Thread: ghost fleet

You could literally say the shit hit the fan with this discovery. When the Navy turned this up in a web search, as they routinely do, they contacted the Dept. of Justice. The Justice Dept. contacted MARAD in San Francisco who then contacted the manager at Suisun. Naturally they wanted to know what the hell was going on. The Justice Dept. also call the Hornet. The next thing I know was our visit for the first week of May is canceled until further notice. Needless to say there were a lot of unhappy people around. There was also to be a show on May 7th in San Francisco regarding these ships Scott Haefner Photography which is the site first discovered.

There was some concern that the manager at Suisun might lose his job over this. I know not all hatches have pad locks on them and you only need to check each and everyone. Some are wired shut from inside while others have nothing. You can get into the Thomaston if you can get to the very front of the ship were there are two doors, port and starboard, and the port side is open. It was open when I first ran across it as I followed a water leak. Our man at the Hornet had several talks with both the Dept. Of Justice and the Dept. of Defense. We seem to be ok now. One person, who had permission to go with us, withdrew from the show and probably will never be allowed to go with us again. Several people on the Hornet feel they were used. Jon I know was with us once that I can recall. The others I don't know and obviously were the ones to sneak out there. I have a pretty good guess what stoked their interest in sneaking out there given the time frame.

Our guy on the Hornet told me we were cool with MARAD on this past Wednesday. He is working on a secure procedure for ship members being up there not that anyone sneaks into our group. I have heard anything that might happen to the three guys who did sneak onto the ships and admitted trespassing onto a restricted government site.

I was amazed to see a thing like that posted using the guy's real name. There are many more stories of trespassing in all sorts of buildings on that site. What is it you think "stoked their interest" if you can say? The impending scrapping of most of the ships they visited?

Meanwhile, daver6 has posted up a nice photoset of RECLAIMER and SAGAMORE arrive for cleaning. I never realized just how small SAGAMORE is....

Look at his main page right here under update. That is where my guess comes from in that he saw photos taken 2 years ago and after that their interest was heightened.

You’re Invited: Mothball Fleet Revealed - Bearings

Really makes you wonder, doesn't it? They knew someone else had received permission to go and take photos, yet they anyway felt the need to sneak on board the ships illegally in the dead of night. Guess that is part of the 'adventure'. I especially like the line about them 'vanishing into anonymity' as they drove away for the last time. Then they go and post all the photos and stories under their real names....

They are nice photos though. Shame they had to get them this way....

We are still on hold. Initially MARAD was blaming us for leaving hatches open which was never true. Many of the ships those three went into we had no reason to go in ourselves. So that part has been cleared up so right now we are waiting while Justice decides whether or not to prosecute the three since they spelled everything out in their pdf file.

I hope you guys can get back soon. World War II vintage ships are going fast. Yesterday BOLSTER and CLAMP were pulled out to have their hulls cleaned: Daver6 photo.

I find it somewhat amazing that CLAMP was decommissioned in 1947 and then spent more than sixty years sitting in reserve!

SAGAMORE and RECLAIMER have left San Francisco bound for Brownsville: Daver6 photo.

Speaking of older ships I have heard from a reliable source that the Ranger IS going to Oregon and the JFK to Rhode Island. We already know the Iowa is going to San Pedro only everyone is waiting for the official announcement. I hope they do ok and keep their forecasts in check because, like the one below from the Ranger, I seem to have heard it before and it didn't pan out. These smaller venues might be paying too much attention to San Diego and the Midway rather than the Hornet and Alameda. The visitors might be a stretch but I don't think those numbers of $46 million and 536 jobs are realistic at all. I will say that bringing the Ranger all the way up the Columbia to Fairview will definitely be a sight to see given the difficulty of the passage.

"Ranger will be an important educational resource and serve as an emergency preparedness center capable of supporting the entire region. Studies show Ranger's economic impact will push 46 million dollars a year into the local economy and 536 direct and indirect jobs with 350,000 visitors a year to the ship."