The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve
fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the
maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant:
keep the ships afloat and sufficiently working as to be reactivated quickly in
an emergency. In some cases, many ships were
successfully reactivated at a considerable savings in time and money.
The usual fate of ships in the reserve fleet, though, is to become too old and
obsolete to be of any use, at which point they are sold for scrapping or are
scuttled in weapons tests. In rare cases, the general public may
intercede for ships from the reserve fleet that are about to be scrapped –
usually asking for the navy to donate them for use as museums, memorials or
artificial reefs. Administration
In November 1976, the controlling organization was the Inactive Ship
Division of the Naval Ship Systems Command. Since 2004, the administrative
organization is called the Navy Inactive Fleet. As of 2011, the controlling
organization actually appears to be the Inactive Ships Management Office of the
Program Executive Officer - Ships, Naval Sea Systems Command, Portsmouth,
Virginia. Merchant ships held in reserve are
managed as part of the separate National Defense Reserve Fleet within MARAD.
Several of its sites, such as at Suisun Bay in California, are also used to
store regular Navy ships. = Maintenance categories=
Ships placed in the reserve fleets are categorized depending on priority,
funding and the planned disposition. Category B Ships in this category are
prioritized over the other categories when it comes to maintenance and
funding. They are retained for possible future mobilization and will receive
updates and upgrades as funding permits. Category C These are ships that will be
maintained as-is; meaning no updates or improvements unless funding is left
after category B ships are done. Category D Temporary state pending
planned usage by the Navy, will be maintained as-is.
Category X Ships stricken from the Naval Vessel Register awaiting disposal.
Receives no maintenance except ships on donation hold which undergoes
dehumidification and cathodic protection.
Category Z This category is for nuclear-powered ships and related
support ships pending disposal. History
Around 1912, the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and the Pacific Reserve Fleet were
established as reserve units, still operating ships, but on a greatly
reduced schedule. After the Second World War, with
hundreds of ships no longer needed by a peacetime navy, each fleet consisted of
a number of groups corresponding to storage sites, each adjacent to a
shipyard for easier reactivation. For example, USS Brock was underway for
Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 11 April 1945. Brock arrived there on 13 April
1945, and joined the Florida Group, 16th Fleet, which later became the Florida
Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Many of the deactivated Second World War
merchant vessels were of a class called the Liberty Ship which was a
mass-produced ocean-going transport which was used primarily in the convoys
going to/from the U.S., Europe and Russia. These Liberty Ships were also
used as the navy's support vessel for its fleet of warships and to ferry
forces across the Pacific and Atlantic. It was a race between how fast the U.S.
could build these ships and how fast the German U-Boats could sink them, and the
Liberty Ship was significant in maintaining the beleaguered United
Kingdom. Most of these Liberty Ships when
deactivated were put into "mothball fleets" strategically located around the
coasts of the U.S. They began to be deactivated and scrapped in the early
1970s. = Atlantic Reserve Fleet=
The groups of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet were at Boston, Charleston, Green Cove
Springs, Florida, New London, MOTBY/New York Harbor, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and
Texas. = Pacific Reserve Fleet=
The groups of the Pacific Reserve Fleet were at Alameda, Bremerton, Columbia
River, Long Beach, Mare Island, San Diego, San Francisco, Stockton, and
Tacoma. List of current USN reserve fleets
= James River Reserve Fleet= The James River Reserve Fleet consists
of 6 decommissioned U.S. Navy auxiliaries and warships anchored in
Virginia's James River near Newport News. The fleet originally consisted of
about 60 ships, most of which were gradually towed away for scrapping. As
of July 1, 2014, the Reserve Fleet consisted of the following vessels:
SS Cape Ann - Training Use SS Cape Avinoff - Training Use
SS Cape Juby - Logistics Support SS Cape Nome - Logistics Support
USNS Harkness - Logistics Support MV Freedom Star - Training Use
= Suisun Bay= A similar fleet, the National Defense
Reserve Fleet, is anchored in Suisun Bay near Benicia, California, and has
similarly been reduced. This location is known for hosting the Glomar Explorer
after its recovery of portions of a Soviet submarine during the Cold War
before its subsequent reactivation as a minerals exploration ship.
= Beaumont= The Beaumont Reserve Fleet, anchored in
the Neches River near Beaumont, Texas, contains a number of transport ships,
plus a dozen minesweepers. = Former fleets=
Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Green Cove
Springs Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Hudson River
Atlantic Reserve Fleet, New London Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange
Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Wilmington Pacific Reserve Fleet, Astoria
Pacific Reserve Fleet, Stockton Pacific Reserve Fleet, Hunters Point
Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facilities
A Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility is a facility owned by the U.S.
Navy as a holding facility for decommissioned naval vessels, pending
determination of their final fate. All ships in these facilities are inactive,
but some are still on the Naval Vessel Register, while others have been struck
from that Register. = Philadelphia=
The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility holds several dozen inactive
warships, including the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, Ticonderoga class
cruisers, Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, and numerous supply ships.
= Bremerton= The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance
Facility at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, located next to Bremerton, Washington,
hosts, among its other ships, three aircraft carriers: USS Ranger,
Independence, and Kitty Hawk. two dozen decommissioned submarines, several
frigates, and numerous supply ships, It is the former home of the nuclear
cruiser USS Long Beach which was scrapped.
= Pearl Harbor= The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance
Facility at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, holds logistic support ships and amphibious
transport dock ships. See also
309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, a U.S. Air Force
equivalent References
External links Records of the Reserve Fleet
Satellite photo of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet
Adventures in the Abandoned Ships of Suisun Bay
Satellite photo of the Neches River Reserve Fleet
Satellite photo of the James River Reserve Fleet
Satellite photo of the Puget Sound Reserve Fleet