In Reply to: Re: Richmond Assembly Plant posted by Steve Dabrowski on March 20, 2017 at 08:42:16:
I had several photos I took over at the Shipyard#3 also but figured the post was getting pretty long. Photos of the drydocks, of which there were five at that yard, show them dillapidated but still in use for repair of various vessels, there is one of the last shipyard Whirley Cranes,and the main machine shop, general warehouse (the big concrete structure) and the sheet metal and paint buildings there also.
The warehouse has numerous slots through the concrete walls on each level around the perimeter to act as explosion vents in case anything stored went off accidentally allowing the building to survive.
The Ford assembly plant was called the Richmond Tank Depot during the war as it was fully occupied completing new Sherman Tanks and other equipment and producing Jeeps. Virtually all of the vehicular equipment going to the war in the Pacific went through here. Much of it was not fully assembled here, rather the plant served as a final outfitter equipping tanks and other vehicles as requested for various units fighting at the front. Kind of like adding optional items to cars. They also did tank repair and refit. One original photo shows workers loading newspaper and magazine stacks into a tank for distribution to soldiers and Marine units to read when the vehicle arrived from the U.S.