Qualla: USS ABSD-4 https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: USS ABSD-4 https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4 USS ABSD-4: Introduction https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. A Japanese reconnaissance pilot named Shimbo overflew Seeadler Harbor on April 22, 1945, at 14,000 feet. He radioed back that two aircraft carriers were moored below. He was not quite right. What he had actually seen were USS ABSD-4 and her sister ABSD-2 - twin floating drydocks, each 927 feet long, empty that day and riding high. The mistake is understandable. These things were the size of carriers, could lift carriers out of the water, and looked from altitude exactly like something worth hitting. Five nights later, Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers would arrive to do just that.

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/rr8u-uss-absd-4-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full USS ABSD-4: Built in Nine Pieces https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. ABSD-4 was never meant to travel as one ship. The Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California built her in sections during 1942 and 1943 - nine enormous pontoons that could be towed across the Pacific folded flat, then assembled where the Navy needed them. Each section was ...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/rr8u-uss-absd-4-built-in-nine-pieces.mp3 0:06 2 full USS ABSD-4: Across the Pacific in 48 Days https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. The convoy left California in 1944, towing the sections across 6,000 miles of open ocean. The crossing took 48 days. Assembly happened first at Espiritu Santo Naval Base in what was then the New Hebrides - now Vanuatu - where the Navy's advance base machinery was already in rhyth...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/rr8u-uss-absd-4-across-the-pacific-in-48-days.mp3 0:06 3 full USS ABSD-4: Ninety Thousand Tons https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. The rated lift was 90,000 tons, which put aircraft carriers, battleships, and cruisers all on the menu. USS New York - a First World War battleship still fighting in her fourth decade - was cleaned and painted in ABSD-4 in March 1945. USS Allen M. Sumner came in on January 20, 19...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/rr8u-uss-absd-4-ninety-thousand-tons.mp3 0:06 4 full USS ABSD-4: Torpedo at Eleven PM https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. On April 27, 1945 at approximately 11:15 at night, three Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers crossed the harbor from Truk and dropped their weapons. One hit ABSD-4, striking a pontoon tank. At the time of the attack she was working on a Liberty cargo ship, a Landing Ship, Tank, and a se...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/rr8u-uss-absd-4-torpedo-at-eleven-pm.mp3 0:06 5 full USS ABSD-4: The Hulk Off Lombrum https://qualla.com/uss-absd-4/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. The war ended and ABSD-4 stayed. Reclassified AFDB-4 after the war, she was put in reserve at Seeadler Harbor off Lombrum Point and never left. Officially she was decommissioned and struck from the Navy register on April 15, 1989 - nearly half a century after the torpedo hit her ...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/r/8/u/uss-absd-4-wp/rr8u-uss-absd-4-the-hulk-off-lombrum.mp3 0:06 6 full