That's certainly possible- likely, even. I was just thinking that maybe the US Navy Department would rather Spain continue to foot the bill for operating a aging, obsolescent carrier instead of getting stuck with her on its own balance sheet.

BTW, I'm sorry I didn't mention it earlier, but thanks for posting that pic of an improvised helicopter carrier based on a civilian merchant vessel. A few years ago, someone shared an article here that they wrote about converting container ships into convoy escort ASW carriers. I remember that I thought it was really well-done, but I can't remember who wrote it. Chico, maybe?

Anyone remember that?

EDIT: Here are some more threads relevant to this topic:

Recommissioned US Navy Ships
https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread....container+ship

Aircraft Carrier Question
https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread....container+ship

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Ah yes, The HMS Atlantic Conveyor and HMS Atlantic Causeway of the Falkland Islands campaign!

Since the mothballed vessels of US naval ships came up, here is a list of "Historical Fleet Lists Since July 1990" of the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD). Please note, these are not warships, but merchant vessels:

https://www.maritime.dot.gov/data-re...orts-july-1990

No, it actually the Athena Research Vessel from Kong: Skull Island

https://zacharyberger.artstation.com/projects/wKKRZ

Has stated above "MARAD directly "the National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises."

While US Navy counterpart "A Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) is a facility owned by the United States Navy as a holding facility for decommissioned naval vessels, pending determination of their final fate.

to quote NavSource.org

Stricken from the Spanish Navy List, 5 Aug 1989, at New Orleans, and donated to a private organization for preservation as a museum ship. Plans to memorialize her, however, met with no success in subsequent years; she was sold for scrapping in 1997 and towed to Port Isabel, TX on 18 Oct, then to Brownsville on 9 Aug 1998.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/28.htm

Haze Gray & Underway

"Following many years of service as an ASW and VSTOL carrier, Dedalo returned to the US and was decommissioned at New Orleans 5 August 1989. Her ownership was transferred to the Cabot/Dedalo Association, and she was to be preserved as a museum. Sadly the Association wasted the funds it had raised for the preservation project, and the fate of this historic ship was soon in doubt. Despite being in excellent condition, and retaining many WWII-era features such as her original 40 mm AA guns, the last surviving light carrier of WWII sat at a pier in New Orleans for many years as the Association made no real attempt to preserve the ship.

In 1995, citing financial pressures, the Association attempted to sell the ship to foreign shipbreakers, but the sale was thwarted by preservation and environmental concerns. Despite preservation efforts by outside parties, the Association seemed interested only in scrapping the ship, and she was towed to Port Isabel, TX on 18 October 1997 for that purpose. Cabot was moved into Global Marine's shipbreaking berth at Brownsville, TX, on 9 August 1998. At some point, the ship had been transferred into Global Marine's possession, although legal title to the ship remained a contested issue.

Outside groups continued their efforts to block the sale or scrapping of the ship, and their legal efforts had temporary success. On 26 April 1999 Cabot was "arrested" by the US Marshals Service, and a court-ordered auction was scheduled. It was hoped that this auction would give preservation groups a final, honest chance to obtain clear title to the ship, with the proceeds of the auction going to pay off the numerous liens against the ship. The auction took place on 9 September 1999, and the ship was sold to Sabe Marine Salvage for $185,000. Sabe Marine Salvage apparently was another of the "paper" companies that had claimed ownership of the ship in recent years; all the companies were apparently owned by a common owner or owners. Although there were several additional efforts to save the ship, and the scrapping was postponed for many months, stripping work started during October 2000."

http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/cabot/#neworl

The Navy had some 16-inch ammo to stock the Missouri when it went to Desert Storm, despite the ship having been mothballed quite a while earlier -- but that's all there was.

Other Aircraft Carriers
 

Essex Class

USS Yorktown (CV-10) - Museum Ship Mount Pleasant, SC
USS Intrepid (CV-11) - Museum Ship New York City, NY
USS Hornet (CV-12) - Museum Ship, Alameda Ca
USS Lexington (CV-16) - Museum Ship, Corpus Christi Tx
USS Bennington (CV-20) - Hulk only Port Angeles, Wa
USS Oriskany (CV-34) - Hulk only Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo Ca

Forrestal Class

USS Forrestal (CV-59) - In Storage at Naval Station Newport, Newport, RI
USS Saratoga (CV-60) - In Storage at Naval Station Newport, Newport, RI
USS Ranger (CV-61) - In Storage at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton WA

Independence Class

USS Cabot (CVL-28) - Decommissioned for preservation at New Orleans

Midway Class

USS Midway (CV-41) - In Storage at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton WA
USS Coral Sea (CV-43) - In Storage at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Philadelphia PA

Interesting although you can make the case that all the Forrestals were active still. Ranger was scheduled for a SLEP in the early 90s which got cancelled. Forrestal was scheduled to be a dedicated training before the 90s defense cuts.