#naval shipyard

[makingcontact]

The Shadow of Nuclear Colonialism

The text “The Shadow of Nuclear Colonialism” superimposed on an image of the explosion at 9.0 seconds after the Trinity detonation on July 16, 1945. (Photo illustration byLucy Kang; background image via United States Department of Energy) The film Oppenheimer has reignited public interest in the Manhattan Project, the WWII-era secret program to develop the atomic bomb. But the movie leaves out…

[carbone14]

Grue flottante de 100 tonnes lors d'un test de charge au chantier naval de Puget Sound – Bremerton – Washington – États-Unis – 29 juin 1920

©Puget Sound Navy Museum

[ltwilliammowett]

Shipyard model of a ship of the line with 46 cannons, French, 1670

Photo by me- IMM Hamburg

[lonestarbattleship]

An overhead view of the aft deck, looking toward the bow, of USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) in dry dock while undergoing refitting and reactivation at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California.

Photographed in December 1981.

NARA: 6350625

[trainmaniac]

out of service by Eric Via Flickr: Mare Island Naval Shipyard

[spockvarietyhour]

S.S. Fort Rouille and S.S. Rideau Park after a successful launch from United Shipyards, 1943

[historyofguns]

The article by Peter Suciu on "The Armory Life" discusses the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), America's first nuclear-powered cruiser, highlighting its significance in naval history and its challenges. The USS Long Beach, built by Bethlehem Steel and commissioned in 1961, was notable for being the first all-missile ship and having a nuclear power plant. It played significant roles in operations like Operation Sea Orbit and the Vietnam War. Despite its advanced design, its retirement and dismantling highlight the substantial costs and issues associated with nuclear-powered vessels. The article underscores the legacy of the USS Long Beach and its impact on subsequent naval strategies, ending the experiment with nuclear-powered surface combatants and reserving nuclear power for submarines and aircraft carriers in modern navies.

[mareislandfoundation]

Wooden Dry-Docks?

The USS Emory S. Land (AS-39), a submarine tender, has recently docked a couple of times for overhaul in Mare Island’s dry dock 2. She owed her presence in that dry dock to decisions made a century and a quarter ago. Then, like now, the US Navy was limited by the lack of shoreside infrastructure and specifically, dry docks.

In 1897 Rear Admiral Francis Bunce chaired a board investigating the lack of shore infrastructure. That board recommended a forty percent increase in the number of dry docks at naval shipyards which included a new dry dock 2 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard that was to accommodate the largest naval warship envisioned. To save money, the new Mare Island dry dock was to be constructed of timber rather than stone or concrete. Believe it or not timber dry docks were considered by some to be just as durable as a stone dock (Mare Island’s first floating drydock was constructed of wood and lasted nearly 40 years before it was completely worn out and scrapped). The dock was so long that it had to be angled in from the waterfront to fit without impacting existing facilities. Following debate, the new dry dock was authorized and funded by Congress, but the Navy Bureau of Yard and Docks was not happy with the proposed timber construction. Experience had taught them that timber graving docks deteriorated in 20-25 years and were subject to catastrophic flooding.

As a result, the Secretary of the Navy became engaged to obtain additional funds to allow the proposed timber dock at Mare Island to be changed to concrete. In late 1899 the Board of Trade of San Francisco and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce adopted resolutions asking the California delegation, in Congress to aid the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of the Navy Bureau of Yard and Docks in their efforts to have the construction material changed. The effort was successful, and a concrete dry dock was constructed. The new dry dock was the largest dry dock at any naval shipyard at that time. The decision to use concrete was to prove wise as the new dry dock was to serve the Navy through two world wars, the Korean, Vietnam, and Cold Wars. The dry dock continues in use to this day by the private Mare Island Dry Dock LLC. It is hard to say what would have happened if the dry dock had been built of timber as originally proposed, but certainly the dock would not have been available during our Nation’s greatest hour of need during World War II.

Dennis Kelly

[everydaygesu]

[carbone14]

Le croiseur lourd USS Chicago (CA-29) - Mare Island Naval Shipyard – Vallejo – Californie – Avril 1931

[ltwilliammowett]

A shipyard, by Paul Bril (1553/4-1626)

[kazifatagar]

New: AGC rejects representation to drop RM21m CBT charges in LCS Project

The Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) has rejected the representation submitted by Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd managing director Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor to drop three criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges of the company’s fund totalling RM21.08 million involving the littoral combat ship (LCS) project for the Royal Malaysian Navy. Social Media Links Follow us…

[lonestarbattleship]

Views of the superstructure of USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), while in dry dock at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. She was undergoing modernization and reactivation.

Photographed by PH2 Gary G. Ballard on February 5, 1982.

NARA: 6353016, 6353018, 6353013

[hotelbooking]

Quality Inn & Suites Bremerton near Naval Shipyard The hotel provides front desk services such as concierge service, express check-in or check-out and safety deposit boxes for guests' convenience. Staying for a long time, or just need clean clothes? dry cleaning service and laundry service offered at the hotel will keep your favorite travel outfits clean and available. For lazy days and nights, in-room conveniences like daily housekeeping let you make the most of your room. Please be advised that smoking is not allowed in the hotel to allow cleaner air for all guests. Smoking is limited to designated areas only, for the health and well-being of all guests and staff. Feel right at home during your stay at Knowing that bathroom amenities play an important role in increasing guests' satisfaction, the hotel provides a hair dryer, toiletries and towels in some select rooms. Nothing starts a morning better than a delicious free breakfast, which you'll always enjoy at Never let a day...

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Never War with Humans

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps) Extract from “Fall of the Bezenite Empire, By Zimpara Tul”

“The collapse of the Bezenite Empire was a great source of confusion for the wider galaxy. Even more so when it was orchestrated by the Terran Alliance which had so recently sued for peace with them after a nearly three decades long war.

