Mayport to get nuclear carrier

[reednavy]

That sucks that most of the airwing will be stationed in Virginia. I don't understand why we can't station them here. Do we not have the facilities?

We don't have enough facilities at NAS JAX, and NS Mayport is only used for Helicopter training, besides ships. Oceana is a Master Jet Base, NAS JAX is a Master P3 base.

[thelakelander]

That sucks that most of the airwing will be stationed in Virginia. I don't understand why we can't station them here. Do we not have the facilities?

We voted to not allow the Navy to come back to Cecil with those 30,000 jobs about two years ago.  At the time, city leadership and a majority of the public thought we would be better off long term turning Cecil into an industrial park, manufacturing center and tract housing.

[thelakelander]

Our ship has come in



The decision to base a carrier at Mayport comes eight months after the Navy unveiled a draft environmental impact statement that laid out 13 possibilities for the future of the naval station, ranging from doing nothing to moving eight ships and 7,158 personnel there.

The carrier-only option means that personnel levels likely will still fall from 2006, the last full year the Kennedy was based at Mayport, when about 13,280 people worked at the base. The drop will come because the Navy plans on phasing out 10 of the 13 frigates at the base, cutting 2,150 jobs.

Minus those ships but including the carrier, Mayport will have just over 12,000 personnel on base, including 3,190 who come with the carrier, compared with the 10,000 or so there now. That growth is expected to impact area businesses and schools that have languished as the base's population plummeted.

The decision doesn't mean other ships won't eventually come, said Dan McCarthy, chief of the city's military affairs office.

"I don't think that means we're not getting an amphibious ship," McCarthy said. "As we expand and build and increase the value of the fleet at Mayport, we'll see other ships."

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111808/met_357118007.shtml

[blizz01]

Doesn't a typical carrier come with supplementary ships (i.e. a Battle or Strike group/escorts) - or is that already in place?

[reednavy]

We are in the running for the new H.W. Bush carrier. This ship has yet to have it's stike groups and such assigned to it.

[civil42806]

If I remember correctly, not that many of the carrier-based aircraft were land-based at Mayport NS.  Most were at Cecil, some at NAS-JAX, and at other bases along the east coast.  Hopefully, someone with more knowledge here will chime in.

This is from many years ago when I was a military advisor, back in the 90's but the helicopters came out of Mayport, the f-14 squadrons out of Norfolk, the f/a-18 and A-7's out ot Cecil,   A-6 and EA-6b squadrons came from oceana as well I believe. I think the E-2c and c-2 are out of oceana as well, but someone could correct me on that.  The S-3's were out of Cecil and later jax, but believe those have all been decommissioned.

[blizz01]

This ship has yet to have it's strike groups and such assigned to it

But what's typical(?) - would the expectation be that those ships (destroyers, cruisers, etc.) would call Mayport home as well?  When the JFK, Saratoga, & Forrestal left, did other battle group ships redeploy to other bases or, were they ever here to begin with?

- Just want more boats, man........  (Greedy)

[BridgeTroll]

If I remember correctly, not that many of the carrier-based aircraft were land-based at Mayport NS.  Most were at Cecil, some at NAS-JAX, and at other bases along the east coast.  Hopefully, someone with more knowledge here will chime in.

This is from many years ago when I was a military advisor, back in the 90's but the helicopters came out of Mayport, the f-14 squadrons out of Norfolk, the f/a-18 and A-7's out ot Cecil,   A-6 and EA-6b squadrons came from oceana as well I believe. I think the E-2c and c-2 are out of oceana as well, but someone could correct me on that.  The S-3's were out of Cecil and later jax, but believe those have all been decommissioned.

A modern U.S. Navy carrier air wing consists of:

Three Strike Fighter Squadrons (VFA) of F/A-18 Hornets
One additional Marine Fighter Attack Squadron of F/A-18 Hornets provided by the U.S. Marine Corps (VMFA)
One Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) of EA-6B Prowlers
One Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) of E-2C Hawkeyes
A detachment from a Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) of C-2 Greyhounds
One Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) of SH-60F & HH-60H Seahawks.

[reednavy]

As to the security of the Navy bases currently here:

This city can know, w/o any doubt, NAS JAX and NS Mayport are here to stay, to at least 2020. With the movement of all East Coast P3 squadrons to NAS(from Brunswick, ME), and the replacement with the P8 Poseidon around 2012 to 2015 timeframe, NAS JAX is secure and will stay. Although, Cecil Field originally was supposed to stay, and NAS JAX to go, but last few months decisions changed it. Now, the BRAC realizes it was a costly mistake.

NS Mayport is secure, even before this carrier announcement. With the reactivation of the 4th Fleet and bringing more boats in from Norfolk, the base is here to at least 2020 as well. The Navy knows it needs to spread out its boats from Norfolk. We learned from pearl Harbor, and right now, Norfolk NS is today's Pearl Harbor. They will spread ships around, and Mayport is quite likely to land the H.W. Bush. If not the Bush, then the currently approved Gerald R. Ford likely will call Mayport home.

The Navy is the most solid foundation this region has, and will be for many, many years to come.

