Why the Navy ABANDONED hundreds of Ships in California - IT'S HISTORY
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- Опубліковано 26 чер 2024
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An ever-shrinking collection of the US Navy’s most storied ships lies in a bay near San Francisco. This National Defense Reserve Fleet held war heroes, masters of espionage, and behind-the-scenes vessels that the Navy could not function without. Some met a cruel fate in a scrapyard, others found a grandiose museum as their new home, but all were influential in the organization that put them out to pasture.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
0:00 - The Graveyard of the US Navy - Suisun Bay
0:53 - Durability and Protection - Ridge Wallet
1:44 - A Hotel on the High Seas - USS APL-24
4:49 - The Arm of Logistics - SS Green Mountain State
6:58 - An Explorer for Espionage - The Glomar Explorer
12:20 - The Hero of Pearl Harbor - USS Hoga
14:32 - The World’s Greatest Naval Ship - USS Iowa
18:56 - The Maritime Mausoleum - Conclusion
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Gregory Back,
Editor - Rishi Mittal
Host - Ryan Socash
Sponsor - Ridge Wallet
» SOURCES
/ itshistory
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
This video is Sponsored by Ridge Wallet. Check them out here: ridge.com/ITSHISTORY Use Code “ITSHISTORY” for 15% off your order
Who Cares!? I pay for Premium and STILL HAVE to hear this CRAP! Greedy Bastards! Unsubscribed!
Give them to Ukraine.
0l
You should check out the history of the old Byron Hot Springs Hotel/ Camp Tracy. It’s only 40 minutes from the location of this fleet. It was the site of the first golf resort built on the west coast and was later abandoned then bought by the US Army and used as an interrogation center for German and Japanese POWs during WWII. It was called Camp Tracy during that time. Camp Tracy was an unusual POW camp because, if I understand correctly, they were trying a technique of getting information from POWs by treating them exceedingly well, and using loyal informants to gain the trust of the more tight lipped POWs and get information through them. It was then an Orthodox Church for a minute before being abandoned. It still lays empty today. Some people think it’s haunted too.
Motorcycles don’t have doors.
If an elephant weighs two thousand pounds, how much does a monkey weigh?
I live practically right next to the mothball fleet and I drive by it all the time on my way to college. I know it’s for the best that the ships get removed but it’s almost sad in a way. When I was a kid the fleet was huge and scary, now it’s down to just four or five ships.
So you live SF Bay Area. I see the reserve fleet when I drive to North Bay over the Benicia-Martinez bridge.
When I was young there many more ships there but only dozen or so are left.
@@frankchan4272 way less than a dozen
There was something awe inspiring about it as a kid in the 80s. Looking at it and thinking, there is more logistics and combat power here than most other navies in the world, and we consider it old junk. It was almost a sign of the total mitary dominance of the US.
A different era, gone for good. Time will tell if that is a good thing or not.
They are being recycled. Because they are old and worthless. Was Good sturgeon fishing near the ships tho.
@@jakesideways2577 Just as old and useless as most of out politicians. Can we cut them up for scrap as well?
This "mothball fleet" in Suisan Bay is down to just a couple hulls that are freighters. I remember when there were dozens of ships there. No warships there anymore.
They've been peeling the number of ships down the last decade. Perhaps to make room for newer ships??
@@metatechnologist So the ships were deteriorating and were contaminating the Carquinez Straights and San Francisco Bay. They have had to use the retired Mare Island Naval Shipyard to stabilize the hulls of the ships as they were removed.
@@kurtpena5462 Primarily lead paint, maybe a few heavy metals from rust. Something that newer ships would not have. But the Navy has other mothball fleets so they might decommission the site. Unless of course a wartime need could defer that! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What happened to the warships?
@@brentsarazin4346 Iowa a museum. Others broken up.
I wouldn't call these battleships as the term "battleship" is a specific type of ship. They really should be referred as warships as that's the general term for any ship built to go into combat.
also they are generally climate controlled, inspected regularly, have security... so Abandoned is not right either - tempted to flag for misleading title - but I like their other stuff.
