[dragoon500ly]

Going into the 1995 start date...

There are 5 Essex-class carriers: AVT-61 Lexington was the Navy's training carrier (no armament and only air search and nav radars); CVA-31 Bon Homme Richard (4 5-inch/38 single mounts and air, surface and nav radars); CV-34 Oriskany (1 5-inch/38 single mount and air, surface and nav radars); CVS-12 Hornet (3 5-inch/38 singles) and CVS-20 Bennington (4 5-inch/38 singles), the CVS have full radar suites. With the exception of Lexington, the remaining Essex-class carriers can best be described as being in very poor material condition, it would actually be cheaper to build new ships than attempt to modernize these ships. And don't forget, during this time, they were too small to operate modern jet aircraft, they mostly likely could have carried a AV-8B/SH-60F air group, but where would the spare aircraft come from?

There are actually three Des Moines class heavy cruisers: CA-148 Newport News, CA-134 Des Moines and CA-139 Salem, the Newport News suffered a turret explosion in her number 2 turret during the Vietnam War. While the most modern of the three ships, the Newport News, it is doubtful that she would be recommissioned. So she would most likely be used as spare parts for her two sisters.

There are actually two classes of Forrest Sherman destroyers. The ones most likely to be recommissioned are the ASW or "Davis" Class, these six ships gave up the w-inch mounts and one of the 5-inch mounts in order to mount a Mark 16 ASROC launcher. The remaining five ships gave up their 3-inch mounts and were refited with Mark 32 ASW torpedo tubes. Of the remaining three ships; DD-933 Barry is a hulk at the Washington Navy Yard and is used in official ceremonies. DD-938 Jonas Ingram was stripped of weapons and electronics and is a test hulk at the Philadelphia Naval Yard; the last, DD-945 Hull was stricken and was being scrapped.

The FRAM conversion destroyers were all stricken or transferred to other navies, its doubtful that they would have been recommissioned, again due to poor material condition.

Of the Brooke and Garcia-class figs, its more likely that the Brookes would have been recommissioned, due to their SAM launcher. And certainly the Knox-class would have been kept in service. As for the Garcias...they could have been reactivated, but the Knox-class was a better all around platform.

Of the 17 Asheville-class patrol gunboats, 1 was discarded in 1984, 3 were stricken in 1977, 2 went to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1976/78, 2 went to the EPA in 1977/78, and 5 were transferred to Columbia, Turkey and South Korea in 1971/2 in 1973 and 2 in 1983. Based on the timeline, they just wouldn't have been available for recommissing. According to the Naval Institute Guide to the USN, these ships were transferred as part of the Military Assistance Program, not leased, the USN couldn't recall them.

Entering into the Twilight War, the USN still had 3 PB Mark IV, 17 PB Mk III, 2 PB Mk I in service, as well as 30 PBR Mk2 (Vietnam-era Swift boats) and 22 armored troop carriers (Vietnam-era riverine craft).

The 6 "Terrebonne Parish" LSTs are survivors of a class built during the Korean War. They are all in the Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet along with the 3 "De Soto County" class. These ships haven't seen service since 1972. Like the rest of the Suisun Bay ships, their material condition is "very poor".

Going into the 1990s, the only GUPPY-class sub still in service was SS-576 Darter, she was also the last US sub to use the old Mark37 torpedoes (the GUPPYs cannot use the Mk48 ADCAPS without extensive modification). The other two, SS-565 Wahoo is partially stripped and is a hulk and SS-566 Trout is in mothballs, both at the Philadelphia Naval Yard.

Hope this helps!