Will Mayport's Missing Aircraft Carrier Show Up on Schedule?

[Coolyfett]

THE bush that was in Jax is the daddy bush...not W. The Bush that came after Reagan..I think there will be 2 Bush Carriers...I may be wrong. Hope Jax get USS Ford.

[reednavy]

No GWB has been considered right now, and likely will not for many, many years.

[blizz01]

Yeah - Dubya's not getting a boat.  I would expect to see John McCain (III) considered in the near future, however.  I didn't reealize that there's a Destroyer already named for his father (& grandfather).  The  USS Gerald Ford is the only named carrier on the docket for now:
Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), (2015)
CVN-79, unnamed (2018)
CVN-80, unnamed (2021)

[stjr]

Pardon my ignorance, but how is it that the USS Bush is able to utilize Mayport in its current state, however, so much money is needed (i.e. dredging, etc.) over the next few years to accomodate?  

My recollection is that these carriers can currently come into port under the right tidal and load conditions.  A permanent carrier would need to be able to come and go at will and not be restricted to certain windows.  Thus, the dredging project.  Most of the base upgrade money, I believe, is for onshore support of the ship's nuclear reactors, again, something not needed for a temporary visit, but necessary for permanent home basing.

[Dog Walker]

Yes, the George H.W. Bush is the latest Nimitz class carrier.

[urbanlibertarian]

If we have to name stuff after politicians (and I think we shouldn't) shouldn't we wait until after they die?

[buckethead]

If we have to name stuff after politicians (and I think we shouldn't) shouldn't we wait until after they die?

I'd trade naming a ship the USS McCain in exchange for his retirement.

[urbanlibertarian]

Name it after Cindy McCain.  She's done more good for the USA than he has (since his military service ended, that is).
From wikipedia:
Cindy Lou Hensley McCain (born May 20, 1954) is an American businesswoman, and philanthropist, and the wife of United States Senator and 2000 and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona.

She was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona as the daughter of wealthy beer distributor Jim Hensley. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern California, she became a special education teacher. She married John McCain in 1980 and they had three children together as well as adopting another. From 1988 to 1995 she founded and ran a non-profit organization, the American Voluntary Medical Team, that organized trips by medical personnel to disaster-struck or war-torn third-world areas. During this time she became addicted to painkillers for several years and resorted to having a physician write illegal prescriptions; she reached an agreement with the government in which no charges were filed against her.

Upon her father's death in 2000, she inherited majority control and became chair of Hensley & Co., one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributors in the United States. She participated in both of her husband's presidential campaigns and in 2008 drew both positive and negative scrutiny for her appearance, demeanor, wealth, spending habits, and financial obligations. She continues to be an active philanthropist and serves on the boards of Operation Smile, CARE and HALO Trust, frequently making overseas trips in conjunction with their activities.

[Ocklawaha]

I don't know fella's, I still think The USS OCKLAWAHA just sounds sweet!


OCKLAWAHA

[Coolyfett]

If we have to name stuff after politicians (and I think we shouldn't) shouldn't we wait until after they die?

I can dig it!

[stjr]

Guess the proverbial "fat lady" hasn't sung yet on this issue.  By the way, the chart and map with this article show where all the improvements, dollars, and time are designated to go.

Jacksonville’s 'done deal’ on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier still a battle
A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is slated for Mayport … but Virginia isn’t giving up

   * By Timothy J. Gibbons
   * Story updated at 2:03 AM on Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010

(Link to article to enlarge this map and time/money chart:)


Three times now local politicians have hailed the Navy’s decision to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Mayport Naval Station as a “done deal.”

Nevertheless, recent rhetoric in Washington sounds like it’s from 18 months ago, the first time the Navy said Mayport would be nuclearized.

“This discussion is clearly not over,” U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said recently during a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing, his comments squashed between remarks from Florida’s two senators â€" both of whom begged to differ.

“At some point we ought to understand that the decision has been made, and it’s been made for the purposes of securing the national defense,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said during the committee meeting.

Later, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux noted that everyone who needed to had contributed to the decision. “The U.S. Navy views this as important to our national security,” he said. “Both the Bush and Obama administrations have weighed in with their full support.”

A few weeks ago, the Quadrennial Defense Review proffered what is supposed to be the final answer when it said a carrier would be based at Mayport.

Final answer or not, the discussion arguably won’t be over for years, until the naval station has taken several steps down the road toward having a carrier tied up pierside.

That may be a long road: According to internal budgeting documents, the Navy isn’t looking to spend the $150 million needed to start building the controlled industrial facility â€" a 31/2-year project â€" until 2015.

If the Navy waits to bring a ship to Mayport until all the work is done, as it as said it will, that means no carrier until 2018 or 2019.

The dates and exact figures in that planning document are subject to change, with movement within the five-year planning horizon not uncommon.

Whatever happens in those future years, it looks like the first steps may be taken in the coming fiscal year. Among the $56 million the Navy wants to use for planning and design in 2011, $2 million is slated for nailing down the details of nuclearizing Mayport.

“The planning and design are really like the foundation,” said U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., who serves on the military construction subcommittee that will have to authorize that money. “They want to figure out the cheapest and most effective way to get it done.”

As that planning plays out, Crenshaw said, the Navy will decide exactly when the rest of the spending would best fit.

Those funds would come on top of $76 million appropriated and approved last year for dredging and repairs to the pier where the carrier is expected to live when it’s in port.

In the five-year plan, the Navy has scheduled $16 million in 2012 for road improvements and $42 million in 2013 for improvements to Foxtrot Wharf, where the ship’s maintenance facilities will sit, as well as the 2015 controlled industrial facility project.

The $250 million or so needed for other projects isn’t listed on the planning schedule.

Each of those expenditures will have to get through a series of votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, with attendant tussles between Florida and Virginia expected.

Last year the dredging and wharf repair money â€" something the Navy said it wanted even if it didn’t bring a carrier to Mayport â€" was shot down in the House but later restored.

Such scuffling might play out each year as a new piece of the project comes up for funding.

“There’s a lot of politics that’s going to enter the picture,” Crenshaw said. “We’ve won a major victory. What you’re going to find is a lot of little skirmishes.”

[Coolyfett]

Norfolk trying to keep Jax from growing??? The enemy deserves no mercy!! Bring the ships the sailors and their families to Jax!

[stjr]

Well, Virgininians, so focused on the "little" aircraft carrier tussle with Mayport, may have missed keeping their eye on the really big fish.  Look at this cost cutting announcement for their area today by the Pentagon.  No indications of impact on the aircraft carrier reassignment./b]

The most pronounced change, in terms of the number of jobs to be eliminated in one blow, was his plan to close the military’s Joint Forces Command, in Norfolk, Va.

The command includes about 2,800 military and civilian positions supported by 3,000 contractors at an annual cost of $240 million. Its responsibilities, which includes programs to force the armed services to work together on the battlefield, will be reassigned, mostly to the military’s Joint Staff.

While large headquarters have been combined and realigned over the years, Pentagon officials could not recall a time in recent history when a major command was shut down and vanished off the books.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/us/10gates.html

[reednavy]

Karma is a bitch, ain't it Virginia?

[cityimrov]

I think it's nice that the military is cutting it's budget to try and control spending.  They are tightening their belts in this harsh economy making sure the fat or waste is trimmed away.  

Unfortunately, I think Congress & the people they represent have a different idea........