USS ABSD-5, later redesignated as AFDB-5, was a nine-section, non-self-propelled,

large auxiliary floating drydock 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, ...

of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Advance Base Sectional Dock-5 (Auxiliary Floating Dock Big-5) was constructed in sections during 1943 and 1944 by the

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company CB&I is a large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company with its administrative headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. CB&I specializes in projects for oil and gas companies. CB&I employs more than 32,000 people worldwide. In May ...

in Morgan City, Louisiana for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. With all nine sections joined, she was 825 feet long, 28 feet tall (keel to welldeck), and with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches. ABSD-5 had two traveling 15-ton capacity crane with an 85-foot radius and two or more support

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s. The two side walls were folded down under tow to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity. ABSD-5 had 6 capstans for pulling, each rated at at , 4 of the capstans were reversible. There were also 4 ballast compartments in each section.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>

World War II

In May 1945 ABSD-5 started repairing ships in the

Asiatic-Pacific Theater The Asiatic-Pacific Theater was the theater of operations of U.S. forces during World War II in the Pacific War during 1941–1945. From mid-1942 until the end of the war in 1945, two U.S. operational commands were in the Pacific. The Pacific ...

of war. ABSD-5 departed

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

on 18 November 1944, arriving at the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

on 29 November 1944. One section was towed with

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

's ocean tugboat ''St. Simon'' and another section was towed by . After crossing the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

in convoys the nine sections arrived in Leyte on 24 February 1945, with assembly completed in May 1945.

Naval Construction Battalion , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philip ...

Detachment 1055 and 1053 assembled ABSD-5. ABSD-5 was stationed at

Leyte-Samar Naval Base Leyte-Samar Naval Base was a large United States Navy base in the Philippines on the Islands of Leyte and Samar. The Base was built during World War II to support the many naval ships fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of ...

Manicani Island Manicani is a small island in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines. The local governing body is the municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Guiuan of Eastern Samar province. Its 3,000 residents live in four barangays: San Jose, Banaag, Hamorawon and Buenavi ...

, a small island in

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao ...

of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, near

Guiuan Guiuan ( �giˌwan; war, Bungto han Guiuan, fil, Bayan ng Guiuan), officially the Municipality of Guiuan, is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. It constitutes the southeastern extremity of Samar Island and ...

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

. ABSD-5 repaired the large ships in the US Navy and

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. Able to lift 90,000 tons, ABSD-5 could raise large ships, like aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and large auxiliary ships, out of the water for repair below the ship's

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indi ...

. 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 installa ...

both from wear and from war damage from

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

and

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

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

s and propellers are best serviced on dry docks. Without ABSD-5 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-5 had provisions for the repair crew, such as bunk beds, meals, and laundry. ABSD-4 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 generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

ballast Ballast is material that is used 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 a boat, ship ...

pumps, repair shops, machine shops, and

mess hall The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

s to be

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

. ABSD-2 had two rail track moveable cranes able to lift tons of material and parts for removing damage parts and install new parts. , a repaired in August 1945 is one of the many ships repaired in ABSD-5. was repaired in ABSD-5. Due to the ''Mississippi's'' 30 ft (9.1 m) draft with a full load, the battleship had to unload much of her ammunition and fuel oil before entering AFDB-5. , a was repaired in August 1945. The cargo help was repaired in November 1945. repaired August 1945. On 15 October 1945 entered AFDB-5 for repairs. For the crew to live in the Navy had

barracks ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for s ...

s called APL, that dock next to AFDB-5. In September 1945 , which had been operating at

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

Espiritu Santo Naval Base Naval Advance Base Espiritu Santo or Naval Base Espiritu Santo, most often just called ''Espiritu Santo'', was a major advance Naval base that the U.S. Navy Seabees built during World War II to support the Allied effort in the Pacific. The base ...

in the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

, started repairing ships at

with ABSD-5. The sections of USS ''Artisan'' (ABSD-1) had started arriving at Manicani Island in July 1945.

Post-war

After the war, ABSD-5 was reclassified AFDB-5, in April 1946 AFDB-5 was disassembled and towed to Sabine River at the Naval Air Station, Port Arthur, Texas, near

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Hous ...

in 1984. AFDB-5 was struck from the Naval Register on 12 January 1984. AFDB-5 was scrapped in 1997.Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Texas, United States Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, by Howard C. Williams
/ref>

References

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 WWII
{{DEFAULTSORT:AFDB-4, USS World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Floating drydocks of the United States Navy 1943 ships

World War II

Post-war

See also

References

External links