HUMBOLDT HISTORY: Eureka's Biggest Contribution to the War Effort Was a Massive Bayfront Shipyard That Built Floating Dry Docks 3%
By Glen Nash2%
8/1/2026, 12:30:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Halo Effect, and Hasty Generalization, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 10.4% saturation with 245 hits. Analysis detected 918 faulty-reasoning hits from 2,346 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 10.2% and a BS Rank of 3% (25,100 of 25,725 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.60% of the article peer group.
January 1942: The United States was beginning a war with Japan.
The entire country was preparing for a long conflict.
The citizens of Eureka, like all the people of the nation, were stunned by this terrible action.
The U.S.
Navy had suffered a severe loss at Pearl Harbor.
Realizing such conflicts would require some way to repair ships that might be damaged during battle, the Navy picked Eureka on Humboldt Bay as a place to build the large, floating dry docks for use in the Pacific.
Eureka was chosen because it had the harbor and the necessary labor force to accomplish this task.
A "yard floating dry dock" (YFD) is built for the purpose of raising a damaged ship up out of the water so that it may be worked on and repairs could be made to whatever damage it had suffered.
This was accomplished by sinking the main pontoon deck below the surface of the water to a depth which would allow the damaged ship to float between the wing walls.
Then, when the ship was well centered in the dock, the crew could then raise the pontoon deck — with the ship on it—to a level above the surface of the water.
Workmen could then make necessary repairs, save time and avoid long trips back to Navy shipyards for repairs.
The U.S.
Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks selected the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company to build these huge floating dry docks at Eureka.
This company sent O.A.
Bailey, C.W.
Hines and Donald E.
Larson, engineers, to Eureka to select a suitable site for constructing floating dry docks.
The site selected was a large area of about 60 acres of desolate land and mudflats at the foot of Washington Street.
This site stretched almost one-half mile along the waterfront and was marked by the Humboldt Bay tides which ebbed and flowed.
With O.A.
Bailey heading the yard design, the Mercer Fraser Company started building a road into the site in February 1942.
This required filling and surfacing this low land so heavy equipment could be moved onto the site.
In March a temporary office was established and construction facilities were started by a carpenter crew beaded by Don Larson, resident manager.
There were less than 50 employees on the payroll.
On March 26,1942, a building permit was taken out for a office building and watchman's building.
In April a welding school was opened under the supervision of T.B.
Baker.
Fifteen welding machines were used by many students anxious to learn the art of welding with electric arc.
The welding classes were at first conducted at the high school but later, when the welding school came under the direct supervision of the state of California, the students received their training in the yard with five instructors.
In May 1942 a permit was taken out for construction of a blacksmith shop, a compressor house and a storage shed.
A large Northwest crawler crane was assembled and placed in service and the first carload of dry-dock steel arrived and was unloaded.
During June the keel was laid for the first end-section of YFD-20 and the payroll increased to 212 employees, including 47 qualified welders; a swing shift was also established.
The construction of the center section of YFD-20 was started in July 1942.
Some 4,000 tons of dry-dock steel was received to date.
The U.S.
Navy sent Comm.
James T.
Reside from Washington, D.C, to inspect the Eureka yards.
During August 1942 a large crawler crane was placed on top of the center section buoyancy chamber to start the wing wall erection.
To speed up the work, a graveyard shift was established and the number of employees was increased.
The U.S.
Navy sent Lt.
L.D.
Burky to serve as resident officer-in-charge under Lt.
J.C.
Sease, officer-in-charge at Alameda.
During this month of September, there were 600 employees on the payroll.
Keels were laid for battleship dock sections "No. 5" and "No.
6."
The winter rains began and portable shelters were set up.
A hydraulic suction dredge called Oscar McGee was purchased from the Hammond Lumber Co. and was used to deepen the bay as needed for launching dry docks.
During November work was stopped on the battleship sections in order to concentrate all available manpower on completion of YFD-20.
