What is "mothballing"

Usage examples of "mothballing".

Indeed, some defense savings had been effected by demobilizing units and mothballing ships and planes.

Remember, their Eighth Fleet was the only real spearhead they had, and now that they've deactivated it and reassigned its wall to Third Fleet—not to mention scrapping and mothballing their pre-pod wall of battle so enthusiastically—their “spearhead” is a lot shorter than it was.

With the mothballing of so many of their wormhole junction forts, they're going to be in an even worse position to reduce Home Fleet's strength, anyway.

Remember, their Eighth Fleet was the only real spearhead they had, and now that they've deactivated it and reassigned its wall to Third Fleet—not to mention scrapping and mothballing their pre-pod wall of battle so enthusiastically—their "spearhead" is a lot shorter than it was.

One theory is that some Frontier Fleet admiral decided to provide for her retirement by putting some of her ships up for sale rather than mothballing them.

To the surprise of the American negotiators, the Russians agreed to a reduction in America's armed forces by one-third and the retirement and mothballing, rather than outright destruction, of the long list of American war machines.

That's the kind you want when you need knowledgeable scientists to oversee simply mothballing a program.