at work in Bath Iron Works, Portland yardPhoto ABSD-3 aboard the Heavy Lift Vessel MV ''Blue Marlin'' at Portland, ME. Bath Iron Works, Portland yard

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ABSD-3 World War II auxiliary ships of the United States 1944 ships Floating drydocks of the United States Navy Ships built by Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company