Reserve fleet

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Image:USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin mothballed.jpg

A reserve fleet or (less formally) mothball fleet is a collection of naval vessels that are fully equipped for fighting but are not currently needed. They may be modified, for instance by having rustprone areas sealed off or wrapped in plastic. The ships will typically have a minimal crew (or less formally, a skeleton crew, which gave rise to the term bone yard) that makes sure the ship stays in usable condition - if nothing else, the bilge pump needs to run continuously to prevent the ship from sinking.

Ships of the reserve fleet are usually tied up in backwater areas near naval bases or shipyards, to speed the reactivation process.

When a ship is placed in reserve status the various parts and weapon systems that the vessel uses are also placed in a storage facility so that if the ship is ever reactivated the proper spare parts and ammunition can be loaded aboard the vessel. This has occasionally created problems for naval personnel, as stored equipment is prone to fall into disrepair and, like the ship, can become obsolete as time goes on. One recent example of this was during the United States’ arms buildup under President Ronald Reagan. As part of the 600-ship Navy plan the US reactivated its Iowa-class battleships to serve with the fleet, but since the ships had not been used since the 1960s the US Navy had trouble finding the various specialty items that were needed to make the ship operational, as a result the navy salvaged these parts off of earlier battleships that had been relegated to museum ships.

In practice, the fate of most reserve ships is to be scrapped; after a few years their technology is too far behind for them to be worth upgrading. Sometimes they are used for experiments or target practice, or are sold to other nations, and occasionally to private companies for civilian conversion (especially for support vessels) or to become museum ships.