Beaumont Reserve Fleet

The Beaumont Reserve Fleet (BRF) is an anchorage of the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) located on the Neches River in Beaumont, Texas.  Originally one of eight NDRF fleet sites scattered across the country, BRF is currently one of three and the only the anchorage on the Gulf Coast.

The original course of the Neches River, which flows in a generally southeasterly direction toward Lake Sabine and the Gulf of Mexico, took several meandering bends just south of Beaumont, Texas.  In 1946, the government excavated the largest of these bends and straightened the river channel.  The result of the removal of nearly 24 million cubic yards of spoils, the McFadden Bend Cutoff is home to the BRF.  The fleet accepted its first vessels in 1948.

In addition to the Ready Reserve Force (RRF), the NDRF consists of a variety of obsolete commercial vessels awaiting disposal.  The NDRF also hosts many decommissioned U.S. Navy auxiliary vessels.  These vessels arrive at the fleet at the end of their military usefulness, and are typically transferred by the U.S. Navy to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for disposal.

BRF currently hosts non-retention, retention, and reimbursable custody vessels.  Non-retention vessels are those that MARAD has deemed to no longer be militarily useful.  Retention vessels are maintained for logistics support, training use, or long term activation.  Reimbursable custody vessels are non-NDRF government vessels (such as those owned by the U.S. Amy, Navy, Coast Guard, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) that are stored at each fleet site in exchange for a maintenance fee.