For decades, dozens of forgotten Navy and merchant ships have been corroding in Suisun Bay, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. These historic vessels—the Mothball Fleet—served their country in four wars: WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Desert Storm. After a decade of impasse, the ghost fleet is slowly dwindling as the ships are towed out one-by-one for scrapping. About 15 retired ships are already gone; by 2017, the entire fleet will be just a memory.
See lots more awesome photos and read the entire story – HERE
Hat tip: Neatorama
Comments
4 responses to “Inside the Ghost Ships of the Mothball Fleet”
Having grown up nearby and seen these ships all my life, it’s great to finally see what they look like up close…and even moreso, the INSIDES! The rumor that had circulated over the last decade or so is that the Chinese own the ships and are the recipients of the recycling of the steel.
I thought the “Mothball fleet” was an emergency fleet in case they needed ships. Welp. I was wrong :C
Someone ought to donate an organization some money so they can restore a few. Kids should know what a troop carrier headed towards iwa jimah looked like :3
I think on TV not too long ago, some show I caught talked about the mothballed fleet. Said they had to get rid of these ships because of asbestests (sic) and some type of toxic products on board. Not sure what they meant by that. Said it wasn’t safe to be on board very long. Some rooms still had paperwork in them, and other items, like the personal had to leave in a hurry.
I forgot to add, it seemed like it would be interesting to go exploring on these ships’
Probably would be a lot of fun to have paintball games too!