The crane in 2020.
The crane in 1947

The Hunter's Point crane is a gantry crane located at the naval shipyard in Hunters Point, San Francisco.[1] When it was built, in 1947 to repair battleships and aircraft carriers, it was the largest crane in the world.[2][3]

It has a 450-long-ton (460 t) capacity and was completed at the site by the American Bridge Company.[4]

When it was first built, it was used to lift 630 tons, which the San Francisco Chronicle reported at the time was the heaviest load ever lifted.[2]

In 1959, it was used for Operation Skycatch, where dummy Polaris missiles were fired and caught via a string of arresting cables, before being lowered to the ground for testing.[5] Previous versions of the test had the missiles flung out into the bay and retrieved from the ocean floor.[6][7]

A large trapezoidal frame was erected atop the gantry crane for the UGM-73 Poseidon missile test facility; the structural members were lifted by Marine Boss in 1967.[8] The addition of the frame brought the total height of the crane to nearly 500 feet (150 m). The crane dominates the landscape in the area, as it is easily visible from miles around.

Today, the site where the crane is located is a superfund site due to contamination by the military, and there is no public access.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ "Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard - FoundSF". www.foundsf.org.
  2. 1 2 Hartlaub, Peter (January 8, 2020). "A love letter to Hunters Point crane, the most underrated Bay Area landmark". San Francisco Chronicle.
  3. ↑ King, John (December 14, 2017). "A new vision for the development of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard". San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. ↑ Stimson Jr., Thomas E. (September 1947). "Spanning the Navy's Mole at Hunter's Point, Calif., is the World's Largest Crane". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 88, no. 3. pp. 124–128, 256. ISSN 0032-4558. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  5. ↑ "L55-15.01.03 L55-15.01.03 Operation Skycatch Polaris missile dummy at testing site". public2.nhhcaws.local.
  6. ↑ "Hunters Point Crane". Department of the Navy. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "The story of the Hunters Point crane's arch — and its nuclear secret". 19 February 2023.
  8. ↑ Venturino, Marco F. (March–April 1967). "Test facility modifications for Poseidon". The Navy Civil Engineer. 8 (2): 18–19. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Roberts, Chris (January 31, 2018). "Navy: Do-over of $250 million cleanup at Hunters Point necessary". Curbed SF.
  10. ↑ Roberts, Chris (January 23, 2020). "Shipyard radiation tests around housing were sound, scientist panel says, but questions remain". Curbed SF.
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