Reserve fleet
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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.
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.
See also
- Ship decommissioning
- Royal Navy Reserve Fleet
- United States Navy reserve fleets
- Ghost fleet
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