Site Name: The site was known as Hurley Marine Works, Inc. (Hurley). Hurley occupied the site beginning in 1940 through a lease with the Port of Oakland (the Port). In 1951, Crowley Maritime Corporation (Crowley) operated at the site. Its subsidiary, Pacific Dry Dock and Repair Company (Pacific Dry Dock) operated at the site from 1964 until 1991. The site is now known as Pacific Dry Dock Yard 11.
Location: The Naval Industrial Reserve Repair Facility (NIR) was located in Alameda County, California approximately five miles southeast of the City of Oakland, on the Port waterfront in the San Francisco Bay, in an area known as the Inner Oakland Harbor (Figure 1). Its map coordinates are latitude 37" 47' west and longitude 122" 16' north. Lake Memtt flows into the bay and is northeast of the site. The Lake Memtt Channel separates the site from Estuary Park, which is adjacent to the site on the west side. This site location is listed on hstoric documents as 321 Embarcadero.
Site History: The United States entered into Contract NObs-723 for Ship Repair Facilities with Hurley on February 17, 1943. The contract was for 2.0 acres ofthe existing Hurley facility. The contract also set forth terms for a lease with the City of Oakland for a marine railway. This property is assumed to be east of the eventual position of the NIR because it is referred to as being at the foot of Fifth Avenue, and the address for the NIR is west of Fifth Avenue, at 32 1 Embarcadero. Hurley had a lease with the Port for its ship repair facilities commencing in 1940.
Amendment No. 4 to Contract NObs-723, dated June 12,1944, proposed additions to the existing repair yard for supporting installations for the future assignment of a 2,800 ton Navy owned Auxiliary Floating Drydock, Light (AFDL). A November 1945 completion report lists construction of a warehouse and locker building, service shops and an office building, a powerhouse, plate shop, paint shop, cafeteria, two fingerpiers, and accommodations for a 2,800 ton AFDL. The area of Navy expansion is depicted on a diagram titled, "Contract NObs-723 Plot Plan, Hurley Marine Works" (Figure 2). The report includes detailed descriptions of the buildings and the electrical distribution system, and includes photographs of the area; however, the report does not provide acreage for the new facility nor does it identify specific activities which tookplace at the facility. Figure 3 provides apictorial view of the NIR Repair Facility at Hurley.
Two maps outline proposed and actual changes in relation to the expansion of the ship repair facility. The first is dated April 5,1944 and is titled, 'Xurley Marine Works, Extension to Plant Plan Showing Property to be Leased by U.S. Navy for Proposed Ship Repair Facility"; the second is dated January 9, 1947 and is titled, "Naval Reserve Armory (Hurley Marine Works), Plot Plan 7". The second map depicts the facility as is appeared up until 1998, when the buildings were demolished by the Port.
A Sanbom Map depicts the property in 1942 and includes buildings which were demolished as part of the expansion program detailed in the 1945 Completion Report. A May 1945 newsletter called "The Hurley Marinews", discusses the expansion program and provides a photograph of two of the Navy buildings. An undated Report of Lease Cancellations discusses 19.4 acres at Hurley, and references Amendment No.4 to Contract NObs-723. The document outlines costs associated with demolition of old buildings and construction of new structures at the Hurley facility.
After World War I1the US. Navy Port Director, U.S. Naval Base, San Francisco discussed the Port director's need for berthing of ships at the Government-owned piers at Hurley through 1947. Amendment No. 6 to Contract NObs-723, dated June 13, 1946 from the Navy Department to Hurley states that aportion of the facility outlined in the contract will be "used and occupied by the Commander, San Francisco Naval Shipyard. ...for use by him for various purposes in connection with decommissioning Naval vessels". The contract was also amended to include the 2,800 ton AFDL and "certain other Government-owned facilities which have heretofore been finished to you for your use". An August 16,1946 memorandum states that "BuShps'' is declaring the Hurley facilities surplus in the immediate future and that the area is desired for the establishment of a Naval Reserve Armory and Training Ship Berthing Facility.
A March 4,1948 memorandum discusses disposition of facilities under Contract NObs(R)-723, the termination of Leases NOy(R)-39453 and NOy(R)-3 1665, and modification of Lease NOy(R)-41805. This document states that the officer in charge of the U.S. Naval Reserve Armory wished to make the cafeteria building, which was subject to Lease NOy(R)-39453, part ofthe modification to Lease NOy(R)-41805, and the Port agreed to the transfer. On April 16,1948 Leases NOy(R)-39453 and NOy(R)-3 1665, which were used in connection with Hurley Contract NObs-723, were terminated with the Port. Subsequent to termination of these leases Naval Reserve Armory Lease NOy(R)-41805 was modified for the right by the Government to recapture use of the marine railway, and for inclusion of the cafeteria building located on the premises covered by Lease NOy(R)-39453. On June 8,1948 the Facilities Review Board approved the cancellation of the leases and modification of Lease NOy(R)-41805 as proposed.
The U.S. Naval Ordnance Supply Office, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, produced a document in 1955 titled,"Ammunition Allowance List for Auxiliary Floating Drydocks, Light (AFDL)" which outlines ordnance loads for AFDLs in war and peace time. According to Clinton Huckins, an ordnance expert with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the ammunition allowance list does not meanthat ordnance was stored at the docks, it simply gives permission to store ordnance (Huckins, June 14,1999). No evidence was found to indicate that ordnance was stored at the facility.
On January 7,1960 an appraisal of the NIR was made for the General Services Administration. The appraisal states that the address of the NIR is 321 Embarcadero, consisting of 2.7 acres. Detailed descriptions of the finger pier closest to the Lake Merritt Channel and Buildings 1 and 2 (for purposes of this report these buildings are G-301 and G-302, respectively, see Figure 4) are provided as well as photographs. The zoning for the area was classified as heavy industrial. An additional appraisal report was prepared for the NIR on April 10,1962 and provides detailed information and photographs of the same features included in the 1960 appraisal and states that the "ground lease of the U.S. Government with the Port expires on June 30, 1965".
The Office of Emergency Services in Oakland provided documentation regarding recent activities at 321 Embarcadero. A Master File Record completed by Pacific Dry Dock and Repair Company (Pacific Dry Dock) on June 19,1985 for the AlamedaCounty Health Care Services states that Pacific Dry Dock began operations at the site on July 14,1964. An August 13, 1991 letter from Crowley Maritime Corporation (Crowley), parent corporation of Pacific Dry Dock, to the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency gives notification that Pacific Dry Dock and Repair closed its operations (on the site) on May 17,1991. According to a report prepared by the Port in 1997, Crowley performed vessel maintenance at the site from 1951 until 1992 and that prior to 1951 the Navy operated a marine terminal at the site. There is no indcation that the Government continued to operate at the site through Crowley. A 1997 letter fkom the Port to the Regional Water Quality Control Board states that "the United States Navy leased the property fkom the City of Oakland and occupied it from 1942 to 1951 and subleased the property fkom 1951 to 1962. Since 1963 the site has been operated by Crowley".
