South Boston Naval Annex

The Department of Defense purchased a large part of the Commonwealth Flats in 1920, and split up the land between the Naval Annex and the South Boston Army Base. At this time, the Navy began construction of buildings, which would continue up until World War II.{{cite web|title=History of the Park|url=http://www.bostonmarineindustrialpark.com/about/history-of-the-park/|publisher=Boston Marine Industrial Park|accessdate=4 July 2012}} Rail service to the annex was provided by Track 61.{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309122425/http://www.bostonmarineindustrialpark.com/about/history-of-the-park/ |url=http://www.bostonmarineindustrialpark.com/about/history-of-the-park/ |title=History of the Park |publisher=Boston Marine Industrial Park |archivedate=9 March 2012 |accessdate=25 December 2013}}

At the South Boston Annex, work was started in March 1940 on a quay wall and wharf and on a machine shop {{convert|1300|ft|m}} long and {{convert|500|ft|m}} wide. The following spring a new power plant project was undertaken, to provide six boilers, a compressor and a primary connection to the Edison system. An additional waterfront project, comprising two {{convert|980|ft|m|adj=on}} timber piers and a steel sheet pile bulkhead, was started in the summer of 1941, followed in September by construction of an additional shop {{convert|420|ft|m}} long and {{convert|120|ft|m}} wide.{{cite book | author= | title = Building the Navy's Bases in World War II | publisher = Naval History and Heritage Command | volume = 1, Part II: The Continental Bases | chapter= Chapter VIII: Navy Yards and Graving Docks | date = 2018 |orig-date= 1947 | location = The Navy Department Library (online), Washington D.C. | pages = 167–207 | url = https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/building-the-navys-bases/building-the-navys-bases-vol-1-part-II.html#1-8 | access-date= 8 August 2022}}

In December 1941, work was started on a graving dock, {{convert|693|ft|m}} long, {{convert|91|ft|m}} wide at the entrance, and {{convert|32|ft|m}} deep over the blocks, for the repair of cruisers. This dock, which was built inside a cellular steel pile cofferdam, was completed and placed in service in March 1943. The cofferdam was later incorporated as part of Piers 5 and 6.

Work was also undertaken in 1941 on a 500-man barracks for ship's crews, necessitated by the fact that with three-shift repair work, the crews could not be quartered aboard.

The expansion of the Annex continued with the construction of an additional {{convert|900|ft|m|adj=on}} pier, started in the fall of 1942, a rigger's shop, a paint shop, and a general shop, started in November of that year, and extensive improvements and additions to utilities, streets, tracks, and equipment.

The Navy’s 1940-43 expansion of the South Boston Annex was built "in an area contiguous to the Commonwealth Dock, a 1,200-foot drydock originally built by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and subsequently acquired by the Navy (p. 168)." This pre-existing graving-dock facility is what’s now called "Dry Dock Number 3".

After the war, the annex was used to store ships that were placed in reserve. In 1974, the Boston Navy Yard was closed, and the annex became the Boston Marine Industrial Park after the City of Boston purchased the land.

Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston also called Boston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet opened in 1946 as part of the United States Navy reserve fleets. Some ships in the fleet were reactivated for the Korean War and Vietnam War. Some ships were upgraded or converted for new a role in the Navy. The reserve fleet closed in September 1961. The ships in the fleet were either scrapped, used as targets or move to the James River Reserve Fleet and Beaumont Reserve Fleet. [http://npshistory.com/publications/bost/hrs-charlestown-navy-yard-3.pdf npshistory.com Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston][https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=PublicUnit&type=Unit&ID=28043 Boston Group, Commander Atlantic Reserve Fleet (COMLANTRESFLT)][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHzD1habYBo youtube.com, The Mothball Fleet][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqNKreV8KGg The USN Mothball Fleet - Storing up for a rainy day]

File:USNS Comfort in Boston dry dock from viewing stand.JPG]]

Today, the former yard is home to the various companies which have moved in over the years, having been integrated into the larger South Boston Waterfront. Sail Boston has also used the land to host ships when they are in port as well, along with the South Boston Army Base's land, which now operates as the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal under ownership of the Massachusetts Port Authority. Built in 1943, a former Marine machine shop (known then as "Building 53") now houses Harpoon Brewery, an auto shop, and a seafood distributor. Three of the four original warehouse cranes are still in use today. The auto shop utilizes cranes 1 and 3, Nagle utilizes crane 2, and while crane 4 is present, it is disabled and stationary in Harpoon's warehouse due to space restrictions.

On 7 August 1992 the Cunard luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2 grounded on an uncharted rock in Vineyard Sound, south of Nashawena and Cuttyhunk Islands. The ship was repaired at Dry Dock Number 3, the only dry dock nearby capable of accommodating the QE2. Another ship to use Dry Dock Number 3 was the former {{USS|Massachusetts|BB-59}} from November 1998 to March 1999.

Many of the buildings and cranes of the Navy Annex still stand, with their numbers being maintained. Dry Dock Number 3 is used by the Boston Ship Repair company to repair ships{{cite web |url=https://nashiprepair.com/boston-ship-repair/ |title=Boston Facilities: Graving Dock |author= |date=8 August 2022|website=nashiprepair.com |publisher=North Atlantic Ship Repair LLC |access-date= |quote=65,000 tons displacement capability: Length: 350.5 meters (1,150 feet); Breadth at the top of blocks: 38.1 meters (125 feet); Breadth at the top of dock: 45.4 meters (149 feet); Channel Draft: 12.2 meters (40 feet); Crane Capacity: Up to 65 tons}} – mostly those of the US Navy, United States Maritime Administration and Military Sealift Command.

• Port of Boston
• South Boston Waterfront
• List of military installations in Massachusetts

{{NHC|article=Building the Navy's Bases in World War II|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/buildbaseswwii/bbwwii1.htm|accessdate=4 July 2012}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://wikimapia.org/6945/Fomer-Site-Of-South-Boston-Naval-Annex-Marine-Industrial-Park Map of the yard] on Wikimapia
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeuTENjszeU Video of the yard, circa 1957 or 1958]

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Naval Annex, South Boston

Category:Military installations closed in 1974

Naval Annex, South Boston

Category:Installations of the United States Navy in Massachusetts

Category:United States Navy shipyards

Category:Closed installations of the United States Navy

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Boston

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

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