USS Gilbert Islands
Videos
USS Gilbert Islands was a Commencement Bay-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. The Commencement Bay class were built during World War II, and were an improvement over the earlier Sangamon
USS Gilbert Islands in 1945
F4U-1D Corsair of VMF-512 on USS Gilbert Islands in 1945
USS Gilbert Islands moored off New York City on 10 November 1953
Annapolis operating during the Vietnam War
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 maintenance activity have changed several times, the basi
USS Gilbert Islands
…to the Atlantic Fleet. She arrived in her new home port, Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 February. She was decommissioned there on 21 May and allocated to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. In November 1949, she was towed to the Inactive Ship Facility in Philadelphia. The ship remained out of service until the outbreak of the Korean War…
Mothballed ships in Suisun Bay, California (2010). The battleship USS Iowa at the right-side end of the group has since become a restored museum ship in San Pedro, Los Angeles.
View of the reserve fleet laid up at Naval Station San Diego, circa in the 1950s
Ships in the US Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay in 1972
Aerial view of the US Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay in 1995