Visits to Naval Bases (pictures from those visits)

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

I agree 99.9% with the last few post. Jeff you made a bb boo. The David R Ray was DD-971 not 917...

Any way as I have mentioned before my son served on the now sunk CG-50. I visited that ship many times while he was on board in San Diego. It is hard to think that a ship in such absolute pristine condition now rest at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. What a waste of taxpayer money. Shameful.

Simply stated the USN is not being alloted enough money in their yearly budget to properly preserve ships in a reserve status.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

bd popeye said:

I agree 99.9% with the last few post. Jeff you made a bb boo. The David R Ray was DD-971 not 917...

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Yes, I knew that...and have it correctly numbered in the thread itself when I was there. But today, I just made a simple transposition typo when writing this latest, but have now, thanks to your keen eye, fixed it and corrected the prolemo...thankx!

bd popeye said:

Any way as I have mentioned before my son served on the now sunk CG-50. I visited that ship many times while he was on board in San Diego. It is hard to think that a ship in such absolute pristine condition now rest at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. What a waste of taxpayer money. Shameful.

Simply stated the USN is not being alloted enough money in their yearly budget to properly preserve ships in a reserve status.

Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. The USN needs to be allotted adequate funds to move the older reserve fleet units out while making way for the newer decommissioned vessels, like the Valley Forge. It is unbelievable that we would sink such a vessel...which still has so many years service life, and still would be considered by any other navy to be better than their top of the line vessels. Just like the Spruances.

Instead, the US Government seems to be intent on simply disposing of them all, old and new alike, and leaving essentially very few vessels in reserve. Very, very short sighted IMHO.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

It was part of the newer defense policy, though. Part of the streamining, which held that the Navy doesn't need to be very big or have reserves, as in their mind it will principally used just to support operations against terrorism. Not good thinking, but that seems to have become the norm in regards to naval policy, unfortunately.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

The US Navy of which I served for 20 years should have in reserve ,as a minimum, the following surface combatants. I wish the US Congress would fork over the cash to do so.

4 CV's

2 LHA's(Tarawa Class)

18 Spruance class

5 Ticos (thats' how many the USN has retired)

4 AOE's

With that 4 CSG's (Carrier Strike Groups) & 2 ESG (Expeditionary Strike Groups) could be formed.

I omitted subs simply because I have limited knowledge about keeping a nuke ship in mothballs.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

I think USN still has some nuclear cruisers in reserve? If so, I don't understand why USN keeps them but sunk a tico.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

The Long Beach, sans her superstructure, is still afloat. The South Carolina is still in mothballs, although she's planned for disposal. There are a couple of Belknaps left which are planned for disposal as well. There is also a Knox FF and 4 Forrest Sherman DDs in mothballs, as well as two BBs. This includes ships stricken but still maintained by the US Navy. also, I believe there are still a cuple of Gearings mothballed and planned for disposal.

As for subs, there is a sub reserve fleet, but it is shrinking and has been shrinking for some time. There are over a dozen SSNs (LA-class and 1 Sturgeon-class, and 1 Nautilus-class) in reserve, along with two SSBNs. There are still a couple of conventional attack subs in mothballs as well.

Nuke ships are placed in Category Z Reserve.

The Reserve Categories are:

Category A: Ships which are in commission, in reserve (such as ships in the Naval Reserve force, which today includes 9 OHPs and some mine warfare vessels).

Category B: Ships which are decommissioned, but maintained in the highest level of readiness, and can be reactivated in 90-120 days, and have flooding and fire alarms installed, cathodic protection for the hull, and are sealed up and dehumidified, and maintained by naval personnel.

Category C: These ships are similar to category B ships, but they are not regularly maintained and sometimes have fewer protections against the elements. They also have lower readiness standards. All service craft which are maintained, and priority ships for sale to other countries are maintained in this category as well.

Category D: This includes ships stricken and disposed of to private entities which are still considered eligible for reactivation, and have to meet certain maintenance and readiness standards, as well as ships planned for similar fates or disposal to other government agencies in category X. It is partly a subcategory of category X.

Category L: Ships preserved well and retained for logistics purposes, such as being used as a source for spare parts for ships still in the fleet.

Category X: Ships which have been stricken, but are still in USN custody, including some category D ships. These ships are planned for disposal or sometimes have not had plans made for them. They are not maintained, and preservation systems come as is. They are fitted with alarms and a place to dock.

Category Z: All nuclear powered vessels, and associated ships such as sub tenders, whether to be disposed of or retained, are kept in this category, and preserved to category B or C standards, depending on their planned disposition, and also include nuclear vessels which are being recycled.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

bd popeye said:

The US Navy of which I served for 20 years should have in reserve ,as a minimum, the following surface combatants. I wish the US Congress would fork over the cash to do so.

