That makes perfect sense, now that you said it, I can see the shadows that indicated that area is below the level of the dock and Sea Gate or what ever the lock like device is called.
Cool,
Jim
Aha. Look at the picture on the far right here. There’s the USS Ranger in that same drydock.
And on edit, it looks like I got simulposted. Oh well.
My understanding is that most drydocks that large are sealed by caissons, not locks, nor gates. They’re both simpler, and more secure.
My first impression was that we’re looking at a dry dock and that the objects are the hull supports.
That’s odd, I thought the USS Ranger was in drydock in 1983 not 1979.
I found mention she was drydocked in 1977 also. The picture must be from then.
I guess she needed an overhaul after the main space fire in 1983.
Jim
Well, it is a dry dock. Number 6, I believe.
Now, here’s a question to go with the OP’s original link. What’s that long sub moored across from the Long Bitch? I know that ten years ago, when the Virginia and Texas were being scrapped, the USS Triton SSN 586 was in Bremerton awaiting disposal. And that she was one of the longest submarines in US service. (And the only US sub built with multiple reactor plants.) That sub does look much longer than most of the other (I’m guessing) S5W boats moored on the other side of the pier. But is it still the Triton?
I trained at the S3G prototype in Ballston in 1984-85. The Triton at the time was at the Connecticut base - we used it as a spare parts locker. That’s not to say it wasn’t moved - it probably was. I know the Mississippi (CGN-40) was moved there when it was decommissioned, after the reactor spaces had been removed from the ship (those sections of the ship were removed like you would pull a couple slices out of a loaf of bread, and then the rest of the loaf was welded back together) (they were left in Newport News, VA, IIRC.)
Norfolk Naval Shipyard, which is not in Norfolk. It’s across the river in Portsmouth Virginia. (Don’t worry - it cinfuses everyone.) And the sub is undergoing, more likely than not, a scheduled maintenance period, and would have no reason to be submerged. The water ain’t that deep pierside over there anyway.
Is there any other Navy in the world that can offer such interesting Googlemap images? I tried Faslane in Scotland, but there wasn’t much on display.
Here is one of my favorite ship finds. She is the USS Des Moines, lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers. She has since been scrapped. I don’t know why, but it just makes me sad.
Cool. That makes way more sense than my idiotic speculation. 
HA! I was right, it is a dock.
I trained on that prototype, too. One of the last classes to go through back in 1991.
Yeah, she got moved. One of the officers from the Virginia had had a website showing pics of the Virginia, both while in service, and some pics of her in drydock with the Texas. With the Long Beach, and Triton in the background.
UncleRogelio right now I’ve got the second image on this page of the USS Des Moines on my desktop.
My dad’s ship, USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5) was sunk for target practice by a South Korean submarine.
Here’s a blog talking about parts salvaged from the Des Moines,along with a picture of her moored in Brownsville, awaiting the shipbreakers. You’re right, it is sad. Navsource.org has some depressing shots of the Midway (CV-6) getting the torch and it bums me out to see those shots.
Wait CV-6 was the Big “E”, my friend served on the USS Midway, she was CV-41.
Right. I think Survey1215 just had a brain fart. The page he/she linked properly calls CV-6 the USS Enterprise.
What I find amusing is the fact that apparantly Milwaukee had had the opportunity to recieve the USS Des Moines as a museum ship - and turned it down because she’d be an eyesore. (The blog claims that the Museum of Art in the same city does that all on it’s own. I don’t agree with the blog about the Museum being ugly, but I think the clean lines of the Des Moines would have been sweet there.) And, honestly, museum ships remain huge money sinks. I can understand a rational decision that any city might make that they don’t care to invest the resources to maintain a warship as a museum ship.
But I’d have rather seen her as a museum ship. Of course, I’ve always liked ships with an irrational fondness.
Boy, if any carrier ever deserved to become a Museum, the Big “E” did.
A nice piece from Wiki on her:
I remember reading about her 3 day refit following the Battle of the Coral Sea and how she steamed towards Midway with repairs still being completed. As I recall, they had staggered blackouts around Oahu to ensure they had enough power to make the deck repairs working around the clock. The Japanese had actually thought she was sunk.
They scrapped her before I was born, but I still mourn for her ignoble demise. She survived every major Pacific Battle of WWII but could not survive her own shortsighted bureaucrats.
Jim
Prior to the fifties, I can think of only two US museum ships: And one of those doesn’t really count: USS Constitution is a museum ship, but is still in comission. The other, USS Olympia was saved by a particularly active ship’s association when she was removed from the naval register.
If I could go back in time I’d love to have saved the following ships: USS Hartford (For that matter, any steam sloop or frigate. AIUI there isn’t a single surviving example of that kind of vessel in the whole world.); USS Augusta; and of course the USS Enterprise. My understanding is that the US Navy prefers not to recycle a ship’s name, so long as the ship is still afloat, even if she’s off the register. The only counter-example I can think of is USS Texas.