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The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet colloquially known as the mothball fleet, is located on the northwest side of
Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the e ...
(the northern portion of the greater San Francisco Bay estuary) in Benicia, California. The fleet is within a regulated navigation area that is about long and wide. It begins just north of the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge and runs northeast, parallel to the shoreline. Water depths range from about at Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) at the foot of the anchorage, to about MLLW at the shallowest berths towards the northern end of the anchorage. , seven ships remain in the fleet ( see below).


Purpose

The
United States Maritime Administration The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an Government agency#United States, agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the United States Maritime ...
(MARAD) military caretaker oversees the
National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of Ship, ships of the United States, mostly Merchant ship, merchant vessels, that have been Reserve fleet, mothballed but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during nationa ...
, which serves as a buffer of ships for national defense and national emergency purposes. The program began in 1946 at the end of World WarII. At its peak in 1950, it had more than 2,000 ships in lay-up. One of the reserve sites is in
Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the e ...
, in the northern portion of San Francisco Bay, in California. Only a small portion of vessels currently remain with the Suisun fleet. In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and MARAD have officially announced the Suisun site closure in February 2017, any remaining ships will be sold at auction or scrapped. The only occupied reserve fleets are the
James River Reserve Fleet The James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF) is located on the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia at () near Fort Eustis. James River Reserve Fleet, a "ghost fleet", is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. The Reserve Fleet ships in sto ...
in Virginia and the Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas.


Environmental issues

The State of California and several environmental groups have raised concerns about the environmental impacts of the fleet. Potential concerns include
heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively h ...
and anti-fouling agents in the paint that is peeling off of the vessels, as well as PCBs and other hazardous materials that may have been released. Congress responded to these concerns by funding the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
(NOAA) to design and implement a study of contaminants in the vicinity of the fleet. NOAA's Damage Assessment, Response, and Restoration Program (DARRP) began work on this project in January 2008. Since then, NOAA's team has assessed existing data from the area to determine data gaps, researched the history and environmental setting of the site, discussed the project with numerous stakeholders, conducted a site visit, and developed and refined a sampling and analysis plan. NOAA deployed
bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...
samples in June 2008 and collected sediment and bivalve tissue samples from the area in July 2008. A second field sampling event for additional tissue samples occurred in September. These samples were analyzed and a data report was delivered in early 2009. Based on these findings, the United States Government has reached an agreement with Arc Ecology, San Francisco BayKeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region (Regional Board) regarding the maintenance and disposal of obsolete ships owned by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet site, resolving a lawsuit in the Eastern District of California. Under the agreement, MARAD will clean, maintain, and dispose of these ships in a manner that eliminates sources of Bay pollution. The Maritime Administration has already begun removing obsolete ships from Suisun Bay for recycling. Several ships have left since November 2009. seven ships remain. Under the terms of the settlement: * Hazardous paint debris collected on vessel decks will be removed within 120 days * All the obsolete ships currently located at the site will be cleaned of flaking paint within two years * Twenty-eight ships in the worst condition will be removed for disposal by 30 September 2012 * Before their removal, these ships will be sent to a local drydock for cleaning (removing marine growth from the underwater hull and removing flaking paint from areas above the water) * All the obsolete ships currently located at the site will be removed for disposal by September 30, 2017 * Before removal, the ships will be maintained according to locally approved best management practices, as monitored by the Regional Board * The horizontal surfaces of the obsolete ships will be cleaned every 90 days to prevent peeling paint from getting into the water, monthly and quarterly inspections will be conducted, and water runoff samples will be collected regularly * No new ships with excess flaking paint will be admitted to the fleet site


Inventory


Current

:


Notable former

*sold for scrap in 2013 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *moved to Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum as a museum ship *moved to the port of Los Angeles as a
museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
* ''Sea Shadow'' (IX-529) * * *'' Glomar Explorer''also known as USNS ''Hughes Glomar Explorer'' (T-AG-193)and later as ''GSF Explorer''


See also

* Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility * Ready Reserve Force * Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel *
Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel California’s Green Trade Corridor, is part of the Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel, also called the Baldwin-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel or Stockton Deep Water Channel, is a manmade deepwater wat ...


References


External links


1996 episode of California's Gold

Property Management and Archive Record System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet) United States Navy Reserve National Defense Reserve Fleet Military in the San Francisco Bay Area