4 CV's

2 LHA's(Tarawa Class)

18 Spruance class

5 Ticos (thats' how many the USN has retired)

4 AOE's

With that 4 CSG's (Carrier Strike Groups) & 2 ESG (Expeditionary Strike Groups) could be formed.

I omitted subs simply because I have limited knowledge about keeping a nuke ship in mothballs.

Click to expand...

I have a wonderful vision in my head of what might have been if the 2 Tarawas, 2 of the Ticos and 4 of the Spruances (the 4 Kidd DDG variants were actually offered before being transferred to the ROCN) had been transferred to and were now spearheading the RAN! Unfortunately it will remain a dream.

BTW, the RAN seems to be following the same philosophy as the USN and is disposing of ships as soon as they are retired from active service. The OHP class FFG Canberra has already gone and Adelaide will soon join her as a dive wreck.


Cheers

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

bigstick61 said:

The Long Beach, sans her superstructure, is still afloat. The South Carolina is still in mothballs, although she's planned for disposal. There are a couple of Belknaps left which are planned for disposal as well. There is also a Knox FF and 4 Forrest Sherman DDs in mothballs, as well as two BBs. This includes ships stricken but still maintained by the US Navy. also, I believe there are still a cuple of Gearings mothballed and planned for disposal.

As for subs, there is a sub reserve fleet, but it is shrinking and has been shrinking for some time. There are over a dozen SSNs (LA-class and 1 Sturgeon-class, and 1 Nautilus-class) in reserve, along with two SSBNs. There are still a couple of conventional attack subs in mothballs as well.

Nuke ships are placed in Category Z Reserve.

The Reserve Categories are:

Category A: Ships which are in commission, in reserve (such as ships in the Naval Reserve force, which today includes 9 OHPs and some mine warfare vessels).

Category B: Ships which are decommissioned, but maintained in the highest level of readiness, and can be reactivated in 90-120 days, and have flooding and fire alarms installed, cathodic protection for the hull, and are sealed up and dehumidified, and maintained by naval personnel.

Category C: These ships are similar to category B ships, but they are not regularly maintained and sometimes have fewer protections against the elements. They also have lower readiness standards. All service craft which are maintained, and priority ships for sale to other countries are maintained in this category as well.

Category D: This includes ships stricken and disposed of to private entities which are still considered eligible for reactivation, and have to meet certain maintenance and readiness standards, as well as ships planned for similar fates or disposal to other government agencies in category X. It is partly a subcategory of category X.

Category L: Ships preserved well and retained for logistics purposes, such as being used as a source for spare parts for ships still in the fleet.

Category X: Ships which have been stricken, but are still in USN custody, including some category D ships. These ships are planned for disposal or sometimes have not had plans made for them. They are not maintained, and preservation systems come as is. They are fitted with alarms and a place to dock.

Category Z: All nuclear powered vessels, and associated ships such as sub tenders, whether to be disposed of or retained, are kept in this category, and preserved to category B or C standards, depending on their planned disposition, and also include nuclear vessels which are being recycled.

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Thanks for posting this bigstick61. It is very interesting information, especially for a naval enthusiast from the island down under Downunder.

Could you (or Popeye or Jeff, et al) explain how the Naval Reserve Force is organised. I notice that you describe the ships as being in commission, in reserve. Does this mean that they have reserve crews assigned that periodically take them to sea?

Cheers

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

It means that they are no longer front-line or primary units, but remain in commission just in case they are needed. This was done with some of the older vessels after WWII. Sometimes they stay in port mostly, while other times they put to see with regular navy crews. Current practice i to have them in the NRF. Such ships have a core crew consisting of regular navy personnel, and the rest of the crew are reservists which train aboard the vessels, and if fully activated, the reserve crews aboard at the time would be the ones which would be activated and made a part of the ships crew for the duration of its service. Their deployments tend to be more limited.

Re: My trip to the US Navy Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, WA

bigstick61 said:

It means that they are no longer front-line or primary units, but remain in commission just in case they are needed. This was done with some of the older vessels after WWII. Sometimes they stay in port mostly, while other times they put to see with regular navy crews. Current practice i to have them in the NRF. Such ships have a core crew consisting of regular navy personnel, and the rest of the crew are reservists which train aboard the vessels, and if fully activated, the reserve crews aboard at the time would be the ones which would be activated and made a part of the ships crew for the duration of its service. Their deployments tend to be more limited.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. It seems to be a sensible approach with ships that are surplus to normal peacetime requirements but which may be needed to support surge operations short of full scale war, when the whole of the reserve fleet (what's left of it) would most likely be activated.

Cheers