National Defense Reserve Fleet
The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.
The NDRF is managed by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD). It is a different entity from the United States Navy reserve fleets, which consist largely of warships.
NDRF vessels are at the fleet sites at James River, Virginia – the 'James River Reserve Fleet'; Beaumont, Texas- the 'Beaumont Reserve Fleet'; and Suisun Bay, California; and at designated outported berths. Former anchorage sites included Stony Point, New York; Wilmington, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; Astoria, Oregon; and Olympia, Washington.
Through the 2010s, the oldest, most decrepit hulls at Suisun Bay will be stripped of toxic materials, then broken up in Texas, California or Asia. Twenty of the most polluting mothball ships are slated for recycling by 2012, as are 32 more by 2017. Unaffected will be the battleship USS Iowa which has been relocated to the Port of Los Angeles to become a museum ship.
At its peak in 1950, the NDRF had 2,277 ships in lay-up. In 2003, it had 274. In July 2007, it held 230 ships, primarily dry cargo ships with some tankers, military auxiliaries and other types.
Read more about National Defense Reserve Fleet: History, Operations, Fleet Reduction
Famous quotes containing the words national, defense, reserve and/or fleet:
“Just so before we’re international,
We’re national and act as nationals.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!”
—Barry Goldwater (b. 1909)
“In a democracy—even if it is a so-called democracy like our white-élitist one—the greatest veneration one can show the rule of law is to keep a watch on it, and to reserve the right to judge unjust laws and the subversion of the function of the law by the power of the state. That vigilance is the most important proof of respect for the law.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
“On the middle of that quiet floor
sits a fleet of small black ships,
square-rigged, sails furled, motionless,
their spars like burned matchsticks.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)