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Although this thread seems to concentrate on the current status of the "Ghost Fleet," these two articles have some fascinating insight to the post WWII effort to lay up the fleet built between 1939 and 1945. Part two goes into some considerable detail on the "how".
The sheer size of the WWII US Navy is brought home when you consider that "In early November 1945, about six weeks after the surrender signing aboard USS Missouri, Congress outlined the first demobilization plan for the US Navy. A minimum of 33% of the fleet’s WWII manpower, about a million men, was to be out no later than 15 February 1946; and of this, 327,000 by Christmas 1945 and 865,000 by New Years Eve. By the end of April 1946, 50% of the wartime manpower would be out. By 1 September 1946, the process would be essentially completed with 3,000,000 WWII veterans mustered out, leaving about 490,000 on active duty in January 1947 including new sailors recruited in the meantime."
The industrial effort is exemplified by escort carriers such as the USS Tinian (CVE-123). She "literally went cradle-to-grave in mothballs. Launched about 48 hours after the Japanese surrender, USS Tinian was completed with leftover wartime funds and ran builder’s trials in early 1946. On 30 July 1946, the US Navy quietly declared the ship “accepted” without ceremony, and USS Tinian was sailed straight into the mothball fleet. The unused USS Tinian sat in reserve for a quarter-century before being scrapped in 1971, never having done anything."
https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/...ter-wwii-pt-1/
https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/...ter-wwii-pt-2/
The sheer size of the WWII US Navy is brought home when you consider that "In early November 1945, about six weeks after the surrender signing aboard USS Missouri, Congress outlined the first demobilization plan for the US Navy. A minimum of 33% of the fleet’s WWII manpower, about a million men, was to be out no later than 15 February 1946; and of this, 327,000 by Christmas 1945 and 865,000 by New Years Eve. By the end of April 1946, 50% of the wartime manpower would be out. By 1 September 1946, the process would be essentially completed with 3,000,000 WWII veterans mustered out, leaving about 490,000 on active duty in January 1947 including new sailors recruited in the meantime."
The industrial effort is exemplified by escort carriers such as the USS Tinian (CVE-123). She "literally went cradle-to-grave in mothballs. Launched about 48 hours after the Japanese surrender, USS Tinian was completed with leftover wartime funds and ran builder’s trials in early 1946. On 30 July 1946, the US Navy quietly declared the ship “accepted” without ceremony, and USS Tinian was sailed straight into the mothball fleet. The unused USS Tinian sat in reserve for a quarter-century before being scrapped in 1971, never having done anything."
https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/...ter-wwii-pt-1/
https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/...ter-wwii-pt-2/
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