Decommission Warships

[dragoon500ly]

Source is the US Navy Historical Center

To decommission a ship is to terminate its career in service in the armed forces of a nation. Unlike wartime ship losses, in which a vessel lost to enemy action is said to be struck, decommissioning confers that the ship has reached the end of its usable life and is being retired from a country's navy. Depending on the naval traditions of the country, a ceremony commemorating the decommissioning of the ship may take place, or the vessel may be removed administratively with minimal fanfare. The term "paid off" is alternatively used in British and Commonwealth contexts, originating in the age-of-sail practice of ending an officer's commission and paying crew wages once the ship completed its voyage.

Ship decommissioning usually occurs some years after the ship was commissioned and is intended to serve as a means by which a vessel that has become too old or obsolete can be retired with honor from the country's armed forces. Decommissioning of the vessel may also occur due to treaty agreements (such as the Washington Naval Treaty) or for safety reasons (such as a ship's nuclear reactor and associated parts reaching the end of their service life), depending on the type of ship being decommissioned. In a limited number of cases a ship may be decommissioned if the vessel in question is judged to be damaged beyond economical repair, as was the case with USS Hugh W. Hadley, or USS Halibut. In rare cases, a navy or its associated country may recommission or leave a ship that is old or obsolete in commission with the regular force rather than decommissioning the vessel in question due to the historical significance or public sentiment for the ship in question. This is the case with the ships USS Constitution and HMS Victory. Vessels preserved in this manner typically do not relinquish their names to other, more modern ships that may be in the design, planning, or construction phase of the parent nation's navy.

Prior to its formal decommissioning, the ship in question will begin the process of decommissioning by going through a preliminary step called inactivation or deactivation. During this phase, a ship will report to a naval facility owned by the country to permit the ship's crew to offload, remove, and dismantle the ship's weapons, ammunition, electronics, and other material that is judged to be of further use to the nation. The removed material from a ship usually ends up either rotating to another ship in the class with similar weapons and/or capabilities, or in storage pending a decision on equipment's fate. During this time a ship's crew may be thinned out via transfers and reassignments as the ongoing removal of equipment renders certain personnel (such as missile technicians or gun crews) unable to perform their duties on the ship in question. Certain aspects of a ship's deactivation – such as the removal or deactivation of a ship's nuclear weapons capabilities – may be governed by international treaties, which can result in the presence of foreign officials authorized to inspect the weapon or weapon system to ensure compliance with treaties. Other aspects of a ship's decommissioning, such as the reprocessing of nuclear fuel from a ship utilizing a nuclear reactor or the removal of hazardous materials from a ship, are handled by the government according to the nation's domestic policies. When a ship finishes its inactivation, it is then formally decommissioned, after which the ship is usually towed to a storage facility.

In addition to the economic advantages of retiring a ship that has grown maintenance intensive or obsolete, the decommissioning frees up the name used by the ship, allowing vessels currently in the planning or building stages to inherit the name of that warship. Often, but not always, ships that are decommissioned spend the next few years in a reserve fleet before their ultimate fate is decided.

So, in real life, the Decatur-class John Paul Jones. DDG-32, was laid down 18 January 1954 and commissioned 5 April 1956 as a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer (Hull number DD-932 second of this class) she was refitted (20 December 1965---15 March 1967 )and reclassified as a DDG 15 March 1967. She was decommissioned, 15 December 1982 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 November 1985. According to the NVR, she was beyond economical repair. John Paul Jones was sunk as a target 31 January 2001.

To answer your question, John Paul Jones would have been stripped of any usable weapons, sonar and electronic systems, and then stripped for parts for use by any other ships of her class that were still in fleet use. While in this status, her name would have been released for use on another ship.

[shrike6]

So to get back to my original question ....

I have a question for the Naval experts out there and admit I'm a bit curious on this. Since its successor ship the USS John Paul Jones, Arleigh Burke class was commissioned in 1993, would the Decatur class ship still be called the John Paul Jones or would they have to rename it something else on recommissioning?

When DDG-53 came on line in 1993. It took sole possesion of the name and DD-932/DDG-32 would have to be renamed if reactivated. This would also apply to CL-91/CLG-5/CG-5 USS Oklahoma City since SSN-723 is already in possesion of the name. Is that correct? This is of course assuming they were in condition to be reactivated.

[shrike6]

Nevermind found the answer after deep diviing. Essential what you said. Thanks Dragoon!

Source:https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-...ip-naming.html

On 3 March 1819, an act of Congress formally placed the responsibility for assigning names to the Navy’s ships in the hands of the Secretary of the Navy, a prerogative which he still exercises. This act stated that “all of the ships, of the Navy of the United States, now building, or hereafter to be built, shall be named by the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of the President of the United States, according to the following rule, to wit: those of the first class shall be called after the States of this Union; those of the second class after the rivers; and those of the third class after the principal cities and towns; taking care that no two vessels of the navy shall bear the same name.” The last-cited provision remains in the United States Code today.

An act of 12 June 1858 specifically included the word “steamship” in the ship type nomenclature, and officially defined the “classes” of ships in terms of the number of their guns. Ships armed with 40 guns or more were of the “first class”; those carrying fewer than 40, but more than 20, guns were of the “second class.” The name source for the second class was expanded to include the principal towns as well as rivers. The unprecedented expansion of the fleet during the Civil War was reflected ─ as far as ship naming was concerned ─ in an act of 5 August 1861, which authorized the Secretary of the Navy “to change the names of any vessels purchased for use of the Navy Department...” This provision also remains in current law.

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by shrike6

Nevermind found the answer after deep diviing. Essential what you said. Thanks Dragoon!

Source:https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-...ip-naming.html

Of note is that this happened to USS Constitution. From December 1917 to 4 July 1925, she was USS Old Constitution to free the name up for a planned Lexington-class battlecruiser. When the Washington Treaty came around and the Lexis were cancelled except for the two converted to carriers, the sailing ship got her original name back.