Contract Awarded To Scrap Another Historic 'Ghost Fleet' Ship

Bay Bridge Enterprises has won a $494,000 contract from the U.S. Maritime Administration to scrap a former Navy ship moored in the James River Reserve Fleet, also known as the ghost fleet. Under terms of the contract Bay Bridge has 45 days to remove the USS Vulcan (AR 5), a former Navy repair ship built in 1941, and tow it to its Chesapeake salvage yard on the Elizabeth River.Bay Bridge Ent erprises has become a favored contractor with the Maritime Administration, the federal agency responsible for dismantling dozens of obsolete ships in the James River Reserve Fleet and two other fleets in California and Texas. In 1978, the USS Vulcan (AR 5) became the first Navy ship on which women were deployed, not including hospital ships, according to the Maritime Administration. It now will be recycled for steel while its waste fuels and other potential pollutants are removed and disposed of.