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Originally posted by Rumrunner
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I remember back in the day(93/94), refueling at sea from the USS Wabash from the ship I was stationed on, the USS Essex when she was brand new.. -
I agree about the breakbulkers. As modern as they once were they are pretty much useless today except for spare parts hulks. I could see more of a use for the Tankers if things really hit the fan, but at this point their engines and operating systems are getting too outdated for younger sailors to operate effectively.Originally posted by gunnut View Post
The former military hardware might have had some purpose for a foreign navy, particularly the AOR's and amphibs, but looks like the offer's off the table. Going once....twice....You know JJ, Him could do it....Comment
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Man, am I glad I found this place! Every time a "lady of glory" is cut up and scrapped I feel a twinge. Think of how useful a couple of carriers would have been after Katrina. FEMA spent millions renting cruise ships! Like the government doesn't have any ships of their own? Sheesh! My Alma-mater, CV-63 is now relegated to rust! Does any one know the status of the two carriers that were being held in Newport, the Saratoga and the Forrestal" I know they planned on scuttling the Forrestal. They would serve nicely as a replacement for Gitmo. Anchor em offshore and we don't have to let those idiots into the uS!Comment
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I have read this thread for sometime but never posted anything. Now I have been on most of these ships over the last 10 years except for the American Reliance, Racer, Dawn and Gettysburg since they were of no interest to the USS Hornet. I heard on 10/27, when up there, that the Pan American Victory and Earlham Victory are supposed to go over to San Francisco for prepping before leaving on their final voyage. The Pan American is in the worst condition of the 4 Victory ships. The Dawn and Racer aren't much better and neither is the Taluga. The oldest ship up there, Nereus (12/1941), seems to be on historical review at the moment. Still it will be awhile for it to leave. The Patrick and Pope have already been put off limits to parts hunters which happens when there is a contract to scrap the metal. I expect the AOR's not to be going anywhere for some years since many went in Suisun around 1995.Tuesday I was aboard the Tulare and then Roanoke, Wabash and Nereus in Row G. We boarded Row G via the Iowa. As is usual I took my camera for that and if interested you can fine 97 shots of the Iowa on my web site.Originally posted by Rumrunner View Post
USS HORNET CV12/CVA12/CVS12 and navigate to Suisun Reserve Fleet at the bottomComment
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Someone mentioned Wabash. Here's a shot of the main electrical panels. Note that the lights are on above. The engine room was pretty much spotless for an engine room.Comment
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I greatly enjoyed those photos. Thanks for posting them. :)Comment
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In a strange sort of way I like seeing Iowa like this (great pics btw) rather than all dolled up and made 'tourist friendly'. But as long as the battleships are saved I'm happy.Comment
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Excellent photos tbm3fan. Good to see that the old ships on the left coast and old ships on the right are in pretty much the same condition.
And man oh man, my group has got to get onboard the Patrick. We have the exact same gyro and we need all the excess steam plant parts we can get our hands on!Last edited by Rumrunner; 02 Nov 09,, 15:09.You know JJ, Him could do it....Comment
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Unfortunately both the Patrick and Pope have now been put off limits to parts hunters. Recently, we from the Hornet, and a crew from the Red Oak Victory were getting what we could. Since it is now off limits that tends to mean the ships have been sold and MARAD now has no legal right to let anybody inside them. Of course these deals sometimes fall through.Too bad as just wandering them was an experience in and of itself. Saw several parts in there tagged by BB-59 USS Massachusetts dating to 2003 yet obviously they never came back for them.Comment
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Was there any thought by the Navy to create a reserve fleet in any part of the Great Lakes system?Comment
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Not likely. Anything worth saving is too big or too much trouble to tow up to the Lakes. There are also freshwater locations besides the Great Lakes, like USS New Jersey's current locale.Originally posted by Archdude View Post“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”Comment
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Don't the great lakes freeze? Probably not the best choice of storage location. Wouldn't the freezing ice slowly crush the hulls of the ships?Originally posted by Archdude View PostComment
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Not always. If ice forms in a calm protected area and is not subject to heavy winds or currents while frozen it wont exert the tons of pressure needed to crack into a ships hull. When wind, waves and currents push ice sheets around and into each other or the shoreline, pressure ridges build in the ice. That is was destroys ships hulls.Originally posted by StevoJH View Post
Most, if not all of the US bulk carriers on the lakes are layberthed inside the fjord-like docks in Toledo, and their Canadian counterparts in Thunder Bay. Alongside the docks the water freezes around and sometimes under the hull of the ship but after that it pretty much stays put as one enormous ice cube. Provided the ship doesnt touch bottom it will stay well-supported and relatively safe until the next season.
The 3 key reasons I think there is no major USN reserve fleet in the Great Lakes are 1). Lock dimensions are too narrow for most USN ships 2). Lack of proper shipyard/refit facilities in Lake Ontario (closest to the open ocean) 3). Prohibitive cost and legal issues in towing decommed vessels from the nearest Navy Bases (Norfolk, Portsmouth).
There are plenty of freshwater locations for reserve fleets to be located, and many were placed in areas that were freshwater like Astoria, OR, Green Cove Springs FL, Wilmington NC and North of Mobile AL when the US had a shocking overabundance of merchant and naval hulls to deal with.You know JJ, Him could do it....Comment
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We really should keep these old ships sea-worthy. When the Cylons and/or Skynet attack and render all of our new, networked combat systems inoperative, we'll need some good old-fashioned fighting power to save the human race.Comment
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