Battleships are obsolete. None are in service. Why not call any sip that might go into battle a battleship?
I thought he only referred to the Iowa as a battleship? Maybe I missed other use of the term?
@@phlodel because it’s certain type of warship it’s like vans going obsolete and we stared calling cars vans it’s not how it works
@@mattkaustickomments Very beginning of the video, 0:03
Most of these ships have been either scrapped or moved to other locations. Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet has not been in service since 2016.
current satellite pics show just 3 ships still there, mostly scrapped. just hulks left, and being torn apart
@@sabrekai8706 Good eye, mate. (Not an Australian greeting. . .) I missed them on Google Maps but found them on Google Earth. They look like rafted barge sections, which may have been placed between ships to keep them from banging into each other. There is a pier with another small mess of something at the end, and what look like a couple of old Coast Guard 41 foot utility boats.
@@old_guard2431 Heh heh, I've been looking for ship storage areas since Google Earth came out. The other US one is on the James river (If I remember correctly) south of Washington. Not much left there either. Lets face it. A ship that is mothballed and not maintained will not last long. They rot both inside and out. Other neat places to look? Nouadhibou in Africa. Lots of ships get dumped there south of town. The north coast of Russia. Bit of a grind searching but worth it. look around Murmansk and Arkhangelsk for a start, spread out from there. Check out the ship breaking yards in India and Bangladesh. They literally drag them up on the beach and break them down by hand. Supposedly a place in China but I haven't looked for it yet.
Patrick McCrann But why let the facts get in the way of a good "battleship graveyard" story?
@@sabrekai8706 Actually the mothballed ships of the Reserve Fleet can last years or decades. They undergo months of preparation, including dehumidifiers, ducting, sealing ports, bilge pumps, monitoring devices which report to a watch center. Civilian maintainers inspect and service the ships on a monthly basis. These are NOT 'abandoned ships. (old sailor). BTW, during Desert Storm in 1990, 80% of the James River Fleet were activated and sailed within a couple months.
I grew up in the Bay Area ... Alameda. I've seen the City of Oakland when it was serving as a Fire Boat. Regarding the USS Iowa. My Father served on her in the 1980's. He retired from the Navy standing on her deck in front of turret three. He was given the U.S. Flag that had been raised for morning colors on the Iowa.
That's got to be a cool flag to be proud of. Glad it's in a family
That little tug that was once the City of Oakland fire boat that you mentioned has a much higher place in history than any ship ever stored at any US Mothball Fleet.
She is the USS Hoga. She helped fight the fires and rescued seamen from the ships that were struck at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941!!!!!!
She really deserves to be next to the Big Moe at Pearl Harbor. But alas, at the request of ex-president Clinton she's been moved to Little Rock Arkansas. Sad situation.
The first ship I was stationed on 50 years age was decommissioned and spent many years there in the bay. The USS Tulare LKA122. It has since been sent to Texas for scrap. Many fond memories on that ship. It was amphibious cargo transport ship. Spent many hours in Vietnam as CTF76 Flag ship. Carried several hundred Marines and LCM 6 boats.
The mothball fleet in Benicia is long gone for almost 20 years now. As I child the highlight of my family road trip (late 60's 70's) from San Jose to Sacramento was looking out the stationwagons window and seeing all the aircraftcarriers and other warships. As it turned out all those ship were packaged with asbestos and were toxic to go into.
Yep I grew up in Vallejo in the late 60’s .I remember them well!
The asbestos was only dangerous to those that installed it. Also dangerous to anyone removing or disturbing it.
Big thanks to Ridge for sending me this wallet and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you want to check them out! ridge.com/itshistory
STOP JOCKIN!
Glomar Explorer was scrapped in 2015. I worked around the corner at Mare Island. During the first gulf war, they brought in one of those ships that were supposed to be "ready to go" within a couple of days. They sent out a call to find anyone that knew how to light the boiler, as there were a lot of guys that were in the merchant marine during WW2.
