No cameras, no cell phones.....

Bath Iron Works, once a family-owned shipyard, is now privately owned by General Dynamics, the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world. No cameras, and no cell phones are allowed on the trolley-led tour; see great photos at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_Iron_Works. It is a highly secured facility, as Navy destroyers and other military ships are built here.


Ships are built in “modules” in huge hangar-style bays. Moved from one bay to the next, as each module is completely outfitted, it is rolled into the yard, assembled to other modules, then rolled (this is a massive undertaking) into the enormous dry dock. The dock is then winched out into the Kennebec River, and lowered in the water. The new ship is driven out, and down through the mouth of the Kennebec River at Popham Beach. 

We saw the construction-in-process of the DDG 1000, and an almost complete DDG106, the “Jason Dunham” (named for the Medal of Honor marine who gave his life, saving many fellow marines in Iraq). The DD stands for Destroyer, and the G stands for Guided Missile-equipped.


My descriptions may be somewhat simplified – the design engineer who led the tour was very technical. But we enjoyed immensely our visit to BIW. (Navy folks, note:  http://www.hazegray.org/news/archive2001a.htm also has excellent photos of ships-in progress at Bath Iron Works.)

At the Maine Maritime Museum, less than half a mile from BIW, there are several buildings displaying the history of the Maine ship-building and fishing industries.


 
We especially enjoyed exploring the sailing ship, Sherman Zwicker, docked there. It was in service as a haddock fishing vessel for several decades. It has a cargo-holding (fish) capacity of 320,000 pounds.

Tom was quite impressed with the engine! 
www.schoonermuseum.org 
This website has awesome photos of the Sherman Zwicker fully rigged and under sail.

Lynn was impressed with the girth of the lines!

Tonight, Christelle, Brian, and Max met us in the lovely small town of Hallowell, Maine, for a great dinner at “The Liberal Cup."