Former Site of the Wilmington Reserve Fleet

 place with historical importance, historical layer / disappeared object, United States Navy

Following the Second World War the US Navy & US Martime Administration were faced with a substantial surplus of government-owned cargo ships built during the war and a lack of places to store them after they were deactivated. Starting in 1946 the State of North Carolina and the US Navy began to dredge out and prepare the coastlines of the Brunswick River to serve as the location for a reserve or 'mothball' fleet of cargo ships.

Accepting its first deliveries in Autumn 1946 the Wilimington Reserve Fleet eventually became home to over 300 Victory and Liberty ships, many of which were built across the river at the Wilmington Shipyard. When the US Navy consolidated its East Coast Reserve Fleets to Fort Eustis Virginia and Beaumont Texas in the 1960s & 1970s, the ships of the Wilmington Reserve fleet were steadily removed to their new homes, scrapped or used as targets. The Wilmington Reserve Fleet ceased operations in 1962.

Today one can still see the notches cut into Eagle Island for the ships bows to rest on as they sat anchored to pilings driven into the mud.