Los Alamos (AFDB-7)
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Los Alamos (AFDB-7) at Holy Loch, Scotland
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| History | |
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| Builder: |
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| Commissioned: | 1 March 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 December 1994 |
| Reclassified: | AFDB-7 (Large Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock), 10 November 1961 |
| Struck: | 5 December 1994 |
| Fate: | Section 'F' sunk as a target 19 July 2001 |
| Status: | Sections 'A'–'E' and 'G' active in Brownsville, Tx since 11 August 1995 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Advance Base Sectional Drydock |
| Displacement: | 30,800 long tons (31,294 t) |
| Length: | 825 ft 3 in (251.54 m) |
| Beam: | 246 ft 5 in (75.11 m) |
| Draft: | 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) |
| Propulsion: | None |
| Complement: | 187 |
| Armament: |
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ABSD-7, an advanced base sectional dock, was constructed of seven advance base docks (ABD) as follows: ABD-37, ABD-38, ABD-39, and ABD-40 were built by Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, Morgan City, Louisiana, and completed in December 1944 and January and February 1945; ABD-51 and ABD-52 were built by Pollock Stockton Shipbuilding Co., , and completed in January and March 1945; and ABD-58 was built by Pittsburgh Des Moines Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and completed in October 1944.
The seven advance base docks were towed to Mare Island Navy Yard where they were erected and assembled into ABSD-7. Completed in March 1945, the advance base section dock began duty at Mare Island, she served there until placed on the inactive list in March 1946. In August 1946 she was reclassified to auxiliary floating drydock AFDB-7. Disassembled and towed to the east coast, she entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida in January 1947.
Early in 1961, four sections—"A", "B", "C", and "D"—of AFDB‑7 were towed across the Atlantic Ocean to Holy Loch, Scotland, where on 3 March 1961 the Navy established an important base for fleet ballistic submarines. A detachment of Seabees from MCB-4 erected and assembled the four sections. Completed 10 November, the auxiliary floating drydock was placed in service as Los Alamos (AFDB-7).
Assigned to SUBRON 14, Los Alamos began drydock service for the FBM boats.
Converted for use by submarines, she had the following characteristics:
Late in 1961 she carried out her first SSBN drydocking of USS George Washington (SSBN-598). She then served submarines of the "Highland Squadron" at Holy Loch. She supported refit and repair operations by submarine tenders Proteus, Hunley, Holland, Simon Lake, and Canopus. In February 1964 she successfully completed the first "off center" docking of a Polaris submarine. By providing keel blocks preset for two separate classes of SSBN boats, Los Alamos "added immeasurably to the site’s repair flexibility."
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Wikipedia