Ghost Ships o~,~h,~, Mothball Fleet or decades, dozens of forgotten navy and merchant ships have been corroding in Suisun Bay, rhirry miles norrheasr of San Francisco. These hisroric vessels, rhe National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF)-referred ro as rhe "morhball fleer" -served rheir country in four wars: WWII, rhe Korean War, rhe Viernam War, and Deserr Srorm. Afrer a decade of impasse, rhe ghosr fleer is slowly dwindling as rhe ships are rowed our, one by one, for scrapping. Abour fifreen rerired ships are already gone; by 2017, rhe entire fleer will be jusr a memory. The NDRF ships were supposed ro be ready for dury in rhe event of a national emergency. Perhaps a few are actually "reserve ready" and could be acrivared, bur rhe vasr majoriry are well beyond rheir useful lives and rorring away as rhey wair in line for disposal. The morhballed ships once numbered close ro 400, and in 1959, 324 vessels srill lined rhe warers of Suisun Bay. Alrhough rhe ship popularion continued ro dwindle down over rime, approximarely 75 remained rhroughour rhe 2000s, rusring and leaching roxic heavy merals by rhe ran into rhe bay. During rhis rime, rhe federal government did lirrle ro address rhe crumbling ships and rhe environmental rhreats they posed, bur rhe ride shifred wirh a new adminisrration in 2009 and rhe Maritime Adminisrration (MARAD) has since made clean-up and removal of the ships a priority.
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USCGC Glacier (WAGB-4) ex-USS Glacier (AGB-4) The Glacier was build by IngaLLs Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for the US Navy in 1955 for service as a polar icebreaker. She served the navy for 11 years before being acquired by the Coast Guard, where she served another 32 years. She made 29 deployments to the Antarctic and 10 to the Arctic and could break ice up to 20 feet thick and stay at sea for extended periods. Glacier was decommissioned in 1987 and joined the NDRF in Suisun Bay in 1991.
Shoshone and Mount Washington USNS Shoshone (T-A0-151) is a US Navy Maumee-class oiler built by Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, PA, and Launched in 1957. She is 614-feet Long with a beam o/83 and draws 32 feet of water. She was placed in service by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and was transferred to the NDRF in 1994. SS Mount Washingron (T-AOT-5076) was built as the petroleum tanker Mount Washingron Victory in 1963 by the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was transferred to the NDRF in 2005 and downgraded for ''non-retention status" in 2007.
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SEA HlSTORY 136, AUTUMN 2011