WWII Docking Pics

The way it was back then. . .

The following pictures were provided byArt Price, a WWII veteran who served on the Navy's floating drydocks during the war in the pacific. His contributions are greatly appreciated and will help preserve the memories of the Navy's Auxiliary Repair Docks. There aren't many Navy drydocks left and the unique job they perform will eventually be farmed out to civilian docks. I, along with many others, believe this will be a waste of money and a misuse of available assets. The reasoning behind this, I am told, is that with a shrinking Navy, the docks just aren't needed anymore. Take a look at the following pictures and try to decide for yourself if they aren't needed. Now these pictures depict scenes from the mid 1940's, but could it happen again? Or, visit the Oak Ridge Homepageand look at the dockings she has performed since June of 1997.

The ultimate Bos'n Chair. No fancy, schmancy hydroblasters here, just a lot of elbow grease. Notice the rectangular blocks in some of the sailor's hands? Those are holy stones, shipmates. Kinda like a pumice stone and were used to clean the hull and also the wooden decks of the ships. If you look from the basin wingwall to the side of the ship you can see the spur shores that help keep the ship upright. By the way, where are those hard hats and safety glasses? And no shirts, we can't work like this! Where is the Safety Officer when you need him? Someone get these sailors squared away! Guess there were more important things to worry about back then, like staying alive long enough to finish the job.

Mid March, 1945, USS Yarnall DD-541 entering drydock for some major repairs to her bow. While on maneuvers, she collided with the Ringgold DD-500. The Ringgold's bow was immediately sheared off. The Ringgold eventually made it to Ulithi and repairs were completed on her also. One man was killed and six others injured on the Yarnall during the collision. She was towed to Ulithi. The following pictures show the damage to the Yarnall and the repairs to her while in ARD-23.

The basin is just about dry and you can see the extent of the damage that has occured to the Yarnall. Once the basin is dry, the work will begin.

The staging is set and the work of constructing a false bow begins in earnest. Ships are desperately needed to continue the fight in the Pacific and the crew of the dock is well aware of the importance of a quick turnaround.

The work is complete and the basin has been cleared in preparation for undocking. Although the bow may not be pretty, it was functional and allowed the Yarnall to return to the states for permanent repairs and rejoin the fight in the pacific. No wonder Admiral Nimitz called the drydocks his "secret weapon." By being forward deployed, the docks were able to make rapid repairs to our ships and return them to duty or temporary repairs, such as this, to allow the ships to return to the states.

USS Yarnall, DD-541, underway about a week after docking. She may not look as graceful as she was when she was built, but she is able to return stateside for permanent repairs. She eventually made her way to the Mare Island Shipyard and underwent repairs until 02 July 1945.

Now, for the rest of the story . . .

YARNALL had been assigned screening duty for TF-58.2 until TF-59 was formed for a simulated attack on the main body of TF-58.2. (Stan's note: For non-navy personnel, "TF" stands for Task Force and the numbers are just designations for that particular TF).

TF-59 consisted of DESDIV 106: Yarnall DD-541, Stockham DD-683, Twining DD-540, Wedderburn DD-684, Cushing (DD-797) and CRUDIV-17: Pasadena CL-65, Wilkes Barre CL-103, Astoria CL-90, and Springfield CL-66. Ringgold DD-500 was a member of TF-58.2 acting as a "target" during the simulated attack.

The damage to the Yarnall occurred at 0508 the morning of 4 March, 1945, when she collided with the destroyer Ringgold during a simulated torpedo attack on the main body of TF-58. Yarnall was doing approximately 27 knots at the time of the collision. One Yarnall crewmember was killed and six were injured.

The Yarnall's bow was bent 20 degrees to starboard and lifted about 30 degrees. At 1530, 4 March, she was taken in tow, stern first, by Molala ATF-106 at 2-1/2 knots. The bow broke off at 1840, 5 March 1945 and sank during the tow.

At 0800, March 7, the Yarnall cast off tow from Molala and proceeded into Ulithi harbor under her own power, bow first at about six knots. At 1124, March 14, she entered ARD-23 for repairs. Mar 15-23, the installation of the false bow was performed. On 24 March at 0646, ARD-23 commenced flooding down and Yarnall cleared the sill at 0827.

USS Prairie, AD-15, completed construction of the false bow above the waterline. On 5 April 1945, Yarnall set sail for Mare Island via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor and arrived at Mare Island 22 April 1945 for permanent repairs.

This info provided by Paul Yarnall, a relative of the ship's namesake. More info on the Yarnall can be found HERE

This picture was sent in by Mr. Fred Bayse. He was stationed onboard the USS ARD-26. The ARD-26 was later converted to the ARDM-2 and renamed Alamogordo. The ARDM-2 was the sister dock to the Oak Ridge (ARDM-1) and spent her last years in Charleston, SC. She is now in the James River Reserve Fleet in Fort Eustis, Virginia waiting to be scrapped. Sad ending for such a marvelous ship. This picture is of one of the "Cans" that conducted picket line duty during the attack on Okinawa. This ship has been identified as the DD-722, the USS BARTON, flagship for Division 119 and is another reminder of the sacrifices that were made by members of the US Navy during WWII.

I found this in the Groton, CT Army/Navy Surplus Store. Still can't figure out how it got all the way out here.