(Ed's Note:  Having been a career Naval Officer, I put together a page for my father and his service during WWII.  My father was quite reserved in sharing his experiences for the War, in fact, I can recall no instances where he shared his times with us over the years.  My memories are only of the memorabilia that came along with his service.  As a youngster, I remember wearing the Navy's white dixie cup hat, and for some reason, we had some old white Navy blankets which we used on are beds as children.  Other than that, nothing.  The page below and the story I extracted from my dad's service record and memories my mother related to me.  And, of course, with the internet, I found the vast amount of background data and photos which bring this story more to life.)

 Larry enlisted in the Naval Reserve on July 10, 1943.  One week later, the Navy called him to active duty, his initial training - boot camp for Seabees - to Camp Peary, Wilmington, Virginia.  (The camp is the current training site for the CIA, known as 'The Farm'.)

    Going back a couple of years, Larry left Saint Rita High School in December of 1941, in the middle of his senior year.  But he left with some very good technical training in practical electrical theory.  He gained employment with the American Custom Built Motor Company as an Electrician's Helper in February of 1942, where he worked until his induction.  He also attended the Coyne Electrical School for three months. 

    ANCHORS AWAY - 18 July 1943 (that's how we write dates in the military).  Traveling by train, Larry headed to Virginia.  In 1942, the Navy had established the Camp Peary as the Seabee training facility.  Alighting from hot railway coaches, he and other 'boot' Seabees were herded into open trucks and bumped along rocky roads to Camp Peary.  En route, warm, brisk wind from seaward - the men were properly conditioned for their introduction to Camp Peary, known to Seabees throughout the world as the 'land that God forgot'.  Larry's boot camp training was five weeks long, and included basic military training and special training in Seabee construction methods. These photos below are from a post card company which made specialized cards for Camp Peary.  After graduation from boot camp,  BuPers (Bureau of Personnel) detailed Larry to the Floating Dry Dock Center, Tiburon, California on 25 August 1943. 

    Moving across the country by train, Larry arrived for advanced training on Monday morning, 30 August 1943, to check aboard.  Like most Navy sites, sometimes the city name doesn't look familiar, but as you can see on the map below, going north across the Golden Gate Bridge and turning east will take you to Tiburon, where Larry received specialized training for assignment in the Navy's Floating Dry Dock Program.

    What is a floating dry dock?  Well, the technical name is ABSD, Advanced Base Sectional Dock, and as the name implies, these ships (the Navy likes to designate everything, so these units received designations of USS ABSD 1 through USS ABSD 7) deployed to forward Naval Bases and tended to be very large.  They were dry docks that floated. 

Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign for ABSD 3:  November - India - Hotel - Bravo  

    ABSD 3 was one of seven Advance Base Sectional Docks built during WWII to support the Fleet in the Pacific. These docks were constructed in ship-like sections which could be towed, with the sidewalls folded flat on deck, to any convenient fleet anchorage. After arrival at the forward base, the sidewalls would be raised and the dock sections assembled to form a large, self-sufficient floating dry dock.  Once the ships were brought aboard, the water contained inside the dry dock was pumped out leaving the ship wedged in a vertical position simplifying repair work below the ship's waterline.  ABSD 1 through ABSD 3 were built as 10-section docks, with a nominal lift capacity of 100,000 tons. However, ABSD 3 was ultimately assembled in a nine-section configuration, as seen below. This is the easiest way to identify ABSD 3.  ABSD 3's 10th section was reassigned to ABSD 2, replacing a section that had been reassigned to ABSD 1 after one section of that dock was sunk during assembly at a Pacific base. This left ABSD 3 as the sole nine-section dry dock.

     Larry completed his training at Floating Dry Dock Center, Tiburon, and received his operational orders to report to the USS ABSD 3, which was under construction in Everette, (a suburb of Seattle) Washington,  He arrived 10 November 1943.  His primary assignments included the construction of ABSD 3. (On a side note, I spent many days at NAS Whidbey Island, located just a few miles from Everette.)

ABSD section under tow

     Upon completion in Washington, ABSD 3 had to make the long trip across the Pacific to Guam Island, a trip of 4930 NM (that's nautical miles which would be equal to 5672 statue miles) as the crow flies.  She left around 1 October 1944 and probably averaged a speed of under 10 knots (more nautical terms - about 11 mph).  Larry was part of the crew manning the ship for the crossing.

