Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington was established in 1891. It was the first dry dock and repair facility in the northwestern United States capable of handling the largest ships. The postcard above shows the second dry dock at the facility, completed in 1913, with three boats undergoing repair. This dry dock was made of granite and concrete. It was 827 feet long, 145 feet wide, and 38 feet deep.
The next postcard shows a view from the water front of the Navy Yard and dry dock.
Puget Sound Navy Yard was not strategically located to serve as a repair facility for a war in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1916 the mission of Puget Sound Navy Yard was changed from overhaul and repair work to the construction of new warships. During World War I this Navy Yard built 25 submarine chasers, six submarines, two mine sweepers, seven seagoing tugboats, and two ammunition ships as well as 1,700 small boats.
The Puget Sound Naval Yard has served various roles since then. Today, it is the largest and most diverse shipyard on the West Coast and one of Washington state’s largest industrial complexes.
Source: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, HistoryLink.org Essay 5579
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Wonderful postcards and descriptions and you're right on the mark!
ReplyDeleteMarvellous postcards!
ReplyDeleteSuch apt postcards for this week's theme.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine why people would want to buy postcards of a dry dock and ship construction area, but I'm glad they did - they are excellent illustrations. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThe Navy Yard was a tourist attraction. I have three unused cards and one mailed in 1930 (many years after these cards were originally published) with a message about a boat ride from Seattle to Tacoma and Bremerton and visiting the Navy Yard where they were shown through one of the big warships. Apparently that one was mailed to a relative back home and the others were saved as souvenirs.
DeleteSeriously it's my first time to look closely at a dry dock. Glad it's what you featured.
ReplyDeleteHazel
An unusual subject for a postcard - I wonder who would buy these and who would be the recipients of such exciting cards.
ReplyDeleteThe Navy Yard was a tourist attraction. I have three unused cards and one mailed in 1930 (many years after these cards were originally published) with a message about a boat ride from Seattle to Tacoma and Bremerton and visiting the Navy Yard where they were shown through one of the big warships. Apparently that one was mailed to a relative back home and the others were saved as souvenirs.
DeleteThese pictures of warehouses and drydocks are so familiar because they look like scenes here in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia where I live.
ReplyDeleteIt is fortunately that Puget Sound has translated its capabilities across the years. Many facilities such as this are closed and sit wasting. I too wonder about the person who red-lighted this series. "here's a great subject for some postcards!" :-)
ReplyDeleteMy neck o' the woods.... Looks just like the drydock in Belfast where the Titanic was launched.
ReplyDeleteThey are such wonderful cards - full of visual information. It's like an early twentieth century Google World.
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing output when you think about it....four years to make all those things. I wonder how many employees worked there.
ReplyDeleteWithout dry docks like these there would be no ships for us to write about I worked at a shipyard in Norway where the dry dock was used. in the 1980s for storage and prefabrication of parts for oil platforms. I have some photos somewhere. Great postcards - to see one empty gives you an idea of the scale.
ReplyDeleteThe Navy Yard near Washington, D.C. had those shootings not long ago, and NCIS talks about the Navy Yard, but I really never gave a thought to what happened in a Navy Yard, so this post was very interesting. Thanks for sharing the great postcards and the history of the Puget Sound Navy Ship Yard. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, fabulous post cards which certainly are educational. Thanks. I wonder what is there now...
ReplyDeleteWell, I meant, the dry docks...are they still being used?
DeleteWhat a great collection you have.
ReplyDeleteImpressive!! I can just imagine the large labor force involved in such an enterprise.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers you've indicated speak of a huge effort on their part during WW1.
Great post!!
:)~
HUGZ