Navy to bring three-ship amphibious group to Mayport early

[Tacachale]

Didn't see this reported here, but it's an important development.

There will be more ships at Mayport Naval Station by 2020 than there are now. That was what Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a gathering of sailors Friday.

The first of those new ships â€" the USS New York, an amphibious transport dock currently deployed in the Middle East â€" will arrive at Mayport next year. The following year two more ships will arrive: the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Fort McHenry, a dock landing ship.

The three ships make up an amphibious ready group, or ARG, now based in Norfolk, Va.

Mabus said in February that the group would arrive no later than 2015. On Friday, though, he announced that the date had been moved up.

Mayport will also see the arrival of eight littoral combat ships by the end of 2019, Mabus said. The first LCS will arrive in 2016. Each of those ships â€" new Navy combat ships designed to go fast and operate in shallow, near-coastline waters â€" have about 40 full-time crew members.

...

From William Browning at jacksonville.com

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-06-15/story/navy-bring-three-ship-amphibious-group-mayport-early#ixzz1y99cZa91

[Jason]

This has been developing for a while.  Glad to see some more concrete information, although, I was hoping the Littoral boats would be here sooner.

[BridgeTroll]

These ships have relatively small crews... no mention if the thousands of Marines that would embark on these ships would be stationed here also...

[ChriswUfGator]

Probably a consolation prize for screwing us out of our carrier, but I suppose we'll see...

[Elwood]

The USS Iwo Jima has a ships crew of approx. 1100, with a detachment of approx. 1800 US Marines.  THe USS New York and the USS Fort McHenry have crews of approx 400; approx.1200 Marines aboard USS New York, approx. 550 aboard USS Fort McHenry. However, those Marines will more than likely remain stationed where they are, just as aircraft carrier airwings are generally located in areas other than the ships homeport. Long term, it would make sense, from a logistics standpoint, to have the Marines stationed here. But probably cost prohibitive. Either way, the combined ships crew totals are equal to what we would gain locally from one aircraft carrier. So a definite win for the community.

[mtraininjax]

Probably a consolation prize for screwing us out of our carrier, but I suppose we'll see...

Who cares what it is, it is welcome! Show some gratitude and we are not out of the carrier race, it like everything else in Washington DC has been kicked down the road to a later date. Perhaps if we get a Republican President, we can see more pressure to move it sooner. Obama has done nothing on the carrier issue for Jax.

[ChriswUfGator]

Probably a consolation prize for screwing us out of our carrier, but I suppose we'll see...

Who cares what it is, it is welcome! Show some gratitude and we are not out of the carrier race, it like everything else in Washington DC has been kicked down the road to a later date. Perhaps if we get a Republican President, we can see more pressure to move it sooner. Obama has done nothing on the carrier issue for Jax.

.

Mayport remains underutilized, and an amphibious ship is not a carrier. That it's better than nothing isn't the point.

[Gators312]

USS New York was featured on Smithsonian channel's program Mighty Ships. The episode debuted 02/24/13.

It was a great look at what the ship can do, and it told the story of how it contains WTC steel and the names of those who lost their lives on 9/11.

[I-10east]

Mayport remains underutilized, and an amphibious ship is not a carrier. That it's better than nothing isn't the point.

[Noone]

I see it as positive.

[urbanlibertarian]

It's good news but it would be good if the Mayport area could get some other economic activity and not be so dependent on fickle federal dollars.  Defense spending will continue to get crowded out in the future by increasing entitlement spending and debt service costs.