ghost fleet

[dmwnc1959]

NS Savannah

An ex-member of the James River Ghost Fleet now at Baltimore's Canton Marine Terminals as seen on my tour of her Dec. 10, 2010

Thumbnails
NS Savannah - a set on Flickr

or Slidshow
NS Savannah

[surfgun]

The Savannah, has been getting around years ago she was in Charleston SC, then Norfolk and now Baltimore. Is she on a tour of the East coast?

[dmwnc1959]

The Savannah, has been getting around years ago she was in Charleston SC, then Norfolk and now Baltimore. *Is she on a tour of the East coast?

Hi surfgun:

From Globalsecurity.org;
"Launched on 21 July 1959, NS Savannah was in service between 1962–1972.*The SAVANNAH was maintained in lay-up status until defueled in late 1971. From 1973 onwards the ship was permanently removed from service, and the nuclear facility was partially decommissioned in 1975-76. From 1981 to 1994 the vessel was bareboat chartered to the Patriots Point Development Authority, Charleston, SC for public display as a museum ship. During that period the PPDA was designated a "co-licensee" for the reactor and exercised custody of the ship - but ownership remained with MARAD."

From Wikipedia:
"*When a periodic MARAD inspection in 1993 indicated the need for dry docking the Savannah, Patriots Point and the Maritime Administration agreed to terminate the ship's charter in 1994. The ship was moved from the museum and dry docked in Baltimore, Maryland in 1994 for the repairs, after which she was moved to the James River Merchant Marine Reserve Fleet near Newport News, Virginia. The fuel in her nuclear power plant was removed upon retirement, though parts of the system that still contain radioactivity are on board."

"The Maritime Administration has funded decommissioning and removal of the ship's nuclear systems. The Savannah had undergone work at Colonna's Shipyard of Norfolk, Virginia, beginning 15 August 2006. That $995,000 job included exterior structural and lighting repairs, removing shipboard cranes and wiring, refurbishing water-damaged interior spaces, and removing mold, mildew and painting some of the interior. On 30 January 2007, she was towed to Pier 23, which is owned by the City of Newport News. On 8 May 2008, the NS Savannah arrived in Baltimore under tow from Norfolk, for removal of the vessel's remaining radioactive material.[3] The Savannah is expected to remain in Baltimore for up to 3 years under a $588,380 U.S. Maritime Administration contract with the Vane Brothers' shipyard at the Canton Marine Terminal in the Canton section of Baltimore."

[blidgepump]

.. another ship to tour !!!

The good ship NS Savannah had completely left my thoughts.
Reading about her adventures in "My Weekly Reader" in grade school when she was headline news will provide the synergy to schedule a tour of her during my next visit to the east coast.

Thank you for the update. ;)

[dmwnc1959]

The good ship NS Savannah had completely left my thoughts.
Reading about her adventures in "My Weekly Reader" in grade school when she was headline news will provide the synergy to schedule a tour of her during my next visit to the east coast.

Thank you for the update. ;)

This information might help:

Nuclear Ship Savannah - Frequently Asked Questions

[USSWisconsin]

Ahhh the NS Savannah, I read about her when I was a kid too, what a great museum she would be, I hope they let people see her powerplant, closest most of us will get to a maritime nuke plant. The minor residual radiation is buried deep inside, behind massive sheilding, with no fuel, there is virtually no chance for an accident if she is reasonably maintained.

[dmwnc1959]

Ahhh the NS Savannah, I read about her when I was a kid too, what a great museum she would be, I hope they let people see her powerplant, closest most of us will get to a maritime nuke plant. The minor residual radiation is buried deep inside, behind massive sheilding, with no fuel, there is virtually no chance for an accident if she is reasonably maintained.

Here are a couple of scans from the original ship brochure produced in 1963 and the current Tour brochure:







These pictures I took of Cabin A-3 in its current state: (compare to above deck plan layout of cabin A-3)

[dmwnc1959]

Verandah Lounge and Cocktail Bar


Dining Room


Main Lounge


Main Lobby at Pursers Desk

[USSWisconsin]

Love that 1960's style decor, brings back memories...
Great pictures David, and the naval pictures too, wonderful - I look forward to seeing more.

Are the machinery spaces part of the tour?

[tbm3fan]

Found this thread in a Google search trying to find info on some of the ships I have seen going through the Panama Canal over the past few months. I do not know if you were aware of these before now but here are links to some webcam grabs I took of various Ghost Fleet members passing into the Panama Canal on their way to Brownsville as well as links to pictures taken by a SF local of them in dry-dock for cleaning before they departed SF for their final voyages.