Almost all of the reserve fleet vessels are steamships. Marine steam plants have almost entirely disappeared from commercial use. As a result, there are almost no licensed marine engineers with steam-plant experience, who are capable of operating these antique steam plants. Accordingly, nearly all of these reserve vessels are functionally inoperable.
That said, they are all full of hazmat, such as asbestos, PCBs, lead paint, and even radioactive materials. All of them require extensive, expensive remediation before they can even be scrapped.
First gulf war, that was just a few years before they closed the place down, right?
Was that the Mauna Kea? I worked on a SSTG set on it as a Field Engineer for General Electric. Shop 38 guys did the work. I was 100% bullshitting when I told one guy that ''my CIA contact'' says that the war will start at ''3PM tomorrow'' when it will be 3AM in the Persian Gulf. Hahaha, you're full of shit they told me. So, shortly after 3 the next day I was waiting on the drawbridge leading off Mare Island in traffic when the guy on the radio announced that the Gulf War has just begun. The next day, my buddies from Shop 38 wanted to know more ''insider information'' about the war. I told them that I was obligated to keep it all to myself ''but keep watching the news''.
@@Martian_Productions Dianne Feinstein put Mare Island on the closure list.
Yeah, I was an MM1 in the Navy, got out after 8 yrs, got a 3rd, Steam Engineer license (1980) and later, during the Gulf War, as Chief Electrician, I wound up being the only guy that could actually light off a plant cold.
Ah the tricks the Navy teaches, that never go away!
OOPSIE - The surrender signing was not on Iowa, but her sister Missouri.
Yeah, that kinda kills the video. Can't get away with errors like that.
correction: The Japanese signed their surrender on the battleship Missouri, (BB-63). The Formal Japanese Surrender took place onboard USS Missouri (BB-63), which was chosen for being named for the President's home state and utilized as Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey's flagship for the last weeks of the war.
Thanks. I'm glad someone else noticed the mistake.
Ditto.. I was going to point this out as well
Not to mention USS Arkansas, USS Texas and USS Nevada all served in the Atlantic theater - and maybe some others I don't know about. Makes me wonder how many other factual errors are in this vid.
i concur captain.
Thank You R J! Most sons of a father who served on a US battleship, TEXAS in my case, know where and on which ship the surrender was signed!
15:15 Iowa was not the only US BB serving in the Atlantic. Certainly there was USS Washington around Arctic convoys.
USS Texas USS Nevada....................................
Don't forget about USS Massachusetts
Yep I stopped watching and unfollowed after he said USS Iowa was the ONLY US Battleship to serve in Atlantic in WW 2. Also, At other times they sent USS Indiana, USS South Dakota and USS North Carolina after the Tirpitz. Also serving in the Atlantic, USS Arkansas, USS Texas, USS New York USS Massachusetts also served in the Atlantic badily damaging French Battleship Jean Bart.
@@magnumserpentine6444 All that and to my knowledge, Halsey never placed his flag on New Jersey and is was on Missouri that he had his flag on during the surrender of Japan.
USS Alabama BB-60
The US Navy had many battleships operating in the Atlantic during WW2, not just the Iowa
That's got to be a cool flag to be proud of. Glad it's in the family
Definitely was a sight to see when there were more boats there. Surprised it wasn't mentioned that Sea Shadow was housed inside of there Hughes Glomar Explorer at some point while in Suisan Bay.
My Father helped build the Explorer
One item of note.....FMC designed and built a 'cable-tying" machine that could put a knot in lifting cables....way cool.
Sueson lol... Its suh-soon. And they werent battleships. Or fighting ships at all really. They were mostly merchant marine vessels. Used to be a huge mooring outside of benicia/Vallejo right off the 680/780 junction Benicia bridge
I am ALWAYS amazed at how long, sleek, and fast battleships like the Missouri look from the side, and yet, from the front, for some reason, burly, wide, and for lack of ANY better word, MONUMENTAL.
I don't care how impressive a modern aircraft carrier looks.
From sea level, bearing straight down on you,
an Iowa class is like Hell with a wake...
As a Navy brat and later officer, I've seen both up close get in a row boat
I saw the Glomar Explorer in San Francisco Bay when they removed it from Suisun Bay around the year 2000.
