Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet
Monday, 11th April 2005 by James Turnbull
The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet is a collection of mothballed warships near Benecia, California (More info).
Thanks: Harold Check & elsamo
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Monday, 11th April 2005 by James Turnbull
The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet is a collection of mothballed warships near Benecia, California (More info).
Thanks: Harold Check & elsamo
Those ships don’t look too healthy. What’s the dealio with them?
The ships are also commonly referred to as the “mothball” fleet.
They may not look too good outside, but they are (if they still do it) hermetically sealed, sometimes filled with an inert gas. Inside they probably look like they did the day they were mothballed.
Sadly, the ship I once served on is in this batch. Hail.
I grew up in Vallejo and now live in St. Louis. I remember those old ships there and seeing them again brings back all sorts of great memories. Thanks!
I always think of a question when I read the main page, and when I get here someone has already read my mind, I learn more from this site than I did from school! My pub general knowledge increases daily – Thank you.
small easter egg…if you zoom in and scroll northeast there’s a small aircraft in midflight over the water.
There used to be many more ships there. Most were made seaworthy then towed to Asia for scrap. See the huge parking lots to the west of the fleet? That’s the Northern California terminal for cars ariving from Japan and Korea. Oh, the irony!
Howard Hughes ship, The Glomar Explorer, was mothballed here for like 20 years.
Also, the battleship at the end of the third row is the USS Iowa, mothballed there since 2001
Dont miss out on their sister fleet in Virginia
Or in Beaumont, TX.
Most of the ships here and in James river are kept mothballed or for parts, not just because of the expense of disposal.
One of the most interesting ships in Suisun is the Glacier, a history-making icebreaker who was first to make its way through the frozen Bellinghausen Sea. Much of the topography in the area is named for members of her crew. There is currently an effort spearheaded by The Glacier Society to save Glacier from the scrapyard and convert her into a a hospital/research vessel.
Does anyone know if there are similar fleets elsewhere (beyond Beaumont and Virginia)? Any in other countries?
I wonder which ship is the USS Mauna Kea? I guess you can’t go visit any of these ships?? I wonder if there is any service to take you out to look at them? My Dad served on this ship and I always thought it would be cool to see it in person……
I think the USS Mauna Kea is probably the middle ship out of the group of nine furthest to the south.
I don’t think they do tours, but I understand people (in boats) do fish around there.
David, The ship that are there are Condemn ships waiting disposal. They actually belong to the D.O.T. You can go to Bayview Charter boats in Martinez, CA. They can take you close to the ships. We have chartered this company to take our association closer to the USS Holland AS-32 that is there in Roll K. We have gotten permission from the D.O.T to get inside the perimiter od security that they have implaced.
Great article on these ships in the Mercury News with lots of close up photos of teh rust and decay:- http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14582476.htm
Well, what do you know! I just looked at the pic again, and the ship I served on is the white topped one that they tied the Iowa to.
There are some better close up pics of some of these ships at
http://tendertale.com/
Their links are internal, so You’ll have to look for it. sorry. not my site.
Can anyone tell me if the ussprocyon ak19 is still in this aria my grandfather gunner first class donald.D.GRAY SERVED on this ship[ from the time of its comission till the ship was mothballed any info would be help full thanks.
Seems to me there were liberty ships tied up on the Columbia river on the Washington/Oregon border in the early ’70s. Am I right? I served in the norwegian merchant marine at the time and think I saw the ships then. I know I saw the ships on a river in the northwest somewhere
Is is a great sight to view them on the ride down CA 680 to the Concord area. Patrs from them wll keep manya navy boat ( in my day a boat coild be placed upon a ship ). Times change and and I can chage with it. Former AT-2, VA-65.
DAVID, YES…there is a “service” that will take you from Martinez Marina to tour the Reserve Fleet onboard a 40 ft. cabin cruiser. Make a cash donation onboard to bring the Battleship IOWA to Mare Island as a memorial at the same time. Go to http://www.bayviewcharters.com and click on US Navy Mothball Fleet. Have fun!
I see that the mothball fleet is much reduced in size. There used to be hundreds of them–many were old liberty ships from WWII that were be sold off to the breakers. I remember one night in 1966 sailing back in a 30 foot sloop into San Pablo bay from an excursion up the San Joaquin River and we were hit with a gale of wind. The skipper had gone forward to the mast to reduce and reef the main whilst I tended the helm. It was pitch black but I could make out the ghost image of waves ahead and yelled that we were coming about as the water was shoaling rapidly. Just as we got settled on the new course across the bay heading for Port Chicago a darker shadow appeared and then it turned on its search light blinding us. We were able to avoid the tug and the barges it was pushing. The tug and the barges were running without any running lights! We decided we’d had enough and made our way into a marina at Port Chicago and tied up for the night.
Was just out there yesterday in a row of oilers where the Iowa is tied up at the outside. Accessed the row from the inside via HMB-1 (Hughes Mining Barge) where a Russian submarine was once hidden (K-129) and now holds the once experimental Sea Shadow inside on blocks. Spent the day removing equipment from AO-7 USS Roanoke to transport over to the USS Hornet. During lunch I walked over and onto the Iowa to shoot some photos. The exterior is weathered, but not as bad as the other ships. Luckily she does not have much exposed equipment so exterior bulkheads and gun turrets are relatively easy to restore. The teak deck needs complete replacement though. The interior is surely spotless as the Roanoke was looking pretty good inside for being there since 1995. One interesting ship in the group was AS-17 USS Nereus, a submarine tender, dating to 1943 and built at Mare Island.
These ships are historic but also an environmental disaster because of toxic chemicals and heavy metals in lead based paint flaking off into our waters.
Spoken like a true doppy Californian! Hey Berkley, shouldn’t you be picketing the Marine Corps!