 Artisan with USS Antelope (IX-109) and LST-120 in the dock at Espiritu Santo Naval Base, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands, 8 January 1945
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Artisan |
| Builder | |
| Laid down | 1942 and 1943 |
| Commissioned | 10 May 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 1 March 1987 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Stricken |
|
| Reinstated | March 1987 |
| Honors and awards |  American Campaign Medal
 National Defense Service Medal |
| Fate |
|
| Status | Section B laid up at NISMF, Pearl Harbor, 1 March 1987 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 38,500 (in ten sections) |
| Length | 927 ft (283 m) (in ten sections) |
| Beam | 256 ft 0 in (78.03 m) |
| Height | 9 ft (2.7 m) floated, 78 ft (24 m) flooded |
| Capacity | 90,000 tons lift |
| Complement | 690 officers and men |
| Armament | none |
USS Artisan (ABSD-1), later redesignated as (AFDB-1), was a ten-section, non-self-propelled, large auxiliary floating drydock of the United States Navy. The only U.S. warship with this name, Artisan was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943 by the Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, in Everett, Washington; the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, in Eureka, California; the Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company, in Stockton, California; and the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, in Morgan City, Louisiana. This ship was commissioned at Everett, Washington, on 10 May 1943, Captain Andrew R. Mack in command.[1] With all ten sections joined, she was 927 feet (283 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) tall (keel to welldeck), and with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches (40.72 m).
Each section was 3,850 tons and 80 feet (24 m), with a 256-foot (78 m) beam, a 75-foot (23 m) molded depth, and 10,000 tons of lifting capacity. There was a 3-foot (0.91 m) gap between each section, and a 50-foot (15 m) platform at each end. Each section had twelve ballast compartments. Under tow, the two side walls were folded down to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
ABSD-1 had a traveling crane with an 85-foot (26 m) radius and 15-ton capacity. The crane had six capstans for pulling, each rated at 24,000 lbf (110,000 N) at 30 ft/min (0.15 m/s), four of which were reversible.
She was generally deployed with two or more support barges.
- ^ Chen, C. Peter (October 2012). "USS ABSD-1". World War II Database. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ Chen, C. Peter (October 2012). "USS ABSD-2". World War II Database. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ Budge, Kent G. "Floating Dry Docks". The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ Angas, W. Mack, Capt. (CEC) USN (November 1945). "Sea Going Navy Yard Follows The Fleet". Popular Science. Vol. 147, no. 5. pp. 121–124. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Colton, Tim (30 April 2015). "Floating Dry-Docks (AFDB, AFDM, AFDL, ARD, ARDM, YFD)". Shipbuilding History. Retrieved 8 January 2019.