United States Navy reserve fleets

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Mothballed ships in Suisun Bay, California (2010).

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 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 (for instance, at the outset of the Korean War), 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.

Contents

Administration [edit]

In November 1971, the controlling organization was the Inactive Ship Division of the Naval Ship Systems Command.[1] Since 2004, the administrative organization is called the Navy Inactive Fleet.[citation needed] 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.[2]

Merchant ships held in reserve are managed as part of the separate National Defense Reserve Fleet within MARAD (US Maritime Administration). Several of its sites, such as at Suisun Bay in California, are also used to store regular Navy ships.

History [edit]

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 (APD-93) 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 [edit]

The groups of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet were at Boston, Charleston, Florida, New London, MOTBY/New York Harbor, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and Texas.

Pacific Reserve Fleet [edit]

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 [edit]

James River Reserve Fleet [edit]

The James River Reserve Fleet consists of about 60 decommissioned U.S. Navy auxiliaries and warships anchored in Virginia's James River near Newport News. The ships are gradually being towed away for scrapping. From 2001 to March 2005, 31 were disposed of. As of 31 August 2009, the Reserve Fleet consisted of the following vessels:

Newport [edit]

Although not technically a reserve fleet, the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Saratoga is berthed pierside at the Newport naval complex.

Suisun Bay [edit]

USS Iowa (BB-61) laid up in Suisun Bay.
Main article: Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet

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.

Neches River [edit]

The Beaumont Reserve Fleet, anchored in the Neches River near Beaumont, Texas, contains a number of transport ships, plus a dozen minesweepers.

Philadelphia [edit]

The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility holds several dozen inactive warships, including the aircraft carriers USS John F. Kennedy and Forrestal, Ticonderoga class cruisers, Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, numerous supply ships, and a submarine.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard [edit]

The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, located next to Bremerton, Washington hosts, among its other ships, four aircraft carriers: USS Ranger, Independence, Kitty Hawk, and Constellation,[28] and the nuclear cruiser USS Long Beach. It is also the home to almost two dozen decommissioned submarines, several frigates, and numerous supply ships.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ General Accounting Office, [1], 8.
  2. ^ http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Organization/Field%20Activities.aspx, accessed July 2011
  3. ^ "Merrimack (AO-179)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  4. ^ "Monongahela (AO-178)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  5. ^ "Platte (AO-186)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  6. ^ "Cape Mendocino (AKR-5064)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  7. ^ "Cape Alava (AK-5012)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  8. ^ "Cape Ann (AK-5009)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  9. ^ "Cape Avinoff (AK-5013)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  10. ^ "Cape Juby (AK-5077)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  11. ^ "Cape Nome (AK-1014)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  12. ^ "Cape Alexander (AK-5010)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  13. ^ "Cape Archway (AK-5011)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  14. ^ "Cape Cod (AK-5041)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  15. ^ "Cape Johnson (TAK-5075)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  16. ^ "Sylvania (AFS-2)". Retrieved 2012-12-02. 
  17. ^ "James McHenry (HLS0-1)". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  18. ^ "Cape Cod (AD-43)". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  19. ^ "Harkness (T-AGS-32)". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  20. ^ "USS Sherburne (APA-205". Retrieved 2012-12-02. 
  21. ^ "Shenandoah (AD-44)". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  22. ^ "Vanguard (T-AG-194)". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  23. ^ "Yellowstone (AD-41)". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  24. ^ "Patriot State". Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
  25. ^ "USNS Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191)". Retrieved 2012-12-02. 
  26. ^ "Henry Eckford (LPT-AO-192)". Retrieved 2012-12-02. 
  27. ^ "Sturgis (MH-1A)". Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
  28. ^ HistoryLink Essay: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

External links [edit]
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