"In Bath, Maine, the birthplace of American shipbuilding, the century-old Bath Iron Works shipyard has been building - largely by hand and with a good dose of tradition - some of the finest, deadliest ships in the U.S. Navy. Accompanied by mounting competition and a pressing need to modernize, the yard faces the year 2000 with changes great and small, most notably in the way it launches ships.

No longer will the great gray leviathans roar down the "ways" - the traditional inclined ramp - into the Kennebec River; this ancient technology will give way to the modern dry dock."--BOOK JACKET.

"The Yard captures this moment, the end of an era in New England history, through the eyes of the workers as they build and launch the USS Donald Cook, one of the last ships to be launched the old way. Here the readers step into the daily lives of the shipyard's mechanics - the welders and pipefitters and riggers and shipfitters - as the ship develops.

They watch this complex evolution from the first cutting of steel through the dramatic launch and rigorous trials at sea to the destroyer's triumphant commissioning, sharing the moment when the ship's first Navy crew brings her to life."--BOOK JACKET.