The two side walls were folded down under tow to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity.

[1][2][3][4] The nine sections that made up dock ABSD-3 were built at four different shipyards, to speed up construction: [4] Commissioned on 27 October 1944, the USS ABSD-3 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.

The largest repairs at Guam were that of the USS Pennsylvania near the end of World War II; the ship was hit by a kamikaze attack off Okinawa on 12 August 1945.

Due to the Pennsylvania's 28.9 ft (8.8 m) draft with a full load, the battleship had to unload much of her ammunition and fuel oil before entering AFDB-3.

Some sections were laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in Green Cove Springs, Florida.

Bath Iron Works used the dock to lift new-built guided missile destroyers (DDG) to install sonar domes on the new ships' bows.

Bath Iron Works built a new land dry lock facility and no longer needed ABSD-3.

[8] In 1999 she was sold and then in 2000 moved to two pieces (four sections) with the heavy-lift ship MV Blue Marlin to a shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia.