U.S. government’s ‘James McHenry’ heads to scrap yard

The National Defense Reserve Fleet vessel will leave the James River on March 5 for scrapping at Southern Recycling in New Orleans.    The National Defense Reserve Fleet vessel James McHenry will depart from the James River in Virginia on March 5 to be scrapped at Southern Recycling in New Orleans, the U.S. Maritime Administration said.
   The heavy-lift ship was built in 1979 by Peterson Builders in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Formerly called the Paul Bunyan, the vessel worked in commercial trade with American Heavy Lift Lines. It later became a part of MarAd’s National Defense Reserve Fleet in 1987, and was transferred a few months later to the U.S. Army Transportation Center in Fort Eustis, Va., where it was used as a training platform for five years. The army returned the vessel to the James River Reserve Fleet in 1993.
   The Obama administration has made it a priority to scrap aging or no longer useful vessels from the National Defense Reserve Fleet.