article_snippet.sent: the NDRF was set up in the wake of the Second World War, and at the NDRF peak in the 1950s, The United States' National Defense Reserve Fleet consisted of nearly 2,280 ships moored across The United States'.
article_snippet.sent: A number of the remaining ships in The United States' National Defense Reserve Fleet lay moored in James River, Virginia .
article_snippet.sent: Helping hand: The United States' National Defense Reserve Fleet was set up after the Second World War in 1945, in order to provide back-up in case of war or national emergencies .
article_snippet.sent: At its height in 1950, the NDRF consisted of 2,277 ships at eight anchorage sites: James River, Virginia; Beaumont, Texas; Suisun Bay, California; Stony Point, New York; Wilmington, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; Astoria, Oregon; and Olympia, Washington.
article_snippet.sent: The NDRF was established to serve as a reserve of mainly merchant vessels to be activated for national defense and national emergency purposes.
article_snippet.sent: mainly merchant vessels can be activated within 20 days to four months, in order to provide shipping during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.
article_snippet.sent: Throughout The NDRF first thirty years, mainly merchant vessels were activated to help transporting coal and grains in times of shortage, and ships were brought in during the Korean War, the 1961 Berlin crisis and the Vietnam War.
article_snippet.sent: After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the National Defense Reserve Fleet was augmented by the Ready Reserve Fleet (RFF) to provide for military emergencies.
article_snippet.sent: Since then, ships have been activated to support U.S. troops and transport cargo in the Gulf War in 1990 and aided in several humanitarian disasters in the new millennium.
article_snippet.sent: In 2005, four National Defense Reserve Fleet ships were used for relief operations in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and five years later, six were used in the wake of the devastating earthquake  in Haiti.
article_snippet.sent: Its most recent operation took place in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when two National Defense Reserve Fleet training vessels were called in.
highlights_snippet.sent: The United States' National Defense Reserve Fleet was set up after the Second World War in 1945 .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: The United States' National Defense Reserve Fleet can be activated within one to four months to aid in national defense and emergencies .
  