This is the battleship Idaho (BB 42) in the floating dry dock ABSD 3, August 1945.  While off Okinawa, she was damaged by a kamikaze on 12 April, but returned to action after brief repairs.  The end of the Pacific War in August 1945 found Idaho preparing for the invasion of Japan. She was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September.  Larry is down there somewhere. (count the sections)  (From ship's history:  Idaho sailed 21 March 1945 as part of Rear Admiral Deyo's Gunfire and Covering Group and flagship of Bombardment Unit 4.  She arrived offshore 25 March and began silencing enemy shore batteries and pounding installations. The landings began 1 April, and as the Japanese made a desperate attempt to drive the vast fleet away with suicide attacks, Idaho's gunners shot down numerous planes.  In a massed attack 12 April the battleship shot down five kamikazes before suffering damage to her port blisters from a near-miss. After temporary repairs she sailed 20 April and arrived Guam five days later.  The veteran of so many of the landings of the Pacific quickly completed repairs and returned to Okinawa 22 May to resume fire support. Idaho remained until 20 June 1945, then sailed for battle maneuvers in Leyte Gulf until hostilities ceased 15 August 1945.)

ABSD-3 at Guam, Marianas Islands. Pennsylvania (BB-38) docked in ABSD-3 after the end of World War II. Note the white boxes on the barge, these are coffins that contain the remains of Pennsylvania crewmembers killed during the torpedo plane attack on her at Okinawa, 12 August 1945.  (From ship's history:  On 12 August a Japanese torpedo plane slipped in over Buckner Bay without detection and launched a torpedo at Pennsylvania which lay at anchor. Hit well aft, Pennsylvania suffered extensive damage. Twenty men were killed and ten injured. Many compartments were flooded and Pennsylvania settled heavily b the stern. The flooding was brought under control by efforts of Pennsylvania's repair parties and the prompt assistance of two salvage tugs. The following day, she was towed to more shallow water where salvage operations continued.  On 18 August, Pennsylvania departed Buckner Bay, Okinawa, under tow of two tugs. She arrived Apra Harbor, Guam 6 September and entered drydock where a large sheet steel patch was welded over the torpedo hole and repairs to permit her to return to t he United States under her own power were completed.)

About Guam  -  On Dec. 10, 1898, Guam was ceded to the United States from Spain by the Treaty of Paris. The following February, U.S. Navy officially took possession of the island for the United States. U.S. Naval Station, Guam was established Aug. 7 of the same year with the entire island designated as a Naval Station.  Naval Station controlled Guam until it surrendered to the Japanese on Dec. 10, 1941. The island remained under Japanese rule until July 21, 1944, when U.S. forces landed to begin the liberation. This day is now annually celebrated as Liberation Day.

September of 1945 - Division 12 of ABSD 3 - Battleship Pennsylvania in background within the dry dock.  Larry is the seventh sailor in from the right in the back row.

    Larry served aboard ABSD 3 overseas in Guam from October '44 through the end of his enlistment.  The navy promoted him to EM2 and then EM1.  Though not front line duty, work aboard the dry dock could be horrific at times.  Larry related many stories to his future wife, Lorraine, about having to enter and work in ship's spaces where sailors who had lost there lives, many times the ferociousness of the war still visible on the bulkheads.  This next link is a transcription of some prose authored by a fellow Seabee (Satan's Dreamboat) concerning the 'job they had to do' in Guam, Enjoy!

    Larry's performance ratings were high for a junior EM1:  3.8 - Proficiency in rating; 3.9 - Mechanical Ability; 3.8 - Leadership; 4.0 - Conduct.  The Commander Service Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, commended Larry for his work in connection with the expeditious assembly of the USS ABSD-3, which was considered to constitute an important contribution to the war effort (17 March 1945).   Larry was also authorized to wear the Victory Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal and the American Area Campaign Medal.

    Larry elected not to continue his naval service at the end of the war and returned to Chicago.  Processed out of the service 1 April 1946.  Six months later he married his neighborhood sweetheart, Lorraine Bodinet.

American Area Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal and the Victory Medal

Chronology of ABSD 3

    The Fate of ABSD 3  -  ABSD 3 saw brief, but very busy service during WWII, and went into reserve postwar. After over 30 years in reserve, the dock was transferred to the state of Maine in 1981, leased to Bath Iron Works, and placed in service at Portland, Maine. After nearly 20 years supporting BIW's cruiser and destroyer construction programs, and various overhauls and repairs, the dock was only recently replaced by a new dry dock. The former ABSD 3, now nearly 60 years old, has been sold to (2001) to Viktor Lenac shipyard, in Croatia and will be transported to  Europe on a heavy-lift deck ship.

 Words to Seabee Song:

We're the Seabees of the Navy

We can build and we can fight

We'll pave the way to victory

And guard it day and night

And we promise that we remember

The "Seventh of December"

{We're the Seabees of the Navy

Bees of the Seven Seas} refrain

The Navy wanted men

That's where we came in

Mister Brown and Mister Jones

The Owens, the Cohens and Flynn

The Navy wanted more

Of Uncle Sammy's kin

So we all joined up

And brother we're in to win

Article on the Formation of the Seabees and World War II (Offsite link) (backspace to come back here)

Seabee Memorial