Final Fate

Mare Island

Byron Goodwin brought these pictures to the Stoddard 2000 Reunion in Jacksonville, Florida.

Target ships Southerland and Stoddard			Stripped of everything
Stoddard at Mare Island			Rust taking its toil

We received an Email from Michael Donegan,
Naval & Aviation Artist in May 2000. He writes:

I have a couple of pictures of the USS STODDARD that I took at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in about 1994 when she was a test ship/target. I can scan them and send them to you if you like and you may use then on your site if you wish.

I was visiting a niece over at Mare Island Naval shipyard and two old rusty ships happen to catch my eye. One I could identify as the USS SOUTHERLAND as you could still read it on her stern. The other one took longer and I had to go thru Navy channels in order to find out what ship it was. It turned out to be the USS STODDARD. By that time she was in pretty bad shape as the photos will show. She also had what appeared to be a giant outboard motor on the stern - I guess that was her means of propulsion. I would guess that it was radio controlled.

This video is provided by John Bowman (51-54.) John and his wife Fran arranged for a tour or the shipyard with special interest to see the former Stoddard. Enjoy their video of several old destroyers including the Stoddard. See video here.