Visit to the Ghost Fleet

For those of you who wanted to see the voyage I mentioned earlier.

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It was a cold and foggy morning in San Francisco (typical summer weather). We made it down to the pier around 8:30am, to see most of the wharf and the Bay Bridge engulfed in fog.

When we walked up the gangplank to board the giant ship, coffee, juice and donuts awaited us before we launched.

This guy was waiting very patiently for someone to drop their donut. Seagulls are like dogs with wings. As soon as they see food, they practically beg.

He was so desperate for my donut that he let me take lots of photos of him. Alas, I was not in the mood to share.

By 9am, we sailing towards Suisun Bay, out of the fog, on our way to see the Naval Reserve Fleet, otherwise known as the Ghost Fleet (or Mothball Fleet).

It's the people you meet aboard ship that are the most interesting of all. Many of the men served in the Navy or the Merchant Marine, and are only too glad to tell you some incredible stories of their lives at sea. You always end up so grateful that they survived to tell the tale.

The volunteers who operate the ship take their jobs very seriously, and this is a place where the older you are, the more valuable your experience is.

And then, we were past the fog and into the sunshine. Two tugboats (and assorted seabirds) escorted us on our entire voyage.

We crossed under many bridges.

And finally at our destination.

These so-called Ghost Ships are actually in better shape inside than they might look outside. They are completely sealed and waiting to be sold for scrap, or perhaps decomissioned and restored (like the Jeremiah O'Brien) or sent to museums.

From this really interesting article (text exerpted is in italics):

The ghostly congregation of ships known as the Mothball Fleet floats silently on Suisun Bay. Huddled together bow to stern, they wait for a call to duty that may never come.

The fleet may look like just a lonely, floating junkyard, but hidden among the discards are some nautical treasures and old heroes.

One is the Navy tugboat Hoga, which during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 rescued dozens of sailors, fought onboard ship fires, and pulled the battleship Nevada to safety.

The Golden Bear, a 1939 passenger liner that later became a training ship for sailors, and the World War II merchant ship Red Oak Victory also dwell in the fleet. Organizations are hoping to save all three vessels.

Every year, the number of merchant ships flying the U.S. flag shrinks. The ships kept in reserve by the Maritime Administration ensure that the country will not have to depend on foreign ships or build new ones if a war or humanitarian need arises.

Every day, 71 Maritime Administration workers inspect the ships for leaks, oil the engines and make sure only dry air circulates inside the ships' hulls. A low-voltage electrical system keeps corrosion from forming under the waterline.

They don't do cosmetic work, such as painting the hulls.

It's hard to describe how gigantic and impressive these ships are. The camera really gives you no sense of scale.

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After we saw the Ghost Fleet, then it was time to head on back home.

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A crew of near-ancient mariners sailed the Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brien out of the Mothball Fleet and later across the Atlantic Ocean to the 50th anniversary of D-Day. To date, she is the only ship ever to leave the Mothball Fleet under her own power.

I took these photos from the pier, to give you an idea of the size of this ship. Liberty Ships were instrumental in bringing much needed supplies (food, tanks, ammunition, anything really) to our forces during the war. Before the US entered the war, Merchant Marines sailed these ships to bring supplies to Britain.

Because of their size, these ships suffered huge losses crossing the Atlantic from German U-boats and enemy planes. Many, many sailors risked their lives every day aboard these ships.

The photos in this immediate section I took on the trip before this one. It's like stepping back in time, meeting the old sailors and seeing touches on the ship that would have been there since WWII.

This was the only surviving Liberty Ship that participated in the D-Day invasion to make the trip back to Normandy to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

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So that was the adventure. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

If you are in San Francisco, you can visit the Jeremiah O'Brien any day and explore the entire ship. There are docents and volunteers (many of them veterans) who are happy and proud to show you "their" ship.

All photos taken by me, except for the one that was obviously taken from a satellite (I'm not that talented).