As water surrounded Brits, with DNA on the water throughout our history, and a handy Navy of our own once, I cannot look on with anything but awe at the sheer power and might of the U.S Navy built during WWII, and it's continuing committent to protecting the homeland. You'll be pleased to know we have a couple of Supercarriers now, so give us a shout if you need any back-up 😉
Right you are, when a “party” is announced the Brits will receive an engraved invitation.
Until then
Vigilant Oculus
Fortunately we have double the carriers than the rest of the world. So I think we'll be okay. If we do need your help, those will be dark days lol
Definitely thanks for the "USS Robin" during WWII! Not sure many know that the HMS Victorious was part of the US Navy when we got down to only one operation carrier in the Pacific for a time (after the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands).
@@steveokahn7249 Not many people know that the British got nothing for free during WWII from the United States. We paid every penny back. In fact that only finished in the 2000's. The U.S Navy had the hardest learning curve during WWII, a task they came of age in.
uh. I think you goofed. The USS Missouri BB 63 was the ship that the surrender was signed on. She is moored facing the Arizona now in Pearl Harbor.
Three American battleships participated in the Normandy D-Day invasion: Texas, Arkansas and Nevada.
USS Massachusetts operated off Casablanca during Operation Torch.
Well the Nevada was on a revenge tour because it had to run aground during the Pear Harbor attack.
15:16 - USS Iowa was not the only US battleship to serve in the Atlantic theater. Arkansas, Nevada, and Texas all supported Operation Overlord (D-Day) with bombardment. Massachusetts participated in Operation Torch, the invasion of Morocco.
Massachusetts arrived escorting Wasp to Scapa Flow and remained behind, patrolling several times off Norway while Wasp delivered Spitfires to Malta. And I think one or more of those older ships also assisted Operation Dragoon; the invasion of Southern France.
California too.
She was refloated after she sunk in Pearl, and joined the fleet, and also served at DDay.
Interesting how so many ships have a life cycle aside from active duty. Fascinating story of submarine extraction under immediate Soviet surveillance. Thanks for posting.
in the beginning you say battleship graveyard. those are not battleships sir
There has been a mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, between Martinez and Benicia, for decades. While the battleship USS Iowa was among them for a few years, these ships have been almost all auxiliaries for several decades, not "battleships". And they are not abandoned, though with the passing of time and advancing obsolescence the fleet has dwindled as ships are sent off for scrapping.
BTW, while not a lifelong Bay Area resident, I've lived here and driven back and forth through the Benicia-Martinez area periodically since 1978.
I'd love to see more West Coast history stories. I have lived in Washington state my whole life and there may not be as much stuff as the east coast but you would be surprised about how far back our history goes.
I was born in King County in 1958. Lived there for a month. Never returned.
@@tomnisen3358 You were a month old when you left?
@@tomnisen3358 so??
There are some ships stored in Bremerton, you can see them from the highway.
You got all the San Francisco area ferries after all the bridges were built around the San Francisco Bay.
From south to north.
The Dumbarton Bridge
The San Mateo Bridge
The Bay Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge
The Richmond San Rafael Bridge
The Carquinez Bridge
The Benicia Martinez Bridge
The Antioch Bridge (farther up by the delta)
Amazing video.
I've seen photos and read about the huge military aircraft graveyard in Arizona but, never about the mothballed fleet in San Francisco Bay.
I remember taking our boat past these to head up the channel to fish. The glomar explorer was always a fascinating story. I remember old aircraft carriers as well waiting to go to mare island to be taken apart
This is where I live!! My home town! Thank you for this new history lesson about the USS Iowa. I’ve always wondered as a kid what battle ships sat out in the bay.
Great ships and great history! Glad the Iowa was saved with such amazing service!
The Glomar Explorer was easy to spot, as it sat apart from the rest of the fleet in the channel itself. It was always lit up, and frequently was fired up and kept in a condition where it could be used. Sometimes when crossing the bridge you could tell that the engines had been fired up.
