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Dry Dock, Mare Island Naval Shipyard
About 30 miles northeast of San Francisco is the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Dating back to 1854 Mare Island was the first naval shipyard on the West Coast and in its history 513 ships were built here, from side-wheeled gunboats to nuclear submarines. The huge hand-cut stone dry dock shown above dates back to the 1870s and was constructed from granite brought down from the Sierras. During World War II Mare Island set a record that's never been broken when it built a destroyer, the USS Ward, in only 17 days. In 1996 the Department of Defense shut down Mare Island and it is now in the process of transforming the three by one mile island into commercial, educational, and residential property.
[ MAP G-13 ]


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