What Is The US Navy's Mothball Fleet And How Many Ships Does It Have?
What Is The US Navy’s Mothball Fleet And How Many Ships Does It Have? Back in 1965, Lt. George R. Kolbenschlag and Harold E. Switzer wrote in theU.S. Naval Institutes' Proceedings, “The Navy’s largest fleet is one which remains at dockside, tied up and unmanned, its guns and magazines empty. This is the Reserve Fleet — more popularly called the mothball fleet.” The whole point of being kept in reserve, of course, isn’t that they were meant to be tucked out of sight and forgotten, but that they may be needed someday....