Mare Island Drydocks

Mare Island was one of the most important Navy shipyards in the country, and is a diversely developed self-contained city. It opened in 1854, and during the height of WWII, 42,000 people worked here. It was closed in 1996, and the 5,500 acre peninsula, with nearly 1,000 buildings, is being redeveloped. The working waterfront area is the dominant feature of the site, where several drydocks, cranes, and large engineering and assembly buildings continue to be used by civilian companies and reserve military forces. Among the prominent specialized buildings on base is a high bay engineering structure for the assembly of submarine periscopes, as nuclear submarines were some of the many types of navy vessels built and repaired at Mare Island. Over 500 ships were built here, and around 2,000 ships were refurbished or overhauled.