Haze Gray Photo Feature

Launching Mason (DDG 87)

The last traditional launch at Bath Iron Works

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On June 23, 2001, Bath Iron Works closed the era of traditional ship launchings at their shipyard, sending the destroyer Mason (DDG 87) into the Kennebec down the traditional sliding ways. Mason will be the last BIW ship launched this way, as future ships starting with Chafee (DDG 90) will be launched from the yard's new Land Level Transfer Facility. The new facility will bring improvements in efficiency, but will mean the end of the age-old tradition of inclined ways launchings.

Mason (DDG 87) is named for two previous ships. The first Mason (DD 191) was named for Secretary of the Navy John Young Mason. Commissioned in 1920, Mason was transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Broadwater in 1940, and was lost to enemy action 18 October 1941. The second Mason (DE 529) was named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason, an aviator lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea early in WWII. Mason served from 1944 to 1945, and is known as the first US Navy ship with an all African-American enlisted crew.

Senator Olympia Snowe served as the ship's sponsor, with Kathleen M. Bond and Barbara B. Graham as matrons of honor. Principal speaker at the launch ceremony was Rear Admiral David L. Brewer, III, Vice Chief of Naval Education and Training.

Click the thumbnail images or captions for screen-sized (600x900 pixel) images; click the words "Hi-Rez Image" for large (1200x1600 pixel) images.


Three Days To Go

This series of photos was taken from the US Route 1 bridge over the Kennebec River, showing the shipyard on the night of June 20, three days before the launch. Mason is seen on the ways, with Howard (DDG 83) at the pier in the foreground.

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Last Night on the Ways

This series of photos was taken in the eerie and surreal environment of the shipyard at night, the evening before the launch. Bathed in the glow of floodlights, the ship stands nearly ready as final preparations are made. After over 100 years of tradition, this is the last night with a destroyer on the ways at BIW.

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The Cradle & Wedge Driving

In the months leading up to the launch, a massive wooden cradle is built between the ship and the ways. On launch day the ship's weight will be transferred onto the cradle from the keel blocks, and the cradle will carry the ship down the ways into the river. As the ship completes her launching run, the cradle will be snubbed out from under her by two cables secured to the end of the standing ways. The cradle will then float free, to be taken in hand by tugs and towed away for later salvage.

The process of transferring the ship's weight begins with "wedging up" the cradle against the hull, and is completed by removing the keel blocks and shores that had supported the ship during construction. The wedges are traditionally driven early on the day of the launch, and a large number of guests are usually in attendance. For the last-ever wedge driving at BIW, the assembled crowd numbered several hundred, despite intermittent rain.

[THUMBNAIL] A view looking forward along Mason's starboard side a few days before the launch, showing the completed cradle. The wedges, placed between the lowest two layers of the cradle, are marked in red and white groups to denote which wedges to be driven by each wedge driving team. The break in the outer portion of the concrete standing way houses the trigger mechanism, which will release the ship at the moment of christening. The vertical shores outside the cradle, as well as the keel blocks beneath the ship, will be removed the morning of the launch.
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[THUMBNAIL] A closer view along the starboard-side cradle at its aft end.
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[THUMBNAIL] A closeup of the cradle, showing the details of its construction. This view is near the stern, where the cradle is quite high; further forward the cradle is lower, and is of nearly solid construction.
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[THUMBNAIL] A view looking aft along the starboard side, showing the aft end of the sliding ways and the stern poppet. The massive steel stern poppet supports the ship's stern as she slides down the ways. Although the wooden cradle and sliding ways will float from beneath the ship as she reaches the end of her launching run, the stern poppet is secured in place by cables and will be removed later.
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[THUMBNAIL] A view under the ship, looking aft, showing the keel blocks and the cables securing the cradle together.
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[THUMBNAIL] Looking down through the cradle near the stern, showing the keel blocks and dog shores. The angled dog shores keep the ship from sliding down the ways too early. After they are removed, the ship is held only by the two triggers.
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Wedge driving started at 7 AM the morning of the launch. Over the next two hours, in eight three-minute rallies, hundreds of BIW employees and guests drove wedges for the final time, closing an era in BIW history.
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[THUMBNAIL] A view from the stern the morning of the launch, as wedge driving continues in a driving rain.
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[THUMBNAIL] The view looking towards the stern during one of the final wedge rallies.
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Launch Day
[THUMBNAIL] Early on launch day, Mason towers over the christening platform.
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[THUMBNAIL] The ship's bow is framed by BIW's #11 crane and a manlift in a view from the doors of a BIW fabrication shop.
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[THUMBNAIL] A view up the superstructure showing the details of the bridge and mast.
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[THUMBNAIL] An hour before the start of the launch ceremony, the shipyard is already packed despite the poor weather. The crowd for this launch was much larger than had been seen at any recent launch.
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[THUMBNAIL] As the launch approaches, crews man the tugs and prepare to get underway. Critical but often unseen participants in the launching, these tugs will control the ship after she is afloat, and take the floating cradle under tow for later hauling-out.
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[THUMBNAIL] Tug Verona standing by for the launch. Verona is the "power tug" for the launch, and the line over her stern runs up to Mason's stern. The power tug is reponsible for pulling the ship down the ways (if she fails to "start" on her own), and for keeping the ship running straight and true as she comes down the ways.
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Mason (DDG 87) Launching

This series of nine photos shows the launch sequence from the head of the ways. In the final two views, the launch cradle is seen floating ahead of the ship as tugs come alongside to take her in tow. Photos courtesy of C.P. Cavas.
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Mason (DDG 87) Launching - Another View

This series of nine photos shows the launch from the river, a view not normally seen. In the first few views Mason is seen sliding down the ways and vanishing behind McCampbell (DDG 85), moored at BIW's south pier; in the next several photos she appears with Howard (DDG 83) in the background. The final three views show the ship floating clear in the river as the tugs come alongside and move her to the fitting-out berth.

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After the Launch
[THUMBNAIL] As Mason moves out into the river, the cradle floats free and tugs move in to control it.
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[THUMBNAIL] A view down the ways as the crane lifts the bow poppet from the water and begins hauling it up the ways. After the poppet is separated from the cradle, it can be brought back to the head of the ways, where it is stored.
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[THUMBNAIL] Another view down the ways, from the christening platform.
[THUMBNAIL] As three tugs take Mason to her fitting-out pier, two other tugs haul away the cradle.

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