was originally laid down as ARD-18, a non self-propelled

United States 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 ...

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 ...

in 1944. Built by the

Pacific Bridge Company Pacific Bridge Company was a large engineering and construction company. During World War II, Pacific Bridge Company of Alameda, California was selected to build US Navy Auxiliary Repair Docks (ARD) a type of Auxiliary floating drydock and Type B ...

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

. During

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 ...

USS ARD-18 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and serviced ships at

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...

Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...

, and Leyte-Samar Naval Base. After the war,

floating dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or 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, ...

ARD-18 was sent to Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp.'s yard, circa 1967-68 and was lengthened by adding a midsection as well as an additional deck above the uppermost crane deck. Redesignated Medium Auxiliary Repair Dry Dock Endurance (ARDM-3), she served until retirement in 1995.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Endurance 1944 ships Ships built in Alameda, California ARD-12-class floating drydocks Floating drydocks of the United States Navy