Standing at the ready since the end of WWII, this eerie ghost fleet once numbered as many as 350 ships. Technically known as the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet (SBRF), the boats are theoretically part of an active reserve fleet, ready to head out in as few as 20 days in times of national emergency. The reality is a slowly decaying fleet, creaking and rusting as they await the scrapyard. Now greatly reduced in number, there are currently 72 aging military and merchant vessels in the bay, of which 57 are considered defunct. Soon there will be fewer still.

Unfortunately, the long years of neglect and indecision have turned these once proud fighters into near wrecks, with flaking paint polluting the waters, and locals complaining about them overstaying their welcome.

The most famous current resident is the USS Iowa, a WWII battleship that once served as the transport vessel for President Roosevelt, and fought in the Pacific during both WWII and the Korean War. It was decommissioned in 1990, and there are hopes to turn it into a museum ship. As of now, she is the only remaining battleship of her class not open to the public.

As of October 2009, there are plans underway to remove two more of the aging ships, the Earlham Victory and the Pan American Victory, to be cleaned in dry dock and then disassembled for scrap in Texas. Both ships were originally made in the WWII shipbuilding yards in nearby Richmond. For now, the fate of the rest of the fleet is unknown.