United States Navy reserve fleets The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet , often called the " Mothball Fleet " . While the details of the activity have changed several times , the basics are constant : keep the ships afloat and sufficiently working as to be reactivated quickly in an emergency . In some cases ( for instance , at the outset of the Korean War ) , many ships were successfully reactivated at a considerable savings in time and money . The usual fate of ships in the reserve fleet , though , is to become too old and obsolete to be of any use , at which point they are sold for scrapping or are scuttled in weapons tests . In rare cases , the general public may intercede for ships from the reserve fleet that are about to be scrapped - usually asking for the navy to donate them for use as museums , memorials or artificial reefs . Administration . In November 1976 , the controlling organization was the Inactive Ship Division of the Naval Ship Systems Command . Since 2004 , the administrative organization is called the Navy Inactive Fleet . As of 2011 , the controlling organization actually appears to be the Inactive Ships Management Office of the Program Executive Officer - Ships , Naval Sea Systems Command , Portsmouth , Virginia . Merchant ships held in reserve are managed as part of the separate National Defense Reserve Fleet within MARAD ( US Maritime Administration ) . Several of its sites , such as at Suisun Bay in California , are also used to store regular Navy ships . History . Around 1912 , the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and the Pacific Reserve Fleet were established as reserve units , still operating ships , but on a greatly reduced schedule . After the Second World War , with hundreds of ships no longer needed by a peacetime navy , each fleet consisted of a number of groups corresponding to storage sites , each adjacent to a shipyard for easier reactivation . For example , was underway for Green Cove Springs , Florida , on 11 April 1945 . " Brock " arrived there on 13 April 1945 , and joined the Florida Group , 16th Fleet , which later became the Florida Group , Atlantic Reserve Fleet . Many of the deactivated Second World War merchant vessels were of a class called the Liberty Ship which was a mass - produced ocean - going transport which was used primarily in the convoys going to / from the U . S . , Europe and Russia . These Liberty Ships were also used as the navy ' s support vessel for its fleet of warships and to ferry forces across the Pacific and Atlantic . It was a race between how fast the U . S . could build these ships and how fast the German U - Boats could sink them , and the Liberty Ship was significant in maintaining the beleaguered United Kingdom . Most of these Liberty Ships when deactivated were put into " mothball fleets " strategically located around the coasts of the U . S . They began to be deactivated and scrapped in the early 1970s . Atlantic Reserve Fleet . The groups of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet were at Boston , Charleston , Florida , New London , MOTBY / New York Harbor , Norfolk , Philadelphia , and Texas . Pacific Reserve Fleet . The groups of the Pacific Reserve Fleet were at Alameda , Bremerton , Columbia River , Long Beach , Mare Island , San Diego , San Francisco , Stockton , and Tacoma . List of current USN reserve fleets . James River Reserve Fleet . The James River Reserve Fleet consists of 8 decommissioned U . S . Navy auxiliaries and warship s anchored in Virginia ' s James River near Newport News . The fleet originally consisted of about 60 ships , most of which were gradually towed away for scrapping . As of June 15 , 2013 , the Reserve Fleet consisted of the following vessels : Newport . Although not technically a reserve fleet , the decommissioned aircraft carrier is berthed pierside at the Newport naval complex . Suisun Bay . A similar fleet , the National Defense Reserve Fleet , is anchored in Suisun Bay near Benicia , California , and has similarly been reduced . This location is known for hosting the " Glomar Explorer " after its recovery of portions of a Soviet submarine during the Cold War before its subsequent reactivation as a minerals exploration ship . Beaumont . The Beaumont Reserve Fleet , anchored in the Neches River near Beaumont , Texas , contains a number of transport ships , plus a dozen minesweepers . Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facilities . A Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility ( NISMF ) is a facility owned by the U . S . Navy as a holding facility for decommissioned naval vessels , pending determination of their final fate . All ships in these facilities are inactive , but some are still on the Naval Vessel Register , while others have been struck from that Register . Philadelphia . The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility holds several dozen inactive warships , including the aircraft carriers and , Ticonderoga class cruiser s , Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate s , numerous supply ships , and a submarine . Bremerton . The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , located next to Bremerton , Washington hosts , among its other ships , four aircraft carriers : , , , and , and the nuclear cruiser . It is also the home to almost two dozen decommissioned submarines , several frigates , and numerous supply ships . Pearl Harbor . The Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Pearl Harbor , HI holds logistic support ships and amphibious transport dock ships .