There were, at this time, 1,200 employees, including nine women who had passed the Navy test for welders (they were good).
A building permit for a welding school building was taken out in December.
All three sections of YFD-20 were launched during the week before Christmas and outfitting work was rushed to completion.
On Wednesday, January 13, 1943, YFD-20 was tested and delivered months ahead of schedule.
A ceremony was held to honor this event, complete with speeches by notables and officers of the company and U.S.
Navy.
This YFD was given the name Reclaimer.
The men and women of YFD-20 soon saw the U.S.S.
Sioux, a new Navy tug measuring 205 feet long, and featuring a 38-foot beam and nearly 1,700 ton displacement, come to town.
She was high-masted and bluff-bowed and featured 3,000 horsepower delivered to the propeller from four big diesels.
She was ugly but efficient.
Commissioned Dec. 8, 1942, at United Engineering in Alameda, an 85 percent Naval Reserve rookie crew had signed on.
Less than a month later she was on her first "assignment" — a voyage to Eureka to bring back a dry dock.
It was a glum January day when she left the Alameda docks and pushed her way out under the Golden Gate Bridge and headed up the coast.
The Sioux sailed into Humboldt Bay and tied up at the Hammond Lumber Co. dock; the next morning she lay on her beam ends in the mud.
There was a nine-foot tide and this ship drew 16 feet!
She lay there at a rakish angle which put the auxiliaries out of commission.
There was no heat, no light and only cold grub.
The morning tide flowed in with the fog, allowing the crew to move sheepishly out into the stream and drop anchor.
During their liberties some of the young sailors found friendly girls and others wandered bar-to-bar.
A few straight arrows went down to the USO, where they made out alright.
After two or three days, the dry-dock Reclaimer was finally ready to go.
To the rookie sailors on the Sioux, this dry dock, YFD-20, loomed bigger from the bay side than downtown Eureka.
It was some four stories high and a city block long.
On Wednesday, Jan. 13,1943, with the aid of two old steam-powered tugs, the dry dock was maneuvered down toward the bar and found the wind, tide and weather favorable.
The Reclaimer was a beautiful sight as she was towed down the bay, out through the narrow entrance and into the wide Pacific.
The big, square-ended dock pushed three-foot wave ahead of it.
The Sioux shuddered and shook.
She was making barely three knots, which was not enough to outrun a storm that was catching up from the Northwest.
The wind was picking up and the barometer was dropping fast.
By the time they were off Cape Mendocino, the wind was howling and the seas were breaking over the stern.
One of the escort tugs, U.S.S.
Bagaduce, was steaming to the windward as night fell.
The storm was gathering in fury.
The captain then signaled by blinker to make an oil slick, a measure which was supposed to help calm the water, but in reality did not help much.
Everything was battened down.
At 10 minutes after 10 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15, the 10-inch steel tow line snapped.
Five minutes later one of the main engines quit.
The Sioux took off for Treasure Island, leaving the dock adrift.
The ship's crew loaded new tow gear, a food and water, and by midnight they went charging out of the Golden Gate into raging seas in pursuit of the Reclaimer.
In no time, 30-foot seas were breaking over the bridge.
They made 12 knots south toward Monterey Bay, off of which the Reclaimer had floated.
By Sunday noon, they caught up with the dock, then shot a line to the U.S.S.
Ute, which had it in tow.
The crew tried to make a tandem pull but heavy seas soon snapped the tow lines.
The wind and seas showed no signs of abating and the dock began drifting south again.
The Sioux and Ute could do nothing except guard the dock.
Late Monday they managed to get another line on the dock.
At midnight the S.S.
Skinner, a big merchantman commandeered by the U.S.
Navy as a rescue vessel, arrived and the tow line was handed over to the Skinner crew at 1:30 a.m.
Tuesday.
What happened to the dry dock?
The Skinner lost the tow in the fog and the Reclaimer crashed on the rocks off Point Bonita.
It sank without a trace.