Back in the day, I was driving through LA or San Diego and something caught my attention and I looked over and saw a whole lot full of stored late WWII Okinawa assault type landing craft. The ones with bubble type Plexi splash shields on the upper hatches. 👩🔧
Historical fact ..the Germans NEVER had a Battleship called "Terpeats" but they did have one called "Tirpitz" for a (History) channel thats a glaring gaff
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the deadly USS Iowa barbette mishap.
April 19, 1989, Turret 2 Explosion due to ever ramming of powder bags on number 2 gun.
@@rosstipps6781 No way, it was a gay lover’s dispute and intentional explosion. Yeah RIGHT!
When I was on active duty in the late 1960's there was a mothball fleet in San Diego. From the berthing spot for my ship, an LST, we could see the south end of this fleet. The most visible ship to us was USS Los Angeles, a Baltimore class heavy cruiser. When she was scrapped an anchor, a length of anchor chain and the barrel of an 8-inch gun were installed in the Port of Los Angeles. I think the entire San Diego reserve fleet has been eliminated.
"Soo-soon" has been mentioned. Let me add "Bremerton," not "Birmington."
All Battleships are warships, but not all warships are Battleships. All of America's current remaining Battleships are museums now.
First off, it is not a Battleship graveyard. Battleships are a specific class of ships and none are stored there. Second, these ships were not abandoned, they were stored.
At one time when I was about fifteen about 60 years Tongue point up the Columbia River from Astoria Oregon had a huge fleet there. The piers are still there but the ships were either sold or scrapped
in the 70s i lived on a ranch overlooking the fleet. I could see them from my front door.
When I was a kid, 50 years ago, that place was packed with ships. Dad called it "the mothball fleet."Once Vietnam was over, they started weeding them out.
Suisun Bay is very close to Mare Island which had a sizable mothball fleet of Destroyers. There were also a large numbers of Vietnam era PBR patrol boats. I believe the sloughs around Suisun Bay was the perfect PBR training area prior to deployment. Concord Naval weapons depot was a couple miles away. I wonder if the fresh water from the Sierra's flowing through the bay helped corrosion ? I remember seeing the Iowa being towed out the Golden Gate. these days there is Fleet Week, the Hornet, Jeremiah O'Brien and Pampanito Museums other than that, you don't see much Navy in the Bay.
If not mistaken, the USS Massachusetts was the first US ship to fire 16 inch shells in WW11. This was the invasion of Casablanca. This is in the Atlantic Ocean!
I remember back in the 50's you could almost walk across the bay going from ship to ship. It was amazing and the number of Destroyers and other navy ship was a sight to see.
Thanks for the informative video. I grew up in Vacaville--which is not too far from the old mothballed fleet (well, what' left of it). In the 1950's we'd drive by it and ponder if our dad's merchant ship was there. Many decades later (I was in my early 30's) we found out the old ship was there, and there was a renegade fisherman, who would take you out to see the fleet moored there. (The gov't didn't seem to mind him) and so we went and looked at was left of the Thomas P Leathers. It was a moving moment for father and son.
Growing up in the San Diego area, there was a whole mothballed fleet, lots of Fletcher destroyers. We would sail the harbor checking out the ships.
I am so going to visit this. Love exploring abandoned places
Nothing much to see there anymore. Look at the current Google Earth image for the bay.
I just drove passed Suisan Bay on my way out of Town, if there were 12 ships still anchored out, I would be impressed. Most have been sent to the wreckers at the various shipyards. A lot of local yards got a lot of business in making them seaworthy for their final dispositions.
I didn't know about the Susuin Bay "fleet", but during my childhood we drove past the storage facility for the "Liberty Ships" almost every weekend, located on the Sacramento river near Rio Vista, just up-river from Susuin Bay.
Man I learned that in 5th 6th grade. I see a lot of video on basic history, it makes me wonder if they teach war history in grade school in the last 30 years.
Oh no, they can't do that!!!
Iowa was not the only battleship to serve in the Atlantic for the American fleet. The Texas was used for bombardment for operation Torch along with several other battleships.
