Scrapping of Cargo Ships Urged
WASHINGTON — Naval experts called Monday for the scrapping of hundreds of mothballed cargo vessels--including some berthed in California--that they said were too old and worn out to deliver troops and heavy equipment overseas in the event of war.
Former and current Navy administrators told a congressional subcommittee that most of the 320 ships within the National Defense Reserve Fleet--the majority of them World War II-era vessels that last sailed during the Vietnam War--are beset by leaks, corrosion, shattered portholes and windows, decades-old communication equipment and suspect mechanics. Other vessels allegedly have been picked clean by metal scavengers.
During testimony before the House small business subcommittee on regulation and business opportunities, Capt. Warren G. Leback, the U.S. maritime administrator, defended the aging fleet he oversees as composed of “potentially useful ships.†About 65 of the reserve vessels are berthed at Suisun Bay near San Francisco.
In an emergency, Leback said, about 100 vessels could be activated in five to 20 days, and at least another 120 in one to four months.
Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the subcommittee chairman, challenged that assessment as “living in never-never-land.â€
Wyden and William S. Broomfield (R-Mich.), the subcommittee’s ranking Republican, blasted the ships as “maritime cadavers.†They pledged to introduce legislation to have the ships sold to U.S. salvage companies.
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