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National Defense Reserve Fleet ("Mothball Fleet") Suisun Bay, Benicia, CA.
Photo Special

Since the end of World War II Suisun Bay, located approx. 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, Calif., is home of a fleet of decommissioned, stricken, or inactive ships. These ships include US Navy warships, auxiliary vessels and merchant ships. Some of the ships are held in a reduced operation status meaning that they can be re-activated within a given time in order to make them available during national emergencies. The number of ships laid-up at Suisun Bay went from 324 in 1959 to less than 70 in 2009.
Due to environmental problems with several of the ships, it's now planned to withdraw all ships from Suisun Bay by 2017. Ships are removed from the fleet on a regular basis but before they are towed to Texas for scrapping, they are taken to the BAE shipyard at Potrero Hill, South San Francisco, for clean up.

All photos in this section were taken by me on March 27, 2010. Click on one of the ship names below the photos to see some close-ups of the respective ship.


Row E






Row F






Row G






Row I






Row J






Row K






Row L






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