The Navy announced Monday it wants to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Mayport Naval Station, an effort that would cost $426 million and could divert 3,200 sailors and civilian personnel from Virginia to Florida.
The Virginia delegation, obviously, does not want to see this happen. Senators John Warner and Jim Webb, both former Secretaries of the Navy, are against it. Mayor Paul Fraim see this as a political move. The rest of the delegation is also on board.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said the Navy’s needs are best served by keeping its carrier fleet and fighter squadrons together in Hampton Roads. “I will continue to work closely with Virginia’s congressional delegation to keep all of Hampton Roads’s fleet in Virginia,” he said.
The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce announced it will work to fight the decision as well. And three members of the Virginia delegation – Republicans Rob Wittman and Randy Forbes and Democrat Bobby Scott – have agreed to send a letter to Obama arguing that the decision would drain Navy resources during difficult economic times.
Even though the move is not anticipated for several years and must go through a number of steps, it is good to see the entire delegation working together to head this off.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Seems like this is one topic that may unite Republicans and Democrats in Virginia. Could be interesting to watch.
And maybe I’ve been stuck on RSS feeds for too long or something, but I like the color scheme Vivian. Not that I am biased or anything.
Not biased? Ha! 🙂
Do we really want to keep all of our Carriers in one harbour ? I know this issue has gone back and forth over the 40 yrs I have been involved with the Navy, but it sounds like a good idea to me.
I gotta go with Tom on this one. Anyone ever heard of Pearl Harbor?
I think we need to take a step back and stop trying to rationalize why this move is strategically acceptable. Thats not the point. BTW when is the lat time we had “all” our carriers in port?
The issue is this is just the beginning and brace for more upheaval. Remember BRAC? It will be coming back for another round of base reallignment and closings and this time Oceana Air Station is gone baby gone. It barely made it through the last round. Folks, we have to students of history and people. President-elect Obama is surrounding himself with the same Clinton folks that took a hard line on the military and defense appropriations. Ie, they cut them dramatically. The Hampton Roads and Newport News areas need to brace for some really tough times. I raised this during the campaign and no one wanted to enage in the discussion. Clinton knocked down the deficit at the time by cutting defense spending and cutting the military. I think the number was like 500,000 soldiers, sailors, marines and airman. Rumors are jobs at Northrup Grumman are in jeapordy given Obama anti-missile defense system and not supporting increasing surface vessels in the fleet. So the carrier issue may simply just be the tip of the iceberg here in Virginia and the impacts on the economy could be dramatic.
This is far from a new discussion. The “strategic” vs the “political” sides have been battling for decades. It is far from just “rationalization”. It is strategic and should remain so. As far as I am concerned the two tunnels that must be passed over for our ships to depart the Naval Station and the 6 to 8 hour time frame are and should be of primary concern when talking about where to place these ships. Do yourself a favor and check out how many ships are inport during the Christmas and New Year Holidays.
Correct me if I am wrong but there are pratices by the Navy that keep the number of “carriers” not “ships” in port at one time exactly because of history, not just in Norfolk. I believe we have a certain number on float at all times.