Google has so many toys and gizmos that it is easy to get lost playing with all the different toys. [Google Maps] has satellite images of most of the US. While the resolution isn’t so great that most folks can pick out their house, larger landmarks how up pretty well.
One thing that shows up really well is the Ghost Fleet in the James River in Virginia. The Ghost Fleet is a group of decomissioned ships that are supposed to be a reserve fleet for the United States in a time of emergency. The ships are tied to each other in such a fashion that it is possible to walk from one ship onto the deck of another. The ships are leaking, rusting hulks. The danger is that the ships are full of toxic materials and old fuel. A hurricane or other disaster could easily tear the ships asunder and ruin the already fragile ecology of the James.
There has been an effort to get these ships removed and disassembled for scrap which has faced various roadblocks. That story in itself is interesting, as is the somehow romantic sounding term for dismantling a ship: shipbreaking. At least one ship was stripped down, taken to Florida and sunk to become the backbone of an artifical reef.
Google maps has a great satellite view of the Ghost Fleet of Virginia: [Google Maps Satellite view]
Virginia isn’t the only home to Ghost Fleets. There is at least one more- this one is in in Beaumont, Texas:[Beaumont Texas Ghost Fleet]
Where do you find the time? That is actually pretty cool. I believe they’re having great success all over the world sinking old ships to make artificial reefs. I wonder if there is a career for me in shipbreaking. It sounds kind of fun, and I bet it would get me in shape.