The 13 men on the dock, had any escaped?
So much for scuttlebutt; nothing was ever confirmed or denied and it remains a mystery of the sea.
The YFD-20 also was no more and to this day, no official record exists.
Back in Eureka, work, however, resumed on the battleship sections at the plant.
A building permit for construction of a lunch and commissary building was taken out and in February, work started on construction of a employment office and machine shop.
During this month, the Eureka yard was awarded the first Army-Navy "E" flag for outstanding performance on the production front.
The CB&I had a baseball team, a bowling team, a softball team and boxing team.
This company printed a monthly publication, the Chi-Bridge Minute Man, which contained reports from all departments as well as scuttlebutt around the yard.
During March and April, some Unionmelt automatic welding machines were purchased, installed and put to work.
These machines helped to speed up the work.
The plant at this time had 1,700 employees on the payroll.
By May and June 1943, two battleship sections had been launched and four keels laid.
There were now 2,200 employees on the payroll.
Ed Lax was made head of the mechanical department.
During the next two months, July and August, the first battleship section was delivered.
The Army-Navy "E" award was extended with the first star added.
By the end of August there were some 2,800 employees on the payroll.
During September several YFDs were launched and keels laid.
The big news at the time was "Italy Unconditionally Surrenders."
A Federal Housing project of 320 units was started in Eureka, where the Eureka Mall stands today.
This housing was built by L.H.
Hanson and Son, contractors out of Fresno, Calif.
(This writer did work on the job.)
The yard continued to prove to be a hubbub of activity.
During October, a CB&I football team was organized.
A second story was added on the Navy office building.
In December two battleship sections were launched and two auxiliary power substations were installed to accommodate more electric welding machines.
Construction was started on a new cafeteria as well, creating even more jobs.
There were at this time over 3,000 employees.
In May the public was invited to witness the launch of "YFD-64."
The CB&I bowling team won the Eureka major league bowling championship.
In June a second star was added to the Army-Navy "E" flag.
Lt.
Replogle succeeded Lt.
Wallace James as assistant to officer-in-charge.
During October Lt.
Comm.
John D.
Burky left for overseas duty after completing two years outstanding work as officer-in-charge and Lt.
Comm.
Replogle took over.
The CB&I yard was now working two, nine-hour shifts.
During February 1945, the Eureka yard was awarded additional contracts covering construction of 17 floating crane barges and two, 18,000-ton floating dry docks.
Though the material for the barges arrived in March, the payroll dropped to less than 800.
The big news, "Germany Surrenders Unconditionally," was announced May 8, 1945.
Two months later, the first crane barge was launched.
The Eureka yard received the fourth star on their Army-Navy "E" flag.
When Japan was defeated August 14th, all Eureka work was cancelled four days later, except for the construction of six crane barges and two barge hulls.
On Sept. 2, 1945, the formal surrender of Japan was celebrated with whistles, bells and fireworks.
In October 1945 the sixth crane barge was launched.
There were now 500 employees on the payroll; operations were winding down.
During November, the first crane barge was accepted by the Navy following extensive tests.
Don Larson, manager since inception, handed the reins to Neil Burdick, then left for Chicago to take up new duties.
There were 450 employees on the payroll at the time.
During its nearly four years in Eureka, the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company turned out 18 complete floating dry docks or dry dock sections, and six floating crane barges.
These dry docks were in service in every part of the Pacific during WWII.
More than $20 million was dispersed in paychecks in a period of four years.
An average of $5 million a year was given to local employees to spend in local businesses.
In addition, the firm spent over $6 million for materials supplied by local businesses.
Today the site is cleared, the money has long been spent but the Humboldt Bay tides still ebb and flow on the shore.
Author's note: Most of this information and photos were provided by people who had been employed at the CB&I, including James Greivelding, Mrs.
Helen James and Jeff Littleboy.
The piece above was printed in the November-December 1993 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society.
It is reprinted here with permission.
The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history.
You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.
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