The Shipyard

This is the old shipyard administration building. The placards on the door are to warn would-be visitors of the various hazardous materials to be found inside!

Across the street from the admin building is a park that has several weapon exhibits. This is a model of a Polaris, the U.S. Navy's submarine-launched ballistic missile; a number of submarines were built at Mare Island to carry and fire this missile.

This is a SUBROC, a nuclear-tipped anti-submarine weapon deployed during the cold war.

This is a WW II German mini-sub. The upper torpedo actually had a small cockpit for a diver. The idea was to drive close to an enemy ship, and then release the lower torpedo.

This is a large-caliber Hotchkiss gun that was used in the late 1800's. It's Gatling-style rotary action gave it  a relatively high rate of fire, useful for fighting off pesky torpedo boats!

This monument memorializes a group of African-American shipyard workers who went on strike for equal pay and benefits.

19th century naval guns, from the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

This is a bell from the USS Wachusett, a ship that visited Mare Island under the command of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan.

This large building was the machine shop.

This drydock was featured in several Mythbusters episodes. Currently, it is slated for use in the scrapping of ships from the near-by reserve fleet.

This is the sail of the USS Vallejo, erected as a memorial in the building ways were the ship was constructed.

The larger building slip to the left is where the USS California was constructed, the only battleship to be built at Mare Island. The ship was so large that when she was launched, she broke free and went aground on the opposite bank of the channel!

Ah, the old base McDonalds! It looks like it closed at the same time as the shipyard did, and based on the fence and the heavy machinery staged near-by, I suspect that this building will be demolished in the near future.

Located on the shipyard grounds was this SD-9, a first-generation diesel locomotive from the 1950's. It looks well maintained and is probably operable, no doubt for switching duties for the industrial tenants of the yard.