The Glomar Explorer came to Portland, Oregon in the late 80’s or Early 90’s for a refit done at Bhingham Willamette facilities on Front Street for a longtime. I knew some people that worked on it. A lot of work had to do with the drilling tower and a lot of other stuff. A lot of workers pay was spent across the street from the facility at the Pothole Bar & Grill😂😂😂 if your from Portland, you know.
There was one on the Delaware river also, used to be 30-40 WW2 warships there when I was a kid in the 60's.
Now we have no ships protecting us. In these times I wish we had ships there. Its very unsettling seeing all the empty bases.
There's been one of these "Mothball Fleets" in the James River for 40 years or more, just in sight of Fort Eustis.
The Pentagon got tired of maintaining all of them, and it's been drawn down to just a handful of ships now.
Grew up with that in the skyline.
There was an Iowa class battleship in the Suisun Bay "fleet" for a while, there was also part of a movie shot out there on one of the cargo ships.
I served in the US Navy between 1988 and 1992. USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin were home ported in Norfolk where my ship was. Missouri and New Jersey we're also in commission, out on the west coast.
As American sailors we will always be quick to remind you that you can go visit the Iowa in Los Angeles, the Wisconsin in Norfolk, the New Jersey and New Jersey and the Missouri in Hawaii.
But if you prefer to visit the Yamato, the Bismarck or the hood... You're going to need scuba gear.
When I was in the Navy station on a WWII tin can, Destroyer. I used to go down to San Diego from Long Beach. To go out to the mothball Fleet to scavenge for spare engine room parts for our Tin Can in 72-75. After we found the parts we would go exploring all the ships we could. Usually going thru a whole box of batteries for our flashlights. Now that was exploring the mothball fleet.
Also maintenance was well maintained at and below the waterline to keep them afloat. Regularly changing the Zinc's and some electrical system to keep the steel from loosing ions & rusting. With bilge pumps used when needed. The guys doing regular bilge sounding rounds aboard the ships. At least that's the way it was last 1975, July 4th to be exact DD214. What Better way to spell Independence
The IOWA was refitted in 2012 and has since been a wonderful exhibit at the Port of Los Angeles. I visited her this past October (2022) and she is well taken care of by her Volunteer Staff.
I mean...as everybody is pointing out all the errors in this video...I just want to add that not only did the USS Texas serve in the Atlantic (and bombarded the coast during Operation Overlord)....she even has a hugely famous story about her participation....Like, how could you mess this up this badly?
Such a great video !!
I’m sure a lot of work and research went into the making of this .
Thank you so much for posting .
I always wanted to know , what ever happened to my old ship .
The USS SAN JOSE AFS-7 .
I served onboard from 87 to 90 .
I know it was decommissioned in 1993 and became a USNS cargo ship .
But I have no idea of where she is now .
Dismantled????
What a shame !
I always wanted to show my wife and kids where I lived for 3 years .
( our home port was GUAM ).
Note, Suisun Bay is pronounces . It's the mothball fleet that is being scrapped, one ship at a time.
My family lived in Fairfield, CA in 1957 and my father would drive over to Suisun Bay to see the mothball fleet . He was Navy WW2 and receiptant of 2 Purple Hearts
I live not to far away from the Mothball Fleet. Over the years since the early 80's, we used to drive past it all the time and I never got tired of seeing those ships. Sadly, the number of ships has been greatly reduced. But a little know fact is that the opening scenes of the movie, Down Parascope was filmed over the fleet. I actually remember when they were filming. They had put out a news release stating that a movie was being filmed so people wouldn't call the police about the helicopters flying around.
I hate to tell you the USS Iowa was far from the only battleship in the Atlantic Theatre, large numbers served in both theatres of WW2.
I live near there, always been fascinated whenever i saw them.
The surrender paper were sign on the Big Mo not Iowa
Talking about APL-24. I've spent plenty of time onboard berthing barges, and the living quarters are better than the living quarters on board Burke class destroyers!
Barrack ships are also used during overhaul and extensive refits to house sailors. Sailors lived on board the ship. Maintenance during an overhaul or refit can go on 24/7. This makes a barrack ship or a barracks on land necessary.
