Dry Dock 1

Dry Dock 1 is the oldest dry dock in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the third-oldest in the United States. It is now the last dry dock operating in Brooklyn, now operated by GMD Shipyard, and one of very few in the area.

The site was first surveyed in 1826, with construction beginning in 1841. It was completed in 1851 at a cost of precisely $2,146,255.36. It is constructed from 23,000 cubic yards of hand-cut and hand-sanded blocks of granite excavated from quarries in Connecticut, Maine, Staten Island, and upstate New York.

Though modest in size by today’s standards, at the time it was a major engineering feat, being the first large project to use a steam-powered pile driver, and utilizing the largest pumping engine built at the time. Over the 20 years it took to construct, the project ran through at least three civil engineers and had to contend with a variety of setbacks, including 75’ deep quicksand, underground springs, and a faulty dam design which flooded the worksite.

Ships built and serviced there included The Niagara, which laid the first transatlantic cable; Halstead’s Folly, the prototype of the first submarine; The Maine, the destruction of which triggered the Spanish-American War; and The Monitor, the first iron-clad, steam-powered warship of the US Navy during the Civil War. It was declared a New York City Landmark in 1975.

There are several working docks and piers at the Navy Yard, most of which are off-limits to enter and not easily observed, but there's a handy viewing platform overlooking Dry Dock 1. It's the one spot where you can view the goings-on pretty up close and personal. 

Ships are no longer built there, but it is still used for maintenance, repair and inspection of tugboats, barges, and other smaller vessels. Two ships were serviced while I was there; the tugboat Evening Light and the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Dauntless.

Here's a cool time-lapse video showing this dry dock in action.