Post DeComm - Power Barge
The Hoel was decommissioned on 1 Oct 1990.
Within a few weeks, late Oct or early Nov 1990, the bridge was boarded up and sitting on a lonely pier in San Diego.
Photo taken by John Helsley, BM3, 69-73
I heard about the Hoel's whereabouts from another SoCal shipmate that lived near me, that had gone to San Diego the week before I did.
I hadn't been on the Hoel for almost 18 years at the time, but I had to go, to wish the old girl one last goodbye.
So I headed to San Diego with my family to see if I could also get one last glimpse.
I also wanted my family to actually see the ship I spent 4 years of my life on, and not just remember it through a picture.
There were two sailors from the base sitting on the Quarterdeck, bored as hell.
Even though I'm sure they weren't supposed to, they let me take my family through the interior, from aft to forward. Probably too lazy to escort us.
The ship was completely dark, every bit of it. I had to turn on the lights in the main passageway as we went.
Ha, I can't remember if I turned the lights back off.
For all I know, I was the last Hoel shipmate to walk those hallowed passageways.
John Helsley, BM3, 69-73
By June 1st of 1991, the Hoel, along with 3 other decommissioned DDGs, had been towed to Hawaii, and placed in "Middle Loch", where they put retired ships, nicknamed the "Ghost Fleet".
This location is known as one of the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facilities
Their fates could possibly be different things including scrapping, sunk as an artificial reef, or used for target practice and sunk.
The ships are, from left to right:
HOEL (DDG-13), JOSEPH STRAUSS (DDG-16), HENRY B. WILSON (DDG-7), COCHRANE (DDG-21)
On 20 Nov 1992 the Hoel was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
Ex-HOEL was the first of several stricken Adams Class DDG’s which were planned to be converted into floating electrical platforms,
using the existing engineering plant(s).
It was purchased On June 20, 1994 at a cost of $46,476.13 by the Florida Crushed Stone Company in Leesburg, Florida (which is
also tied to Consolidated Minerals, Inc).
The actual conversion took place in Charleston, SC by Charleston Shipbuilders Inc.
June 1996 - Pier 50S San Francisco
An ad was placed in the Charleston Shipbuilders Newspaper.
After the work was done...
In the fall of 1997, or early 1998 the Hoel was towed to Manaus Brazil (via the Amazon River).
Article in USS BERKELEY (DDG-15) Assoc Newsletter, Dec 1998 < Click on this line to read article >
The first and only actual photos of the Hoel in Manaus I could find was from July 1999.
In May of 2017, I (John Helsley) started a Facebook conversation with Walter Warren.
He was a startup engineer on the Hoel power project in Brazil.
These are some of his comments during that exchange... <click here>
The first satellite photos of the Hoel in Manaus, Brazil were captured on 3/14/2001, and the last on 7/2/2007.
Sometime after 2005/June, the project was declared failed, and the power plant removal began. You'll see the difference between the 2005 and 2006 satellite images.
The city of Manaus, Brazil had rapidly expanded since it was declared a tax-free zone by the Brazilian government in 1967. Eletronorte, the local power utility service, had been unable to keep up with the increasing demand and Manaus experienced frequent blackouts. In 1997, CSI negotiated a thirty million dollar contract to supply power to Manaus.
The ex-Hoel was chosen as the ship to be used. However, the plans of both companies were too optimistic. Eletronorte announced that ex-Hoel would be delivering power within only a few days of its arrival in Manaus. CSI had failed to test the ship's equipment fully before departing for Brazil and failed to appreciate how many repairs the ship's 38-year-old power plant might require. The ship ended up needing weeks of work after its arrival in Brazil before it could begin generating power and numerous repairs after that. Repairs were much more difficult to accomplish in Brazil because the parts and technicians now had to be brought in from CSI's headquarters back in the United States. Meanwhile, many people in Manaus had become angry over the failed power delivery and there were violent protests. The ex-Hoel was never able to generate more than a quarter of the electricity that had been promised and that only periodically. After a year of failed attempts, Eletronorte cancelled its contract with CSI.
The Hoel's power barge mission never provided the anticipated power output due to an aging power plant.
Because of its location, it was too expensive to maintain.
From all available information and assumptions, the Hoel was scrapped somewhere in/near Manaus.