Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet

An aerial tour of the Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay from 1992 when there were still rows and rows of old military ships and some civilian. As of December 2015 there were less than a dozen left.

[@wfwillis]

The mothball fleet at Rough & Ready Island, Stockton, CA was my first duty station out of boot camp back in 1962. It was dismantled 3-4 years later and moved down the river to Suisan Bay.

[@BillBird2111]

Hello Dann. Thanks for posting. My brother used to point out the "ships that won WWII" every time we drove by on our way to visit family in the Bay Area. The "Reserve Fleet" was it was called was the highlight of a boring late 1960's trip for a kid in the back seat of an old station wagon. They are all gone now, which is probably a good thing. But I'm glad your report survives. I hope you are well.

[@LegendaddyMak]

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[@LegendaddyMak]

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000⁰000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[@LegendaddyMak]

0000000000000000000000000000000

[@LegendaddyMak]

000

[@LegendaddyMak]

0

[@joelspringman7748]

Used to drive through Fairfield/Benicia/Martinez from Sacramento to Walnut Creek/Oakland. Saw the "mothball fleet" many times.

[@gjones002charter]

SAW MY SHIP THERE.

[@boataxe4605]

0:55: Victory ships ( and Liberty ships) were not Navy ships, they were merchant marine ships, just ask one of the few left who sailed them. They did have Navy gun crews aboard, in fact my father was a Navy gunner stationed aboard Liberty ships. After the war he received GI Benefits while his shipmates got zilch because he was considered military and they weren’t ( even though they were being targeted by the same torpedos)!

[@kleenk8]

My dad was in the USMM during WWII. Sunk twice. Did the Murmansk run, sailed the Med. and over to the Pacific. Rough stuff. Merchant Marines got Veteran Status in 1988. Better late than never, and my pop's got a nice letter along with it. RIP Dad. I have a bunch of his sailing manifests, and his union book. He was a super cool regular guy, and a great dad. Would watch Victory at Sea with him, but we never really talked that much about his service, but I heard a few stories. Once I heard him having a nightmare about his ship being strafed. Scared the crap out of me....USMC Retired.

[@boataxe4605]

@@kleenk8 Cool, I have a book that I inherited from my dad that lists the fate of every liberty ship, if you have the names of the ships that he was on I’ll look ‘em up for you. My dad just missed getting sunk twice, two of the ships he was on were sunk right after he was transferred off of them. Don’t know if that was luck, or if his replacement gunners weren’t as good as he was.

[@kleenk8]

@@boataxe4605 Great story! Some were the SS Santa Cecilia, SS William L. Watson, SS Sea Tiger, SS Louis D. Brandeis, and SS Bald Head. Many more, but don't want to overload you...LOL. No rush.

[@boataxe4605]

@@kleenk8 The William L. Watson became a freighter, first named Panormus, then Al Kheir, in 1966 she suffered from cracks in the hull during a voyage from Bombay to Baltimore, she was temporarily repaired, sold, and scrapped in 1967 at Spezia. The Brandeis went into the reserve fleet and was scrapped in Kearny NJ in 1964. No info on the other three, they must not have been Liberty ships. Maybe Victory ships or some other class. All Liberty ships were named after individuals except for a few that were named after saints.

[@kleenk8]

@@boataxe4605 I thank you so much for the information. Really cool.

[@FolsomDann]

Hi Pat. Thank you for the kind words. Before long there won't be any trace left.

[@ourtime-downhere6931]

The Glomar Explorer is a pretty cool story.

[@LICKMYNYNE]

These are all gone now...

[@johnheald4]

This not the last liberty ship. There is a fully working ship based in San Francisco.

[@enderdude7876]

145 uss hassayampa at 2:22 my grandpa served on it

[@bobg6638]

Fascinating

[@PatHamer]

Nice Job Dan! I was aboard the A0 146 in the S. China Seas. Sad to see them go.

[@kimmer6]

USS Kawishiwi. I overhauled an SSTG set on it in the 1980's.

[@DBAllen]

I remember seeing AO 146 in Pearl Harbor in the late 70's.

[@TheRacingEar]

Historic!!

[@PauloOliveira-qb9cp]

Top o vídeo

[@carboncarbonx43]

That area is excellent fishing grounds for huge Striped Bass.

[@joelara3283]

Only 5 or 6 ships left now

[@terrellhayes2862]

If there cargo ship in the remelt line twenty

[@billm4330]

Need to keep these ships...never know when they will be needed for another Dunkirk.

[@ShortArmOfGod]

The ships at dunkirk weren't pulled from mothball.

[@MrShobar]

I know. Never.

[@johnford4910]

We're glomar explorer.

[@baked1604]

I was hoping to see the USS Iowa BB-61

[@FolsomDann]

This story was done a long time ago in the 90's. I did another tour of the fleet in the 2000's. Here's a link to that story which includes the Iowa. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKaXq4h7er6qgdk

[@scottbeaudry121]

The USS Iowa was one of the lucky ones not going to be broken up at the scrapyard. It is a museum ship in San Pedro California now.

[@alperdue2704]

What Coast Guard cutter was shown? Couldn’t see a hull number but I’m guessing a Wind class icebreaker.

[@FolsomDann]

Sorry, can't tell you. This was shot thirty years ago.

[@alperdue2704]

@@FolsomDann I was able to freeze it and blow up the shot.

[@ax01adventures86]

That Coast Guard Ice Breaker is WAGB-4 Cutter Glacier. Originally a Navy ship, handed down to the Coast Guard. I made the last deployment to Antarctica on her in 1985/86. She sat In Bremerton for a few years before making her way south to the mothball fleet.

[@alperdue2704]

@@ax01adventures86 Thanks

[@ax01adventures86]

The ironic part of my story is how this ship followed me throughout my career, or so it seemed. When I was assigned to Coast Guard Polar Operations Division (POPDIV) my second deployment to Antarctica was aboard Cutter Glacier. After my POPDIV tour I was assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles. This was when I saw the ship occasionally when I drove by Bremerton. Years later, I was assigned to Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco. This was when I saw the ship occasionally anchored with the Mothball Fleet. Between 1985 and 2005 Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was it was not uncommon to fly over the ship. Cutter Glacier was kinda an old friend, after that initial deployment. She was home away from home during the deployment. When I drove by her in Bremerton of flew over her in the Mothball Fleet, it was like seeing an old friend.

[@billis9999999999]

this all ships is usefull for another countrys. why the navy dont do repairs adn sell this ships?

[@kman-mi7su]

The cost to repair old ships that are obsolete makes it not worth it. You could fix them and sell them and you'd lose money.

[@samalvaro6000]

it needs minor repair only an its 100%realy cool and sell them in part of Asia

[@samkersey5479]

I was on the USS Point Defiance LSD 31 what should I show in this video The Landing ship dock and now it is razor blade time for certain but would really like to went and saw her again before she left system Bay for Texas to be turned into scrap

[@rogeryelverton5661]

Perfect place to build a steal mill they will never set sail again

[@bryantmoore2696]

Creepy

[@terrellhayes2862]

Sell one third for Trump navy

[@kman-mi7su]

Trump doesn't have a navy, you the taxpayer does.

[@DunedinMultimedia2]

Trump is overweight and heavily in debt.

[@robdog1245]

@@DunedinMultimedia2 rent free baby, rent free

[@DunedinMultimedia2]

@@robdog1245 My guy won.