Photos by Amy Heiden
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a vast collection of modern military ruins that are a joy to explore, but of all the relics located here, none is more inviting, or as inaccessible, as the sprawling mothball fleet of inactive ships stored by the US Department of Defense at Suisun Bay, some 30+ miles northeast of downtown San Francsico.
Maintained as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, the dozens of "ghost ships" at Suisun Bay include everything from the battleship USS Iowa to tired old Liberty-class transports, and some of them can (in theory at least) be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide extra maritime capacity during times of national emergency.
The mothball fleet is a very prominent landmark along this stretch of the San Francisco Bay. But for obvious reasons, it's rather hard to explore without getting very, very wet. And so for many moons Telstar Logistics has wondered what it looks like aboard those many abandoned ships, and in vain. Until now.
Recently, photographer Amy Heiden joined an authorized work party that visited Suisun Bay, and she returned home with many superb photos of the mysteries that lie within the heart of the ghost fleet. Don't miss all her photos taken from the fleet.
A lot of personal history in that linked picture of the Iowa...
In 89 in the Indian Ocean, my ship resupplied the Iowa. Nothing like having that big beast steaming alongside you 100' away...
Also while on that first ship, we were home ported directly across the channel from the Proteus.
While stationed in Pearl Harbor, I did a huge number of repair jobs in the engineroom of the Cimarron.
Posted by: John Guggenheim | 04 February 2010 at 07:52 PM
Besides the stunning photos: I didn't know the mysterious Hughes Mining Barge is for sale. See http://aheiden13.squarespace.com/gallery/mothball-fleet/4331559 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_Mining_Barge
Posted by: Maximillian Dornseif | 06 February 2010 at 04:25 AM