The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has sold a ship for recycling to Bay Bridge Enterprises of Chesapeake, Va. The Milwaukee, an AOR2-class oiler built in 1969 at the General Dynamics shipyard in Quincy, Mass, brought a purchase price of $56,410.
“Even with the recent drop in worldwide scrap steel prices, we continue to move obsolete ships out of the James River,” said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton, noting that the departure of Milwaukee will bring to 78 the number of ships removed from the James River site at Fort Eustis since January 1, 2001. The purchase contract for Milwaukee means that there will soon be only 25 obsolete ships left at the site without contracts for disposal.
The Maritime Administration stores ships at three National Defense Reserve Fleet sites: the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia, the Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas, and the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in California. When ships become obsolete, the Maritime Administration arranges for their disposal in an environmentally sensitive manner. When a ship is recycled, as this one will be, the recycler often salvages and sells metal and other materials, and disposes of other materials in accordance with state and federal law.