Long Beach Naval Station
| Long Beach Naval Shipyard | |
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Long Beach Naval Shipyard in 1993; USS Ranger can be seen in Dry Dock no. 1.
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| Coordinates | 33°45′26″N 118°13′52″W / 33.75722°N 118.23111°WCoordinates: 33°45′26″N 118°13′52″W / 33.75722°N 118.23111°W |
| Code | LBNSY |
| Site history | |
| Built | February 1943 |
| In use | until 30 September 1997 |
The Long Beach Naval Shipyard (Long Beach NSY or LBNSY), which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport. The primary role of NSY Long Beach at the time of its closure was overhaul and maintenance of conventionally-powered US Navy surface ships, but it also had served as the homeport for several auxiliary ships during its operating history.
The Long Beach NSY industrial area encompassed 119 acres (48 ha) of the total 214 acres (87 ha) owned. There were 120 permanent, 39 semi-permanent, and 6 temporary buildings, for a total of 165 buildings. There were 17 different shop work areas and 2,400,000 square feet (220,000 m2) of covered building space. The shipyard had three graving docks, and five industrial piers. There were 12,307 feet (3.751 km) (measured linearly) of ship berthing space. Crane capacity ranged from 25 short tons (23 t) to 67 short tons (61 t) (portal) and from 25 short tons (23 t) to 112 short tons (102 t) (floating).
One of the large cranes at Long Beach NSY, YD-171, was nicknamed "Herman the German" based on its origin as a floating crane for the Kriegsmarine (one of four ships in the class). It is a large self-propelled crane standing 374 feet (114 m) tall with a lifting capacity of 385 short tons (349 t), and was claimed to be the largest floating crane in operation as of 1957. "Herman the German" was seized as a war prize following the end of World War II. "Herman" was dismantled and transported across the Atlantic through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, where it subsequently served at the Long Beach NSY from 1946 (following its reassembly) to 1996. While serving at Long Beach, it participated in the refurbishment of the battleships USS Missouri and New Jersey in the 1980s and lifted the Hughes H-4 ("Spruce Goose") from its original hangar in Long Beach when it was relocated to its geodesic dome from 1980 to 1982 for tourist display by the Wrather Corporation. Following the closure of the shipyard, the crane was sold to the Panama Canal Commission and was transported on the semi-submersible ship "Sea Swan" (IMO 8001000) to the Panama Canal Zone, where it currently serves as the floating crane "Titan".
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