The departures of these ships mark the 20th and 21st ships to leave the National Defense Reserve Fleet since October 2009, when the Obama administration announced its plan to clean up the site and improve the surrounding environment. As a result, MarAd is more than four months ahead of schedule in removing obsolete U.S. ships from the reserve fleet.
Further, the vessels Bolster and Clamp are scheduled for departure from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet on May 23. The disposal schedule calls for 20 ships to be removed from California site by Sept. 30.
The Reclaimer, formerly the USS Reclaimer, is a Diver class auxiliary salvage and rescue ship built for the U.S. Navy specifically for salvage work at the end of World War II. The vessel was built by Basalt Rock Co. of Napa, Calif., and launched on June 23, 1945. The vessel served primarily in the Pacific and Far East from post World War II throughout the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The vessel was decommissioned in 1994, and placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet.
The Sagamore, formerly the Alaska Standard, is a coastal liquid-bulk tanker built by Albina Engine and Machine Works of Portland, Ore., for the Standard Oil Co. of California. Launched in 1959, the vessel was constructed specifically to supply fuel to extremely remote towns and villages located along Alaska's rugged coast. The vessel was sold to Sealift Tankers in 1986 and renamed Sagamore. The vessel was transferred to MarAd and entered the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in 1987.
The Reclaimer and Sagamore will be cleaned of marine growth and loose exterior paint in dry dock at a ship repair facility in San Francisco before departing for Texas, where they will be recycled, MarAd said.
