Inclined Shipbuilding Ways

 shipyard, slipway

Two of the principal shipbuilding ways at the Mare Island Navy Yard, these ways served as the construction site for Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, River Gunboats, Submarines and Oil Tankers. Augmented by a multiple-way facility constructed to the Northwest during the Second World War, the twin ways were used to primarily construct Submarine Tenders, Submarines and Destroyers while the Northern ways were used for the construction of Destroyer Escorts.

Postwar, these two ways again resumed the role of the primary ship construction site at Mare Island, and were last utilized for the construction of the Nuclear-powered Submarines of the George Washington, Lafayette and Sturgeon Classes.

Decommissioned along with the rest of Mare Island Naval Yard in 1996, the ways have remained inactive since the closure of the base.

www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/mar.htm