MarAd reports 60th Ghost sale

MarAd reports 60th Ghost sale

WASHINGTON, DC 18 July – MarAd officials report selling the 60th ghost ship from the James River Fleet while the 59th departs the Virginia moorings today. Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton said yesterday that Baltimore’s North American Ship Recycling is buying the World War II-era vessel Hoist for $61,000. He says the ship will soon be leaving the James River, headed for the firm’s facility at Sparrows Point. “This sale is another opportunity to remove an obsolete vessel from the James River Reserve Fleet, and an excellent bargain for US taxpayers,” Connaughton said in a statement, adding that the 59th vessel from the mothballed fleet will depart this morning. The State, formerly a training ship for the State University of New York Maritime College, where it was then named the Empire State V, is to depart for Bay Bridge Enterprises in Chesapeake, Virginia for recycling. Before being used as a training ship, the State was a troop carrier called the USNS Barrett. The Hoist was a Navy rescue and salvage ship built in 1945 that was used in the search for the submarine USS Thresher and to recover a hydrogen bomb lost off Palomares, Spain after the crash of a B-52 bomber.

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