[Legbreaker]

So if there's all these ships over on the US east coast and there's all this fuel just laying about, why isn't it being used already?
As previously stated, common sense dictates that only ships in the Baltic/North Sea region would have been available for the evacuation, and even then, bringing some of them in would have been a major undertaking - laid up for the last couple of years without fuel, maintenance, or crew.

The vast majority of shipping used post 1997 would be either wind powered, or small and relatively efficient fuel burners in comparison to larger vessels capable of an Atlantic crossing. Maintenance on these larger vessels would have been virtually non-existant - why would you bother if the crews are better used on smaller fishing boats or coastal cargo haulers. These large and essentially useless vessels simply don't warrant any expenditure of valuable and scarce resources to keep them seaworthy.

My guess is the larger ships would be tied up to the dock where their fuel ran out, or towed out of the way and anchored. With storms, nukes, stray torpedoes, mines and all the other dangers, it isn't likely many would be left in sailing condition.