The James River "Ghost Fleet" is slowly disappearing.  For over seventy years the James River has been home to a fleet of retired naval ships for years known as the Ghost Fleet. The ships were anchored directly across from the Kingsmill subdivision. My husband and I used to take our boat down there to fish as we heard that it was a great spot for fishing. It was always a sad and spooky sight to see all of the ships which were once in their glory, now sitting abandoned.

The James River "Ghost Fleet" was originally part of the the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) to be used in case of national emergency.  In the post-WWII era, there were hundreds of ships.

Because of environmental concerns, most of the ships from the James River "Ghost Fleet" have either been sold as scrap metal or recycled since 2001.  The fleet has dwindled from over 120 to 31 since 2001.  See inventory  for a detailed list of the remaining ships at the James River Reserve Facility.

Two more of the remaining 31 ships are being recycled.  

If you want to see the Ghost Fleet, you should probably plan to do that withing the next couple of years or it may be totally gone.