Most people don’t know that Boston Harbor is often used as a dry dock location for ships in need of repair. Many ships have come into the dry docks over the years to be repaired, even the Queen Elizabeth 2, which was once in need of hull repair in the dry docks after running aground on the Nantucket Shoals during a Southampton to New York run in the early 1990s.
The QE2 as she sits in one of Boston’s dry-docks in the early 1990s. Note the old cars in the foreground:
Dry docks: Despite this being a topic that is clearly not on most people’s list of most exciting and captivating subjects, they are worth a mention given their presence on the South Boston waterfront and their important role in modern nautical and military history. Linked is a 1928 Photo of the USS Lexington (a ship that would be lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea fourteen years later, in the early days of WWII). In the backdrop one can make out the silhouette of Governors Island, now the runway of Logan Airport.
Pictured below is the pier 5-6 dry dock in July 2012, open wide with some type of work being done. Perhaps this is related to all of the extensive development of new housing, restaurants, museums and office space in the Seaport area:
The General Ship dry dock many years ago, as seen from the fish pier, looking East. Note the General Ship crane still present. Also note the aircraft coming in for approach in the background. It is a Boeing 727- they don’t fly too many of those anymore.
Here is a photo from earlier in the year, when a Red Cross Ship was in the other dry dock (which is currently active) located North of Reserved Channel.
A US Navy Ship recently in Boston Harbor’s Drydock:
