The ghost ships of Mothball Fleet: Incredible pictures of abandoned Navy war ships

Daily Mail ^ | June 9, 2011

[catman67]

I remember in the 80’s the USN had a project for rocket boosted shells from BBs. Tests had successfully shown 50+ mile range, and they expected to get to 100+miles, which would put about 60% of the world’s population/cities within range. Every time I read about using a $ 1 million cruise missile to take out a truck, I wish we had kept one of the BBs on active duty.

That was before GPS guidance technology was developed. Now, it could make a phenominal, cost effective weapon.

BTW, the British used monitors during WW-II, whereby turrets were removed from decommissioned battleships and placed on unarmored hulls for coastal bombardment. That would greatly reduce operational costs and crew requirements!

[blueunicorn6]

I’d like to take this on one last cruise up to Alaska. I’d rename it THE KING CRAB and go out and run over Jonathan Hillstrand’s marking bouys just to see the look on his face on tv next season.

[Axeslinger]

Like she didn’t have asbestos when I spent 2.5 years aboard?

[Last Dakotan]

Because they would say no,, like good bureaucrats do.

I got a great tour of the USS Missouri last year at Pearl Harbor. The retired Naval Officer who gave the tour mentioned that there were spaces in the ship that they, themselves were not permitted to enter. I asked who it was who determines and polices this and he said it was the EPA. Furthermore they are subject to unannounced spot inspections by the EPA, and anyone found in those spaces will be walked off the ship and told never to return.

In bureaucrat wisdom a little asbestos is fine for American kids to live with for months at a time, but not so much for tourists for a few minutes.

[SouthTexas]

Thanks. Sure is a shame to see them deteriorate into nothing.

[Last Dakotan]

Here's another link to someone who got aboard legally;

http://www.tendertale.com/tenders/132/132-2.html

Just look at the machine tools left aboard!

[tlb]

>>> the last time a BB fired for real, it was the NJ off the Lebanese coast, after the Marines were killed by a suicide bomber.

No the last time a BB fired for real, something like 40 US sailors were smashed into jello. The same ship, USS Iowa. The turret was never repaired.

Even without their untrustworthy big guns I always thought the fast battleships would have made a good cruise missile barrier for the carriers. Positioned between the carrier and the threat to soak up the incoming missiles the defense failed to shoot down, their thick armor could shrug off any non-nuclear hits. The ships needed too many sailors to operate though.

[DownInFlames]

First of all, the article is talking about squatters on these ships. That is trespassing.

Second, artificial reefs creates habitats for sea life and creates jobs both in the ship preparation and sport fishing/scuba diving industry.

Saw a great program regarding the sinking of the Orensky, a post WWII/Vietnam era carrier.

[Kenny Bunk]

BBs screening for carriers is not a good idea.

The best of the BBs were 30-35 knot max max ships. Our nuclear carriers can haul at 50+knots. (Oops now that I told you, I'll have to kill you.)

Besides, the main function of escort vessels is radar and AA and today's cruise missiles can definitely pick out a carrier in a crowd.

What the New Jersey and the Iowa could have done is subdue Libya at much less cost than the cruise missiles, smart bombs, and dumb bombs our NATO allies are now running out of. Hell, with modern fire control a couple of 8-inch cruisers could save Misrata by accurate counter-battery fire.

[Last Dakotan]

No the last time a BB fired for real, something like 40 US sailors were smashed into jello.

Last round was fired 6 months later.
http://www.angelfire.com/ia/totalwar/usnIowa.html

The turret was never repaired.

According to USS Iowa veteran's groups, what is left to complete the repairs is the installation of some equipment that has already been sourced and is stored on the Iowa.

[lwd]

I get your point but we currently live in very litigious times.

[freeside]

Hi, this is Stephen, one of the photographers who put together the trips on the Suisun Bay mothball fleet, with Scott H my good friend.
I created an account just to say thanks to the members on this forum who understand and appreciate our photography.
It’s not a surprise that I’m finding the most understanding people yet on the ‘net, on a forum called freerepublic.

Sometimes in life you have to just go do the thing you want to do. Yes, it’s trespassing (definitely NOT squatting), but we didn’t harm anyone, or harm anything on the ships. We were there to explore, observe, photograph and experience roaming these amazing human creations.

