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Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Closed to public access, and known today as Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton. The Navy Yard was established September 16, 1891, with Lieutenant Wycoff in command. The first vessel to call at the yard was the Japanese ship Yamagucha Maru; the second was the old flagship USS Oregon. Operations of the yard include the repairing, overhauling, or building of battleships, destroyers, and submarines. By the 1940s the yard featured three drydocks: No. 1 accommodated cruisers, destroyers, and smaller craft; No. 2 handled large airplane carriers; and No. 3, completed in 1919, was a ship-building dock, then largest of its type in the world. With a length of 926 feet, a width of 130 feet and a depth of 24 feet, it held 21,800,000 gallons of water, and had space for the construction of two cruisers or four destroyers at the same time.

In the yard, too is was one of the world’s largest machine and electric shops, completed in 1935. The walls were fabricated almost entirely of special glass, admitting a maximum of light.

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Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was the principal repair establishment for battle-damaged battleships and aircraft carriers as well as smaller warships of the Pacific Fleet during WWII. Five of the eight battleships bombed at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 2941, were repaired at the shipyard and returned to sea. The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard shares with Mare Island Naval Shipyard the distinction of epitomizing the rest of the United States to world power in the Pacific and thus on two oceans.

USS Hornet

The USS Hornet was part of a wartime buildup of United States carrier forces in a war that demonstrated the vital role of naval aviation. The Hornet had a distinguished ware career that included the invasion of Saipan and the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the amphibious landing on Palau, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and strikes against the Japanese home islands. Hornet earned seven battle stars and a Presidential United Citation during WWII. Reactivated for Korean Conflict Service, Hornet’s last combat deployment was an antisubmarine warfare carrier during the Vietnam Conflict. Hornet’s significant career was capped with the recovery of the Apollo 11 and 12 astronauts at the conclusion of these two famous space missions.

USS Missouri

The USS Missouri fought through parts of WWII and Korea, was mothballed in 1955 and now serves as a tourist attraction. The Missouri is credited in supporting the seizures of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, carrier raids on Tokyo, Okinawa, Kyushu, and the inland Sea area as well as the bombardments of Okinawa, Hokkaigo, and Honshu. As the flagship of Admn. William F. Halsey, the Missouri was the scene of the signing of the formal instrument of surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. This brief but historic ceremony is commemorated by a brass plaque set in the forward starboard side of the ship, now known as the “surrender deck.”

USS Ranger CV-61

Nicknamed “Top Gun of the Pacific,” Ranger was always a West Coast ship and served the United States for over 35 years, in times of war and times of peace. It is one of eight supercarriers built shortly after WWII, a product of the minds of the greatest generation and an artifact of a time when the nation’s engineering ability was unequalled. Ranger’s list of combat activities is long (20 deployments of 90 days or more), but the ship’s two major combat operations occurred during the Vietnam War era and the Gulf War. Ranger deployed not just in battle but also in relief. The ship and its crew rescued hundreds of refugees, provided relief to a flood-ravaged Philippines, and allowed Operation Restore Hope in Somalia to deliver food and supplies to starving Somalis.

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