Yep, myself and the rest of the crew lived on one for 9 months while our Guided Missile Cruiser was in dry dock in Philly back in 1986. Yes it sucked.
I live here in Norfolk Virginia on the East Coast and we have the battleship Wisconsin moored right here at nauticas
Not anymore...they've been gone since 2018...
I could see dozens of ships like these in the waters in between Martinez and Benicia, interesting to learn the story behind some of them .
I was on the uss Richard s Edwards DD950 out of pearl harbor 73-77 whenever we left pearl harbor maybe 20 miles at sea we would see the glomar explorer just sitting in one spot for months. We would pass it at about one mile away and at night it was all lit up I worked on alcatraz island for 24 years and in the 2000s I would see those old war ships being towed out the golden gate from time to time thanks!
Yeah, I remember passing the fleet back in the 60's when we went to visit relatives in Sacramento. There were subs and LST's all the way back to Moss Landing. Now only the pillars and channel marker buoys are left.
Same here. As a kid, and later, I always marveled at those ships sitting out in Suisun Bay.
I don’t understand your Moss landing reference. I think the LST’s and subs you remember were at Mare Island. Moss Landing is south of Santa Cruz in Monterey Bay on the coast. No mothball fleet there.
Passed by the reserve fleet many times in the 80's and 90's. Most of the ships at that time were Liberty ships for hauling cargo. The Glomar Explorer was a notable exception. I missed the time any carriers or the Iowa were there.
What about USS Sea shadow? It was the inspiration for the ship in James Bond Tomorrow Never Dies. It was stored here before it was scrapped.
I have been to Suisun (susoon) bay and I've been on one of them, a submarine tender. They have pulled ships out of mothball before. But a lot of them are sold to other 3rd world country. One liberty ship was given to the historical pier in San Francisco. And of course everyone knows the battleship stories
The Tender was not AS 12 was it? The U.S.S. Sperry was one of the ships my father served on after leaving the submarine corp. I'll always regret not getting out to see her before she was sent to the breakers
@@mustangdave5566 i cant remember, it was a while ago. but there was only one submarine tender in suisun
1980's called and want their sunglasses back
i lived by Ft. Eustis and the James River Ready Reserve fleet was once massive, it's all but gone now.
I used to love seeing it on the way to the City during the eighties. It’s kind of sad now.
Having grown up in the bat area I've always wondered as a kid if there was any small creatures living on those shipS out in the middle of the bay. Mice or spiders. And how did they get there?
The "IOWA" deserves restoration and dry dock national historic museum status, period.
It IS a museum in San Pedro!!
It's counterintuitive, but drydocks aren't good for long term hull preservation. Gravity pulls down and without water to resist the horizontal pressure, they eventually pancake.
Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial has tons of great videos on UA-cam and this topic is covered. It's a great channel.
The Iowa is now a museum ship in San Pedro near LA
Not only is Iowa already a museum, all the ships of her class are. Iowa in LA, New Jersey in Camden, Missouri in Pearl Harbor, and Wisconsin at Norfolk.
My ship went into the shipyards during my last year in the Navy, up in Portland Maine. She was there for a complete overhaul. They ripped everything out of the ship.
So they pulled up a Berging barge (That's what we called it) for the crew to live in.
That's the purpose.
I was a plank owner of the USS Shasta AE-33. Home Port was the Port of Chicago, Concord California. I served 7/71-7/75. I woke up every morning across from this Fleet, State side. Our crew did 2 tours to Vietnam and I was Discharged from Concord. There were Ships there as far as the eye could see. Being on an Ammo Ship, if we blew up we would have sunk most of that Fleet. It had happened before…………
"She was the only US battleship to serve in the Atlantic during the 2nd World War."
What?
United States Atlantic Fleet Organization - 1942
CinCLantFile
A2-11/A3-1/FF13(1)
(0175)
BB34) NEW YORK Flagship
BATTLESHIP DIVISION 5
(BB34) NEW YORK
(BB33) ARKANSAS
(BB35) TEXAS (FF)
BATTLESHIP DIVISION 6
(BB56) WASHINGTON (F)
(BB55) NORTH CAROLINA
My dad was the Western Director of the MARAD. Heard alot about these ships over the years,
One correction, USS Missouri was the site of the Japanese surrender and not Iowa.
