The USN Mothball Fleet - Storing up for a rainy day

Today we look at the development of the USN's reserve fleets from the navies inception through the start of the Korean War.

Sources:

[jefflantz]

I grew near the Suisun Bay Mothball fleet---back in the 70's there were rows and rows of in my boat watching as they brought in USS Iowa 20 years ago....all gone now. Used to anchor right off the Iowa to fish and just stare in up the nerve to accidently drift close enough to touch the hull once :)

[seafodder]

I had the dubious honor of being "in charge" of the mothballed fleet in Philly when the government shut down for 3 weeks at the end of '95 when they sent all the civilians home. And by "in charge", I mean I'd be the guy they pointed fingers at if any of the ships started burning, exploding, sinking or being disagreeable. As a retired CPO, I still think I shoulda gotten a command pin or something for having my neck on the block like that... :) Though it was kinda neat having Des Moines as my personal flagship.

[erichammond]

Right off the bat you give the reason that the United States Coast Guard is the US's oldest continuously serving sea service! Kudos!

[AdmRose]

As someone who has had to remove Cosmoline from old Russian rifles the thought of having to remove it from an entire ship causes me melancholy that I thought hitherto impossible.

[ricardokowalski]

Storing warships for a rainy day? Cloudy, with a chance of 16inch AP shells?

[VintageCarHistory]

I was a member of the decommissioning crew for 2 USN ships- USS Henry B Wilson and USS Barbey. Although the basic procedures were the same for both ships, there were some differences due to what the Navy planned to do with them. The Wilson was used as a target ship, while the Barbey was sold to a foreign navy. Oddly enough, we did far more to the Wilson in cleaning her up than we did for the Barbey. The EPA had to inspect the ship and certify that it could be sunk without being an environmental hazard.

[ifga]

I had a chance to go aboard Missouri, in 1985, when the ship was being prepared for towing to Long Beach CA. for reactivation. Closed since 1955, we found Plan of the Day sheets taped to bulkheads dated 1955 and they were as fresh as when posted. The galleys were rust free too. The only signs of long closure were some patches of peeling paint due to dryness. After photographing the departure of the ship for Long Beach, I followed it down to become part of the recommissioning crew. I appreciate the care that was taken to keep my battleship in such fine condition. To quote Margaret Truman who spoke at the recommisioning banquet in San Francisco, "Take care of my baby." We did with pleasure.

[johnshepherd]

The US Navy has not forgotten how to fool Congress into thinking that they are just modifying existing equipment. The F-18E/F Super Hornet is the F-18C/D cockpit forward attached to a entirely new airframe that sort of looks like the original.

[oceanmariner]

In the mid 1960s, I was part of a crew that reactivated a Fletcher class destroyer to be sold to Turkey. The ship had been in reserve since 1946, or about 20 years. The interior was much like it had been in 1946. Outside there was a lot of light rust and some deeper rust in decks where water had collected. Some ships still in reserve had much more rust. The navy didn't do any rust maintenance I could see on ships smaller than cruisers. In 1970 I saw several troop transports scrapped. On the outside, it was difficult to find paint. Everything was rust.

[BrigadierBill]

The zoomed-out, black and white pictures of all those ships stacked together brings to mind those plastic model sheets that you have to pull all the pieces off of before you use them.

Which just brings to mind the idea of Yamamoto's "Waking the Giant" quote with an American giant just ripping Clemson and Wickes destroyers off of a disposable plastic sheet.

[chrpnll]

"Dodgy boiler" -sounds like some very British slang word insult.

[MM-fqgi]

Back in 1984, I was working on an ocean going tug USNS Powhaton T-ATF 166 and had the opportunity to spend much time on some vessels towed out of mothballs and used as targets. One ship had been laid up since 1946 and had books, magazines and love letters from that time. There was cosmoline on on everything in those ships, the sink valves were disassembled and greased too. I have a nice porthole and some other artifacts from those days, it was sad to see perfectly sealed time capsules with new machinery, being sunk as targets.

[christobalcolon]

As a child, I remember seeing the USS Shangri La in mothball at anchor, in or near Norfolk, Virginia.

[supercrew]

I used to go check out the mothball fleet in San Diego when I was a teenager in the 70's...was pretty cool over a mile of ships sitting side by side...

[edwardharding]

I loved the mention of the point system. I was one of the points that got my father home from the US Navy ahead of so many others. I'm not sure but it had to be the autumn of 1945.

[cartmann]

Me: how cute. Without the masts, they look like hotels.
French navy: *Furiously takes le notes*

[gallendugall]

How could you get this so wrong? The USN Mothball Fleet exists to keep Mothra away.

[peteranderson]

So, would you call the reactivation of the Red Lead fleet a Red Lead Redemption?

[popuptarget]

Interesting how the Korean war proved the Navy's reserve system worked and how the Army's didn't (since they didn't have one) and how they had to raid war memorials to get enough Shermans to reactivate

[GraemePayneMarine]

Thank you for defining the term "laid up in ordinary". I have seen the phrase many times in histories and fiction, but never eally knew what it meant.