Bath Iron Works has been a leading ship building site over 100 years. They have built over 245 military ships, mostly destroyers and frigates for the US Navy. We were able to tour the facility from the comfy confines of our bus, as it drove through the ship yard. We were able to see some of the operations to build the ships. Sections of the ships are assembled, and the sections are brought to the staging are for final assembly. They are working on the Zumwalt, a high tech US Navy Destroyer ship. We also saw the USS Michael Murphy, named after Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy Seal killed in action in Afghanistan.
After the BIW visit, we visited the Maine Maritime Museum. The museum honors the ship building past by preserving part of Percy and Small ship building. They built the Wyoming, largest wood framed sailing vessel ever built. We had the opportunity to see several historic buildings, including the tree nail shop, the mill and joiner shop.
After the tours, the tour participants had free time in Freeport or Portland.
