USS Recruit Or USS Never Sail In San Diego Area Editorial Image

The mock Navy vessel, USS Recruit, or the USS Never Sail, is located at Liberty Station, formerly known as the Naval Training Center in Point Loma near San Diego. Constructed in 1949 of wood with a sheet metal overlay, the ship was never intended to go to sea. It was one of three similar instructional vessels built by the Navy, servicing 50,000 recruits a year in its heyday. It is the only one still standing. It started as a two-thirds-scale model of a destroyer escort and later was converted to a guided missile frigate. It is now a California historic landmark.