U.S. Navy

Auxiliary Repair Docks (ARD / ARDM / AFDM)

Floating dry docks with built-in machine shops — portable shipyards that could be towed to forward anchorages and lift damaged ships out of the water for hull repair, propeller replacement, and underwater maintenance. Over 36 ARDs were built during World War II, turning remote Pacific atolls into functioning repair bases. The medium docks (ARDM/AFDM) could lift cruiser-sized vessels. From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa to Cold War homeports, these unglamorous steel structures kept the fleet operational when fixed shipyards were thousands of miles away.

World War II — Forward Repair 1942 - 1945

Survived Pearl Harbor

Harbor Survivor

ARD-2 was at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack and survived to serve throughout the Pacific War. As one of the earliest auxiliary repair docks, she could lift destroyers and submarines out of the water at forward anchorages, allowing hull repairs, propeller changes, and underwater damage assessment thousands of miles from the nearest fixed dry dock. Pearl Harbor taught the Navy that concentrated repair facilities were vulnerable — ARD-2 and her sisters were the dispersed, mobile alternative. Read more

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Pacific Theater Workhorse

Major Anchorage

ARD-12 operated at the great Pacific anchorages — Ulithi, Manus, Eniwetok — where the fleet gathered between operations. These floating dry docks turned coral atolls into functioning shipyards. A destroyer that hit a reef or took a torpedo could be lifted out of the water, inspected, patched, and returned to service without the weeks-long transit back to Pearl Harbor. The repair docks had built-in machine shops, welding equipment, and skilled hull technicians who could fabricate replacement plates from raw steel stock. Read more

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Okinawa Operations

Damage Repaired

At Okinawa, where kamikaze attacks damaged more ships than any other campaign in naval history, repair docks like ARD-16 worked around the clock pulling damaged destroyers and destroyer escorts out of the water. The picket line ships took the worst of it — smashed superstructures, holed hulls, twisted propeller shafts. ARD-16 and the other floating docks at Kerama Retto anchorage kept repairing them and sending them back to the picket line, because the fleet had no reserves left to replace them. Read more

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Cold War & Beyond — Auxiliary Repair Docks 1946 - Present

ARD-19 / ARDM-1

ARD-19 / ARDM-1 — First Medium Repair Dock

Originally completed as ARD-19 during the war, Oak Ridge was redesignated ARDM-1 when the Navy created the Medium Auxiliary Repair Dry Dock classification. Larger than the standard ARDs, she could lift cruiser-sized vessels — a capability that gave forward commanders repair options they never had before. Oak Ridge served for decades, moving between ports and fleet concentrations as needs shifted. The ARDM designation recognized what the fleet already knew: medium repair docks filled a gap between the small ARDs and the massive floating dry docks that could handle battleships. Read more

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ARD-22 — Standard Repair Dock

Windsor was a standard ARD-type floating dry dock — a U-shaped steel structure that could submerge its deck, float a ship into position, then pump out the ballast tanks to lift the vessel clear of the water. Simple in concept, demanding in execution. The dock crew had to precisely control ballast to keep the lifting forces even, position the ship correctly on the keel blocks, and coordinate with the vessel's crew throughout the evolution. One miscalculation and you could break a ship's back instead of repairing it. Read more

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ARD-29 — Late War Construction

ARCO was among the last ARDs completed during the war, entering service as the conflict wound down but continuing into the Cold War era. The name ARCO was actually an acronym — Auxiliary Repair Dock, Company-Operated — reflecting the occasional practice of civilian contractor operation. These repair docks were more than just lifting platforms; they carried complete machine shops, welding facilities, and hull repair equipment. A crew of skilled tradesmen could fabricate parts, patch hulls, and return ships to sea that would otherwise require a months-long trip to a shipyard. Read more

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AFDM-7 — Medium Floating Dock

Sustain was an AFDM — Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock, Medium — capable of lifting cruiser-sized ships for underwater hull work. The medium docks represented a massive investment in mobile repair capability, with each one essentially a portable shipyard that could be towed to wherever the fleet needed it. Sustain spent decades providing drydocking services at various naval facilities, keeping the fleet's hulls clean and propulsion systems maintained without tying up fixed dry dock capacity at major shipyards. Read more

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AFDM-10 — Keeping the Fleet Afloat

Resolute earned her name through decades of unglamorous but essential service — lifting ships out of the water for the routine maintenance that keeps a navy operational. Underwater hull cleaning, propeller inspection, sonar dome repair, sea chest maintenance, through-hull fitting replacement. None of it makes headlines. All of it matters. A fouled hull costs a destroyer two knots of speed and burns extra fuel on every deployment. Resolute and her sisters kept the fleet clean, fast, and ready. Read more

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AFDM-14 — Enduring Service

Steadfast served longer than most of the ships she repaired, a testament to the overbuilt quality of wartime American industrial production. These floating docks were designed to last — their steel was thick, their ballast systems reliable, and their basic function never became obsolete. Ships always need their bottoms cleaned and their hulls inspected. As long as the Navy operates steel-hulled ships in saltwater, it will need floating dry docks. Steadfast proved that a well-maintained dock from 1945 could serve the fleet into the modern era. Read more

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36+

ARDs Built

18,000

Ton Max Lift (AFDM)

1942+

Years of Service

Mobile

Shipyard Capability