Ironically the downfall of the Bezenite’s was brought about by mere skirmishes between theirs and humanities respective settlers. They had each settled upon the world of Kimpara III but on opposite sides of the world. The terrain and weather patterns of the planet made extensive scouting impossible so for nearly four decades the two species went on developing their respective societies until by chance they ran into each other.

The meeting was far from cordial.

Both species claim that it was the other who initiated the war, either by a misunderstanding or openly hostile action. The resulting devastation to the planet ensured that the truth would remain forever shrouded in mystery as both sides brought increasing military might to the field.

Holding dominion of five star systems and three client races, the Bezenite’s were hardly a super power but in their small corner of the universe they had established themselves as the regional power. Humans on the other hand barely established themselves within their own system and had settlers in a nearby system establishing new colonies. It was expected that the Bezenite’s would use their superior technology to steam roll the humans and claim yet another client race. What had not been accounted for was the size of the human military industrial complex and the amount of war material they could produce.

Opening engagements saw Bezenite ships easily win against human ships even when facing 3:1 odds, but the humans were able to have the ships lost replaced by fresh ones within a matter of months. In terms of ground forces the Bezenites were vastly outnumbered by the humans who held a standing army of nearly 50 million compared to the roughly 8 million Bezenite forces. They had never needed a large army to police their territory so when the full force of the human war machine was brought against them they quickly found the entire length of their shared border under constant attack.

World’s that had never seen the scars of war were attacked overnight as human transports snuck through Bezenite patrols and deposited large invasion forces before retreating. This would have been a horrendous waste of manpower were it for the fact the Bezenite navy would not bombard a planet under their domain. This allowed the human’s a sudo-shield which protected them from orbital strikes and allowed them to conduct extensive ground wars.

As the war ground on Bezenite leadership became infuriated when the primitive humans occupied several border worlds and establishing forward operating bases. The empire’s military, likewise far technologically superior to humans, was not large enough to stabilize the entire front and increasing gaps began to open.

To remedy this situation the Bezenite’s began an increasingly total war footing for the first time in their people’s existence. Numerous recruitment offices were opened throughout the empire, even on client species worlds, to increase the total ground forces. Naval shipyards were constructed or expanded in the core regions drawing in hundreds if not thousands of new laborers to create even large fleets of ships. Even desolate moons were converted into self-contained factories as large scale industrialization projects were carried out on their surfaces to establish new manufacturing hubs.

By the thirty year mark of the war the Bezenite’s military now stood at nearly half of what the humans had at the beginning of the war and showed no signs of slowing down when the humans suddenly initiated peace talks.

The act alone blindsided the Bezenite’s leadership who had been planning out a protracted campaign for another five years to annex the human homeworld. This was derailed by the human’s sudden openness to discuss peace which was well received by the Bezenite civilian population who had grown tired of the more than quarter century of fighting. It was this desire to end the conflict that forced the Bezenite leadership to discuss terms of peace and eventually end the war; and in so doing hand the destruction of their empire.

While the industrial boon for war material had brought great wealth to the empire, it now faced a financial crisis as the war came to a sudden and abrupt end.

Millions of soldiers were now being decommissioned and sent back to civilian life to look for new jobs, which were scarce as the numerous military factories began closing down due to a lack of requested material. Orbital shipyards attempted to convert themselves into civilian manufacturers to stay open, but the demand for civilian crafts was not nearly enough to keep the majority of them open resulting in further layoffs.

What’s more, the Bezenite client races who had served alongside their overlords had been given a taste of the wider galaxy and now returned to their people. They spoke of the wonders from across a dozen worlds and of the ferocity of the humans who had checked the Bezenite’s advances. The once invulnerable image of the Bezenite Empire was shattered and now with returning soldiers with advanced combat experience many client races began revolting.

The Bezenite’s had never faced such a drastic shift in their economy before. Hundreds of thousands of their citizens were now out of work and protesting in the streets and with the sudden revolts of their client races the empire’s domain was further fractured. They attempted to rouse their military once more to quell the uprisings, but with the dishonorable manner in which many of their comrades had been dismissed after serving the empire so loyally the military was sluggish to react and the uprisings amongst the client races soon turned into open war.

Within the next five years the Bezenite Empire was a shadow of its former glory as civil war ran rampant. The client races had driven many of their former overlords from their territory and, having seen how well humans could oppose their former masters, reached out to the humans for alliances and defense pacts. The Terran government was all too happy to send aide and launched several new military missions into former Bezenite space; both to ensure the independence of their new allies, and to carve up their former enemies territories for themselves.

Unlike the Bezenite’s, the majority of the Terran military industrial complex was automated so the ending of the war did not have as severe an impact. When it came to the standing military forces only a fraction were let go due to old age or injuries sustained in the fighting. They had always kept their military at a high number so their budgets calculated the funds needed to sustain such a force at all times, meaning there was no mass dismissal of forces to flood the job market.

When the war had begun the humans knew that in a straight up fight they could not win against the Bezenite’s. Their technological superiority would ensure that the humans always took far more casualties. So a new plan was devised which would force the Bezenite’s to ramp up military spending, then at the peak of the war open peace negotiations and end the war entirely dealing a body blow the Bezenite economy could not recover from so abruptly. The following chaos caused by the economic collapse would leave them vulnerable and disillusioned with the empire as a whole presenting the humans with the perfect opportunity to resume the war.

At the end of the conflict the Bezenite’s had been driven back to their original home system while the Terran’s claimed much of their former territory, even going so far as to award some planets to the former client states which were now seen as galactic partners with the humans; sealing the foundation of a future Terran Empire."