[1] When it was built, in 1947 to repair battleships and aircraft carriers, it was the largest crane in the world.[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).
