Motball Fleet

D

deltabighat

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I am always amazed and intrigued by the mothball fleet. Every time I cruise out that way I make it a point to meander around those great old warships (and others) and marvel at their size and history. This last time it seemed to me that some newer ones were added on the east end. Some of these looked new enough to sail off. With all the pollution problems and red tape that the bureaucrats have been arguing about regarding disposal of these ships, I would be surprised if they were adding new ones to the fleet. Anyone know anything about this out there.

DBH
 
Ships are constantly being rotated in and out based on their condition and usefulness as well as their ability to carry out a mission. They are kept in various states of readiness while others are designated to be scrapped and are awaiting their fate as they are considered obsolete or in poor condition and can no longer serve any useful purpose. Most of the warships fall into this catagory.

On the other hand there are some ships which are kept in a higher state of readiness and are supposed to be fully operational within 5 days of being called up. Still others may be in a lesser state of readiness and can sit for years before being reactivated and sold to a foreign country or private concern. Such is the case with the Glomar Explorer which was anchored at the Martinez bridge for many years.

I actually had the opportunity to go onboard one of the older WW2 transport ships. I was amazed at how well preserved they were. The topside equipment was covered with a thick coat of some sort of grease and then painted grey. Inside it looked as if it was left just like it looked 50 years ago. The beds are all made and dishes and silverware are waiting to be used again. Although they were well preserved and were on a 30-60 day readiness status, it is highly doubtful that these ships will ever see service again as their power plants are obsolete and can only muster a top speed of about 10 knots. That is why you see fewer and fewer of these ships in the fleet as they are slowly rotated for scrap and replaced by more modern vessels that can carry out the mission more effectively.
 
I remember as a kid, fishing one foggy morning in a small wooden boat at the mothball fleet with my dad. We were anchored close to a ship but could barely see it's massive bow though the dense fog. As the tide and current changed you could hear an erie creaking noise from the old ship as it strained against it's mooring lines. It gave us a strange, uneasy feeling....we soon pulled anchor and got out of there!
 
How does one get aboard one of those ships. I think it must be nearly impossible and you must have to know someone or have some related business with them. I would love to look inside some of them. I did go aboard the Jerimiah O'Brien ( I thinks thats the name) in San Francico.

DBH
 
quote:
Originally posted by deltabighat

How does one get aboard one of those ships. I think it must be nearly impossible and you must have to know someone or have some related business with them. I would love to look inside some of them. I did go aboard the Jerimiah O'Brien ( I thinks thats the name) in San Francico.

DBH

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I knew someone who worked for MARAD. This was back in the early 90's. But now many of these ships are in bad shape and are creating an environmental hazard.
 
birddog, I was anchored with a fishing buddy one very dark night at the moth ball fleet. Between the wind whistling between the ships and the creaking, it was very very spooky! Turned out the fishing was lousy too.

They use wooden crates as fenders between the ships and those make the creaking sound as the ships move on their rodes. I'm sure the ghosts of sailors perished onboard are keeping watch!
 
The mothball fleet over here has been dwindled down.
I don't know if they are scrapping them or refurb. them.
Most of the warships, except for 4 of them, are gone.
Just looks like refueling and supply ships left.
They are all rust buckets.
 
The James River Fleet is all but gone. Sold off as scrap steel. No new ones added. It's still guarded by USN in Special Ops RIB's with 50 Cal's though.
 
Last time I was out there and snooped around, a Navy inflatable came out of nowhere and we took off. Found out later there is a small Navy out-post on the Suisun side of the river that keeps an eye on things. Apparently the Gov is being sued by CA over the environmental issues with storing them there. Those ships are obsolete and unless they could be scraped for recycling the steel, they should be cleaned up, towed out to sea, and sunk.
 
Mothball ships remind me of a great lost deal...About 30 years ago we had a good business deal. We were to bid on removing a bridge, stick the scrap in a Huge rust bucket of a mothballed ship & drive it to Red (at the time) China & scrap both the ship & it's cargo. We were unable to swing the needed clearance to sell to Red China. We had to give up what was a very profitable way to scrap a bridge.
 
Now as I recall it, they do seem to move some ships out now and then. A couple years ago there was a small carrier, like a WWII jeep carrier. I was fasinated with it and on the back you could just make out the name. Most of them have the names removed. It was, if I am not correct, the USS New Orleans. I looked it up on the internet when I got home and it turned out to be a Viet Nam era heliocopter assualt carrier of some sort. Last weekend I looked for it and could not find it out there. And as someone above said, most of the ships now look like non-military cargo vessels and there are not as many warships.

DBH
 
MARAD stopped selling vessels overseas for scrapping in 1994 due to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions. Since then, MARAD has been relying on the domestic ship scrapping market, but its capacity is limited. The only two facilities are in Texas and the East coast, which presents a problem, because some of the ships are in such bad shape that moving them could create a possible ecological disaster.

Ironically it was the EPA who created this mess by passing this legislation. Had the legislation not been passed, these ships would have been sold years ago. Instead they have old ships which are currently leaching toxins into the environment, and can't be moved for fear of creating an even bigger problem.

The most logical solution would be to open a scrapping yard at Mare Island and this has been discussed. But such is the case with government red tape, nothing is moving forward.
 
I wish they would trash the EPA. They have gone far beyond their purpose IMHO!
 
The EPA doesn't pass legislation--Congress does. Blame your Congressman for these hare-brained laws, not the bureaucrats that get stuck with enforcing them.

BTG
 
quote:
Originally posted by BayTrawlerGuy

The EPA doesn't pass legislation--Congress does. Blame your Congressman for these hare-brained laws, not the bureaucrats that get stuck with enforcing them.

BTG

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You're right. But it was the EPA that came up with these ideas in the first place and cajoled our retarded Congressmen into thinking this was a good thing.
 
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