Mothballed Ship Fleets

GEarthBlog blogged Have you ever wondered what happens to all the ships that get decommissioned? Well, I know some are sent to scrap yards and torn apart to resmelter the steel, etc. But, not all of them go there. The US Maritime Administration maintains several fleets of ships in readiness for use in what is called the "National Defense Reserve Fleet". One location in Suisun Bay, California has over 70 ships. Another fleet is located in the James River, Virginia.

These ships are not all destined for scrap. The Maritime Administration says a large number of their fleet were recalled to duty during the 1991 Gulf War to transport nearly one fourth of the equipment needed during that action. They continue to maintain these ships by oiling the engines, checking for leaks, keeping the interiors clean and watertight, etc.

You can see these mothballed fleets here and here [these are GE Files. You must have GE installed.] in Google Earth. The picture above is just a small sample of the ships to be found.

This is fantastic. GoogleEarth is a fantastic tool, and GEarthBlog has some very interesting ideas.