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

[stjr]

Hey, maybe the President will confirm a carrier here has the full support of Secretary Gates and his Pentagon staff and the White House.  Forget the Quadrennial Review Virginian's got put into the process.   

[stjr]

Fleet's admiral backs carrier at Mayport
A carrier at a second base makes strategic sense, he tells group.

    * By Timothy J. Gibbons
    * Story updated at 6:20 PM on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010

The admiral in charge of the Atlantic fleet said Tuesday that moving a carrier to Mayport Naval Station makes sense, although he didn't know what decision will be made later this year.

According to a report in the Navy Times, Adm. James Harvey Jr., the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said Norfolk being the only home port for carriers on the East Coast could lead to disaster.

"When you look at it from my perspective, the strategic imperative for having another home port capable of a [nuclear-powered aircraft carrier] is not idle talk," Harvey said at the Surface Navy Association's annual meeting outside Washington.

The four-star admiral had been asked about the possibility of a nuclear carrier coming to Mayport by a crew member from the Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt.

Harvey said concerns about ships getting stuck either at the base at Norfolk or trying to get in were real. He recalled a waterfront tour last summer that included the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, which spans the mouth of the channel used by the Navy warships.

"Thirty bad minutes at that tunnel, and we've got half the Navy's carrier fleet, plus all of its East Coast repair and construction [facilities], bottled up for who knows how long," Navy Times reports him as saying.

The admiral and public affairs officials with Fleet Forces Command did not return calls late Tuesday.

The decision about carrier home porting will be made as part of the Quaddrennial Defense Review, a study that looks at the nation's overall defense strategy. The report is scheduled to be released next month. Harvey said he did not know what decision would be in the review, according to the Navy Times.

In early 2009, the Navy signed the record of decision stating that a nuclear-powered carrier would come to Mayport, arriving around 2014. The logic of that decision, the service said at the time, was that doing so "reduces risks to fleet resources in the event of natural disaster, man-made calamity or attack by foreign nations or terrorists."

Three months later, amidst pressure from Virginia politicians, the Pentagon announced it would review the decision. Late last month, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., sent a letter to the Pentagon calling the move "fiscally irresponsible and strategically unjustified."

The Jacksonville area has been campaigning for a nuclear-powered carrier since it was announced that the USS John F. Kennedy, a conventionally powered carrier, would be decommissioned. The ship finished its days in Mayport in March 2007.

Retrofitting the base to accommodate a nuclear-powered carrier will cost upwards of $500 million, with the money going for dredging, wharf upgrades and other projects.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-01-13/story/fleets_admiral_backs_carrier_at_mayport

[reednavy]

Sucks for the state of Virginia more and more, and I like it!

[Ocklawaha]

I would like to see the rest of those big fleet carriers dispersed. Send one each to Portsmouth, Cherry Point, Jax, Key West, Pensacola... keep ONE at Norfolk, plus the O&R functions. Move the Virginia Master Jet Base to:

Green Cove Springs
Camp Blanding
Kings Bay

Geeze, I wish I WAS THE CNC!

OCKLAWAHA

[Overstreet]

Back when I lived in Tidewater VA (Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Williamsburg, Yorktown) a woman we knew from church was a Civil Defense volunteer. She went to a training session on post nuclear attack recovery actions. Once there they saw a map of the Tidewater area with a bunch of red shaded circles on it. The circles covered the area several times often overlapping. She asked the instructor what those circles were. The instructor said those were the probable nuclear strikes with complete devastation. The woman then skipped class and went shopping.

The area is target rich with military bases.  The navy base with the carriers is just one target. They need to disperse the carriers.

[BridgeTroll]

There are quite a few red circles overlapping our area also...

[Sportmotor]

Hmmm dont like the idea of a reduction of carriers.

[reednavy]

Hmmm dont like the idea of a reduction of carriers.

Where are you getting that from? Dispersing isn't reducing there overall numbers, just the numbers in Norfolk.

[Sportmotor]

Hmmm dont like the idea of a reduction of carriers.

Where are you getting that from? Dispersing isn't reducing there overall numbers, just the numbers in Norfolk.

*cough*

Based on Secretary Gates presentation today, it looks like the Pentagon will be going through quite a shake up including the eventual reduction of aircraft carriers from 11 to 10.
*cough*


=o

[heights unknown]

^ Which makes a little more sense, since a strategic Naval strike from China would come across the Pacific, and not the Atlantic.  At least in theory.  

Maybe there are no big-enough potential threats in the Atlantic theatre to warrant such a spread?  I agree completely that we should not keep all of our proverbial eggs in one basket, but hey, I'm just a civvie.

Yeah, but though China might attack the West Coast, don't forget Russia with a surprise pre-emptive strike on the East Coast; it will be a one two punch since they both are now working together militarily to up end the United States....i.e., while one is working the West Coast, the other will be worrying our nerves on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, so, we should disperse them around and not have them bottled up in one spot.

[reednavy]

Oh no, a reduction of ONE. The only one they're talking about getting rid of is the Enterprise, and only retiring it 2-3 years earlier in 2012 or 2013, instead of 2015. That thing has been in commission since 1961, and at retirement will have been the longest aircraft commissioning ever, so far.

[Sportmotor]

Oh no, a reduction of ONE. The only one they're talking about getting rid of is the Enterprise, and only retiring it 2-3 years earlier in 2012 or 2013, instead of 2015. That thing has been in commission since 1961, and at retirement will have been the longest aircraft commissioning ever, so far.

One carrier alone typically carries more firepower then most countrys...
plus where ever one is brings JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBS which this whole country can barrly afford to lose anymore.

Besides its most likely to extend deployment times for those on teh remaining carriers with the reduction of just ONE and that is alot of extra stress on the pilots that fly Needed and important air support for the beloved ground pounders.

:3

I hope they replace the one with a new one.

[reednavy]

They are, with the USS Gerald R Ford, for which the Enterprise's retirement/decomm year is dependant upon.

The Enterprise was originally built to last 40 years, but kept extending it, and now repair costs, age, and overall serious lag behind the newer carriers is why they're losing one.

[Ocklawaha]

While it has no bearing on what the military does with ships, planes and troops, i sure wish we would go back to some sort of sensible naming system, and get away from the political salutes.  Why not continue with YORKTOWN, SARATOGA, TICONDEROGA, etc...

Another class could carry names such as the WASP, and HORNET or perhaps fanciful names like SHANGRALA.

Marine "helicopter" assault carriers are named for famous Marine Battles: WAKE ISLAND, MIDWAY, etc...

Battleships (all retired at the moment) were named after states, with Arizona and Utah having their names retired.

Cruisers were always named for cities of our nation

Destroyers famous American servicemen

Submarines, today the large ballistic subs use the state names, but the smaller use city names like cruisers, totally FUBAR.  In the old days, when Green Cove Springs was an active fleet base with 475 ships, the attack subs were named for fish!

When I take over the world, it's going back the way God intended...

OCKLAWAHA

[Sportmotor]

When I take over the world, it's going back the way God intended...[/color][/b]

OCKLAWAHA

Your rain will only last at tops a week untill I take your power and rule with a iron fist for decades