Never said the Iowa was the site of the surrender...merely stated the Iowa was present during the ceremony and served as Halsey's flagship...Missouri was ultimatley chosen because that's the home state of Harry S. Truman.
The ship was built as Hughes Glomar Explorer in 1971 and 1972 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. for more than US$350 million (about $1.5 billion in 2020) at the direction of Howard Hughes for use by his company, Global Marine Development Inc.[5] It began operation on 20 June 1974. Amazing ship for its time.
While in the navy I was given a tour. Amazing ship the glomar Explorer. It's a hell of an oil drilling rig
@@douglasgault5458 They tried to use it to retrieve a russian submarine.
I think I visited the Iowa museum, and that ship was crazy impressive!
The mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, California is a reserve fleet that we can draw on if we get really desperate during a time of war. There are several mothball reserve fleets around the United States.
We were told the lead paint was peeling off the ships hulls. So for the sake of the bay, we had to recycle the steel that the ships were made of.
I lived in Benicia from 76 - 2009 and I remember for years they had that Glomar Explorer anchored near the Benicia Martinez bridge, But I never knew growing up what that weird looking ship was all about
Interesting video, although a bit out of date as noted below. My guess is that APL-24 is the only one left, moored at the end of end of a dock. (Probably still getting asbestos removal and lead paint mitigation of some kind.) These berthing barges were also used for crews of vessels undergoing routine maintenance, particularly when in dry dock.
Living accommodations. . . I served on a WWI2-era vessel, a Coast Guard polar icebreaker, and I doubt the conditions were worse on the APL-24. Enlisted sailors were cheap before the all-volunteer force concept arrived with the demise of the draft in the mid-1970s. As an example, my ship (USCGC Burton Island) had a crew of about 230 on a 269 foot long, 6,500 ton ship (including the aviation detachment). By comparison, the USCGC Polar Star (still in commission) has a crew of 145 on a 400 foot long, 11,000 ton ship. Living a life of luxury, relatively speaking.
You need to update! These are old pics. Most of the mothballs fleet has been scrapped.
The ghost fleet is down to about 8 ships. 3-4 of them are there for just being decommissioned. The others are held because they have a sister ship somewhere else that may be active and so they are held there for spare parts. I know. I was on board the Grand Canyon State stripping parts off of it for the sister ship. The famous hanger/Drydock that everybody mentions is now an active Drydock in Alameda CA at Bay Ship and Yacht. They had to scrap the stealth ship inside by cutting it into little pieces. Very Black Ops. The barge that is mentioned is the office to manage the fleet.
Its not Bremington Its Bremerton Green mountain state was in Tacoma Washington for many years
Suisun- Soo Soon lol but thanks for the cool video. The Iowa was a really cool tour in long beach. I suggest it for anyone interested in such . I had a cool experience while on the bridge. It began to rain extremely hard with lots of wind and while standing up there with a docent you would occasionally lose sight of the front of the boat. I figure only a handful of people have got to see what that looks like. They said the tried to go to a newer system for the main guns but nothing was better then the old mechanical stuff they used ... that is impressive
APL, I lived in one for a few months while my ship was in dry dock under going a FRAM I rebuild. Big floating barracks with a galley and mess decks.
Yeah, they're literally still in use. Was on one a couple years ago.
The West Loch at Pearl Harbor is the same. Abandoned ships just sitting there. There was a proposal at one point to turn them into homeless shelters but the issue of how to get them from the ships to the shore was the issue that killed the idea.
Here is 1 suggestion for ya, when talking about a specific ship show photos of only that ship to avoid confusing viewers.
I was living in San Francisco when the USS Iowa was moved to Suisun Bay. It was quite a sight.
I was fishing right near the mothball fleet the day they brought the Iowa in and moored her. I couldn't believe how big she was. There are only a few Liberty ships left.