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Reviews
| History of American Naval Dry Docks: A Key Ingredient to Maritime Power. By Richard D. Hepburn. Arlington, Va.: Noesis Inc., 2003. ix+203 pp., illus., diags., tables, notes, index. $49.49 hb (ISBN 0-974091-0-4).
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It is not often that a book combines elements of industrial archaeology with a plea for increased national defense expenditures, but such is the case of Richard D. Hepburn's History of American Naval Dry Docks. Naval engineer Hepburn, a 1976 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, recounts the technological and administrative history of the development of the U.S. Navy's dry docks and the changes in naval administration that either prompted or retarded their development in well-documented detail. He goes beyond simply telling that story to sound an urgent warning about what he considers the Navy's present lack of vital ship repair facilities.
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The first U.S. naval dry docks resulted from the War of 1812. Although individual American naval ships won glorious victories, the reality of the conflict was the British Navy's suffocating blockade of the American coastline. Since the U.S. Navy lacked the heavy "ships of the line" needed to break the blockade, the British were able to raid American seaports with impunity. After that conflict, the U.S. Navy began the construction of large sailing warships to counter another potential British attack. Dry docks became necessary to maintain these enormous vessels. Under the direction of Loami Baldwin, Jr., the U.S. government constructed its first dry docks between 1827 and 1833 at the Boston and Norfolk Navy yards. Both of these magnificent granite and timber structures remain intact and in use to this day.
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Within 20 years, the U.S. Navy had progressed to a position of international leadership, and its dry dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was the largest in the world. During the Civil War, the dry docks that were captured by the Confederacy helped spawn the early ironclads such as the CSS Virginia, while the dry docks that remained in Union control helped serve as the birthplaces of various classes of monitors. The dry docks that were constructed by the U.S. Navy were a catalyst for the naval warship revolution.
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After the Civil War, the reach of the U.S. Navy extended to the Pacific, and with it came the construction of dry docks at San Francisco Bay and Pearl Harbor. During this period, in order to meet the needs of its growing Pacific fleet, the U.S. Navy pioneered in the development of a floating dry dock—a technological achievement that was a key to victory in World War II. The war was the apogee of the number and development of U.S. naval dry docks. According to Hepburn, the combination of large numbers of permanent dry docks, coupled with the rapid expansion in floating dry docks, enabled the Navy to maintain its fleet across the vast reaches of the Pacific.
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During the postwar period, the navy continued to maintain and supplement the large number of dry docks that had been so necessary to winning World War II. As the Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. receded into history, the government began a general drawdown in the U.S. defense establishment. This trend accelerated after 1990, when the U.S. Navy established a base-closing commission that resulted in the shutdown of many important naval yards with their all-important dry docks. Since that time, many dry docks have been permanently lost due to waterfront redevelopments, such as the creation of container ports. Currently much of the navy's ship repair business has been shifted to private shipyards whose management is strictly profit oriented.
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This trend is little short of disastrous, contends Hepburn who sincerely believes that the U.S. Navy now lacks the capacity to repair its battle-damaged ships should another major maritime confrontation occur. In a very real sense, he believes that we are rapidly approaching a situation analogous to the one faced by the navy and the nation before the War of 1812.
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Navy politics constitutes only a portion of Hepburn's text. His detailed descriptions of how dry docks work and how they have evolved over the years constitute at least one-half of this volume. The author's use of contemporary illustrations and modern reconstruction drawings makes the civil engineering and mechanical operation of naval dry docks easily understandable. The reader can truly gain insight into the longevity and complexity of dry docks. In addition, Hepburn identifies the early ones that survive and can be visited by modern historical enthusiasts.
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| Well written in a lucid style and supported by voluminous documentation, Hepburn's History of American Naval Dry Docks is an essential volume for those who have an interest in naval history, civil and mechanical engineering, or industrial archaeology. It is also a cautionary tale of how national security may sometimes be placed in jeopardy by false economies. |
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