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Confirmed: Mayport Move Would Cost a Billion Dollars
Posted by Randy | May 12, 2010
The Navy has consistently stated that the cost estimate for moving an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Mayport, Florida would be $590 million. Over the past year, I have repeatedly probed the Navy on this figure, stating that more accurate estimates should be upwards of a billion dollars when considering personnel and relocation costs.

It was because of that enormous cost in the midst of a ballooning deficit and declining economy that I questioned whether the Navy's planned carrier move was an effective way to spend an increasingly tight defense budget. Still, the Navy insisted on the move and continued to use $590 million estimate.

Today in an article from WAVY News, the commanding officer of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Admiral John Harvey, Jr, not only confirmed that moving a carrier would cost a billion dollars but also dismissed the figure as though spending the money over the span of several years would make less of a fiscal impact:

Admiral: Carrier Move To Fla. On Track
CO of U.S. Fleet Forces Command speaks in VB
WAVY-TV 10

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- More than 6000 defense contractors and military personnel from across the globe are expected to attend the Joint Warfighting Conference in Virginia Beach this week.

While the conference is focused on the needs of combat commanders five years from now, Tuesday's keynote speaker, ADM John Harvey, Jr., Commanding Officer of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, raised more immediate concerns for local efforts to keep the Navy from moving an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Mayport, Fla.

Last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioned the need to maintain 11 carrier strike groups for another thirty years. That caused Virginia's representatives in Washington to question whether the Navy's planned carrier move was as an effective way to spend an increasingly tight defense budget.

Adm. Harvey dismissed those concerns Tuesday.

"We think it is using money wisely," he told WAVY News 10, "and it's not like we're trying to spend a billion dollars all in one year."

Harvey said the Navy's plan calls for a gradual timeline and approach for moving a Norfolk-based carrier.

"So you get up to about 2019 when we plan on having Mayport capable of being another carrier homeport," he said.

Harvey also pointed to the strategic dispersal the Navy enjoys in the Pacific, where carriers are based in Bremerton, San Diego, Pearl Harbor and Yokosuka.

"We have nothing like that on the East Coast," Harvey said. "Is that a wise way to project yourself into this future, in this very uncertain and very violent world?"

The 2010 Joint Warfighting Conference continues at the Virginia Beach Convention Center through Thursday.
Comments
The opinions expressed below are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent those of this office.
  • Joanna McDermott commented on 5/13/2010
    What they are not saying that if the ships were attacked at low tide, they cannot get out of the harbor. They are stuck there until high tide in Norfolk. We are asking for another Pearl Harbor.....they are sitting ducks. Not a well known fact outside the military but it is indeed true. Due to a tunnel built that blocks their exit unless there is a high tide. Check it out!
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