Thanks for the links. Have been on all those ships looking for anything of value the Hornet could take and use. The Victory ships had long been stripped when we got on them last summer. The Pan American was downright dangerous inside due to a leak that created a tropical atmosphere inside and rotted the wooden decks of each hold. My only regret was that I didn't carry my tools with me onto the Rider Victory which had a stash of lifeboats in her holds. All built in 1943-44 as evidenced by the solid brass build plates of which I failed to remove some.

The Pope and Patrick attracted both us and the group from the SS Jeremiah Brown during her last year at Suisun. Really got to love wandering the interior of both ships whether looking for stuff or just taking a tour. Other than papers thrown about and asbestos on the deck they were very clean inside when you got down to it. One of these days I need to get my Pope photos up on my site to join the Patrick. Below are a few of the Pope when we visited her the summer of 2010 before she was put off limits in September. I did get the Patrick"s Store hours sign and her Sick Bay hours sign.

[dmwnc1959]

Love that 1960's style decor, brings back memories...
Great pictures David, and the naval pictures too, wonderful - I look forward to seeing more.

Are the machinery spaces part of the tour?

There is only a 'viewing gallery' that surrounds on three sides (from above) the secondary coolant loop machinery and control room. You can see this near the final pictures linked here.

NS Savannah - a set on Flickr

You do not actually get to go in to the machinery room or control room, nor do you get to see any part (other than the exterior of a portion of the reactor compartment wall) of the main coolant loop or reactor, also seen in those pictures. Along the tour route they did have very large imagery posted of what the inside of the reactor compartment would look like if we could 'see through the bulkhead'.

[dmwnc1959]

The Pope and Patrick attracted both us and the group from the SS Jeremiah Brown during her last year at Suisun. Really got to love wandering the interior of both ships whether looking for stuff or just taking a tour. Other than papers thrown about and asbestos on the deck they were very clean inside when you got down to it. One of these days I need to get my Pope photos up on my site to join the Patrick. Below are a few of the Pope when we visited her the summer of 2010 before she was put off limits in September. I did get the Patrick"s Store hours sign and her Sick Bay hours sign.

I would love to see your pictures. Is there a link to your site for the ones you already have downloaded of the PATRICK? I am surprised that there is anything left on these ships while they are in mothballs. I would have assumed they would be stripped bare. Did you get any other items original to the two ships construction?

[tbm3fan]

I would love to see your pictures. Is there a link to your site for the ones you already have downloaded of the PATRICK? I am surprised that there is anything left on these ships while they are in mothballs. I would have assumed they would be stripped bare. Did you get any other items original to the two ships construction?

Here is a link to my Suisun page where she was located:

USS Hornet CV-12 CVS-12

What is unique about those two, and which made for limited use for the Hornet, is that the electrical system was DC and the Hornet is AC. There was a lot of unused and barely used electrical equipment just sitting on shelves. Also, not being warships or true Navy ships, they did not have the sort of naval items we use on the Hornet that would be found in CIC, Radio Central, Bridge Engine Rooms and so forth. From the photos you can see there are a lot of small items left all over the ship that we removed especially mess items. Plus there is rope, cable, fie hoses, life vests that may be of use. We did, however, remove some of the Patrick's original small galley items like bread slicers. The one original item that excited me the most was an AE 50 wall monophone, in pristine shape, that was hidden behind a ton of life vests in a deck house. Had been looking for three years for one and every ship had been stripped of theirs except this hidden one.

For the most part their treasures were mild in amount. The true Navy ships really have nothing that you can pick up and carry out. Yet, we use those ships for the big stuff such as lathes, generators, radio panels, phone switch panels, flood lights, antennas and the like. Then there are the ever valuable bakelite sound power phone caps, the little spare fuses on electrical panels and the little indicator lights that I strip out everytime I see them. These are pocket items that I fill my backpack with. The best ships are the USNS supply ships put up there in the 90's. They are loaded with a tremendous amount of good stuff. One ship had enough linens, towels, and bed spreads to supply a good size Holiday Inn. All that is on the Hornet. Machine shops are almost completely stocked with bolts and nuts from #8 on up. Could go on about the items but one really has to spend a day on the ships to see what I am talking about.

[Ken_NJ]

For the person interested in this type of history, this is fascinating! To be able to rummage and browse through a derelict ship like that, that use to be so alive. Even if I were not able to take anything, just to be able to roam and see what there is. Those of you that are able to do this, sooo lucky. I scuba dive, and it's usually the same, look but do not remove anything. My 2 cents.

[Admiral Nelson]

I came across the website of California Ships to Reefs the other day. As you see, they want to sink all the 1950s oilers and LSDs, plus a couple of buoy tenders off Dana Point to form a sort of diver's paradise. It seems KAWISHIWI (click for sinking details) will be first.