[Ocklawaha]

This is much bigger then the Navy people are letting on. Frankly, I think we are being sent to our room for dumping the return to Cecil Field. Somebody PLEASE tell them that Lee Field in Green Cove Springs
will make a better "New Jet Base" anyway. FYI, Whitehouse field already has a runway as long as Cecils.

The fourth fleet without a carrier is dead. The carrier without the fleet is also dead. So you can bet your last buck it's coming. That carrier isn't coming alone either. They'll be a DD of FFG off the Port and Starboard as well as picket craft - which could be as large as light cruisers CL, or destroyers DD, or Fast Frigates FFG. A fed mles North and South of the ship. ... and... that's just the ones you will be able to see.

As an old Swab, and a son of a son of a sailor, I've got some idea opn how this will come about. When the new fleet goes to play in Southern waters, Brazil will be there with the Light Attack Carriers Sao Paulo A-11, or Minas Gerais A-12 surrounded by the firepower of 5 or 6 major warships. When our own USS Washington, comes in from the Caribe, she will be safely tucked into the arms of the Armada Republica Colombia or the ARC, as the photos shows...


Even at worst, we can look for many more major war ships to call this home port, as well as endless air port and facilities to handle aircraft... Don't be shocked WHITEHOUSE residents when that base springs back to round the clock use, nor should Green Cove Springs (NAS LEE FIELD) or Camp Blanding.. This amazing new thought is just boiling to the surface, it seems that back in 41 the Japanese managed to sink 1/2 of our navy sitting at Pearl Harbour, without much of a fight. Now they are thinking of drawing down Norfolk, and San Diego.

With the new USMC depot here, expect to see the little assualt carriers make a showing too. In fact having a couple in the fleet would be something of a comfort. Maybe in the future we'll have 3 carriers for the price of one!

Take it from a swab, a REAL son of a son of a son of a sailor.

[civil42806]

If I remember correctly, not that many of the carrier-based aircraft were land-based at Mayport NS.  Most were at Cecil, some at NAS-JAX, and at other bases along the east coast.  Hopefully, someone with more knowledge here will chime in.

This is from many years ago when I was a military advisor, back in the 90's but the helicopters came out of Mayport, the f-14 squadrons out of Norfolk, the f/a-18 and A-7's out ot Cecil,   A-6 and EA-6b squadrons came from oceana as well I believe. I think the E-2c and c-2 are out of oceana as well, but someone could correct me on that.  The S-3's were out of Cecil and later jax, but believe those have all been decommissioned.

A modern U.S. Navy carrier air wing consists of:

Three Strike Fighter Squadrons (VFA) of F/A-18 Hornets
One additional Marine Fighter Attack Squadron of F/A-18 Hornets provided by the U.S. Marine Corps (VMFA)
One Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) of EA-6B Prowlers
One Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) of E-2C Hawkeyes
A detachment from a Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) of C-2 Greyhounds
One Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) of SH-60F & HH-60H Seahawks.

Thanks for the update!

[MattnJax]

That sucks that most of the airwing will be stationed in Virginia. I don't understand why we can't station them here. Do we not have the facilities?

We don't have enough facilities at NAS JAX, and NS Mayport is only used for Helicopter training, besides ships. Oceana is a Master Jet Base, NAS JAX is a Master P3 base.

Thanks for the answer. So was Cecil Field a master jet base before it's closure? and if it was, are there no other Master jet bases in Florida because Oceana seems so far away to keep an entire aircraft carrier airwing.

[MattnJax]

That sucks that most of the airwing will be stationed in Virginia. I don't understand why we can't station them here. Do we not have the facilities?

We voted to not allow the Navy to come back to Cecil with those 30,000 jobs about two years ago.  At the time, city leadership and a majority of the public thought we would be better off long term turning Cecil into an industrial park, manufacturing center and tract housing.

For the record, I was in favor of the Navy returning to Cecil. But I did have mixed emotions, as I think a lot of people had, because of the enormous potential for the Commerce Center. But now that the ecomony has taken a really bad downturn, it's looking like we made the wrong decision.

[thelakelander]

Cecil was the master jet base and the Navy looked at bringing the jets back during the last round of the BRAC.  We had massive debates here during that period.  Imo, it was always a stretch to claim the city would have the ability to see more economic success at some point in the distance future than opening the master jet base back up.  Our leaders can't even get a courthouse out of the ground or Friendship Fountain fixed.  Its all done now and we must move on but sometimes I sit back and think about how different our local economy would be if we had an influx of 30,000 new residents.

[MattnJax]

Cecil was the master jet base and the Navy looked at bringing the jets back during the last round of the BRAC.  We had massive debates here during that period.  Imo, it was always a stretch to claim the city would have the ability to see more economic success at some point in the distance future than opening the master jet base back up.  Our leaders can't even get a courthouse out of the ground or Friendship Fountain fixed.  Its all done now and we must move on but sometimes I sit back and think about how different our local economy would be if we had an influx of 30,000 new residents.

Thanks for the response. I really don't understand what our city leaders are thinking most of the time. I really wish they were more driven. There's so much possibility in this city, but sometimes I feel the city leadership doesn't see it. With the only exception being the port, which has grown tremendesly since Peyton took office.