Call us stupid if you want, for posting our adventures on the internet. It wasn’t without careful consideration and full understanding of the potential legal problems we are exposing ourselves to by doing this. We are driven to do this and then not just keep it a secret, but to share it with people.
On asbestos, thousands of state workers work day in and day out in buildings full of asbestos (I’m on contract at a State University) and our children go to schools full of it. Thanks for understanding this. When it becomes friable, it’s a problem. There were places on the ships where it had become friable, but we take great care not to disturb dust on the floor, or stir the stuff up.
Instead of worrying about someone else exposing themselves to asbestos (not necessarily on this forum) people should start worrying and wondering about the platic water bottles they drink from everyday and the government that allows widespread consumption of bisphenol-a.

A couple other notes and responses to things said:
Scott, Jon and myself take full responsibility for our actions and would NEVER EVER consider suing if we got hurt. We are not like that. There are people out there like that, and they disgust us.
Taxpayer money. I page huge taxes as I make good money. Taxpayer money built those ships, is paying to clean them, is paying to have them scrapped and will pay for the clean-up of the Bay if that ever happens. I grew up next to these ships and have seen them my entire life. I have no qualms about breaking the law of “trespassing” to visit them. It’s my government, funded by my money, who created these rules that I broke. Big whoop.

Find my photos at:
www.flickr.com/freeside
and Jon’s work at:
www.terrastories.com

Thanks again for the kind words and support (begrudging or not).

[Billthedrill]

Hey Stephen, welcome to FR! I saw my old ship cut up and sold for scrap, so I know where you’re coming from. Thanks very much for the pictures, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to a twinge of regret that I never took enough myself. Mostly we couldn’t, you know.

[aruanan]

On asbestos, thousands of state workers work day in and day out in buildings full of asbestos (I’m on contract at a State University) and our children go to schools full of it.

That's a different type of asbestos that is one of the most commonly encountered minerals in the environment (chrysotile asbestos). San Francisco and other places, such as Asbestos, Canada, have so much of it that it vastly exceeds the EPA's limits but neither of these places has any higher level of respiratory disease associated with it than other places with lower exposures. It's the other rarely used form of asbestos (amphibole) that is associated with certain extremely rare types of cancer, such as mesothelioma. This type of cancer was most frequently found among certain shipyard workers from the WWII era who were also smokers. The asbestos used in schools (and partially in the World Trade Center) was chrysotile asbestos and doesn't pose a health risk. The greatest harm from asbestos came from Congress failing to make a distinction between the different types of asbestos, giving the EPA and ambulance chaser lawyers an easy way to destroy large businesses while making a pile of cash.

[freeside]

aruanan:
This is very controversial topic, and sent me off researching chrysotile vs. amphibole. I’m not sure that it has been fully determined yet, but thanks for bringing it up.
You are correct that most asbestos used in non-shipboard environments is chrysotile. I just got lab reports back on a flexible duct connection from 1957 that was 60% chrysotile. I didn’t realize the differences. Thanks for pointing it out. My experience to date has given me some decent radar in determining ACMs visually. This specific sample didn’t ping my radar as it was like a heavy cable knit cotton sweater in appearance and didn’t show any of the spiky, crystal looking stuff that usually clues me into it. I knew that chrysotile was often woven but never really put two and two together.

[Sporke]

“With the swollen Mississippi, could the Iowa make it upstream to her namesake state?”

Not a chance. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know the depth of the Mississippi, but I know the draft of the Iowa is 32 feet. When I served on the Iowa, very few ports we visited could handle that. We had to drop anchor and take ferrys to the shore.

I sure wish it were possible....

[Ramius]

I consider myself lucky to have witnessed the USS New Jersey firing their 16 inch guns over my head to a shore target just a short distance away. It was... remarkable.

I don’t think it’s fair, BTW, to call all the 16 inch guns on all the BB’s “untrustworty” based on one intentionally created “accident”.

[ken5050]

Thanks..it was whimsical thinking on my part...BTW, as I was reading your post I realized that even if she could float upriver, her superstructure probably wouldn’t clear most of the bridges over the Mississippi..

[GATOR NAVY]

SPA-25 radar repeater, an older model, as the newer ones have digital readouts. I wonder how many hours of my life I spent looking into one of these? In the hundreds no doubt, maybe into the thousands.

[Cvengr]

The belief they would have been denied access due to bureaucracy doesn’t justify their implied disobedience to legitimate authority, nor their trespass.

After reading their blogs, it’s obvious these are liberals with an antiAmerican agenda. They think their trespass manifests virtue, but lack the integrity to present honest reports.

It would be honest if they simply stated they had criminal intentions, enjoyed trespass of property they don’t own, nor have the patience to understand, but seek to slander and libel those whom they trespass.