For Immediate Release

June 28, 2009

Bremerton Will Have 2 Carriers 2011-2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy informed U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks this week that the homeport of the USS Nimitz (CVN68) will shift from San Diego to Bremerton in Dec. 2010 while the carrier undergoes a 16-month maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Following the repairs on the Nimitz, Rep. Dicks said the Navy will base the carrier in Everett, where it will replace the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) when it heads to Norfolk for refueling in 2013.

The Kitsap area will benefit from the presence of two carriers during the period in which the Nimitz is in drydock at Bremerton.  Payrolls for the officers and enlisted personnel aboard the USS John Stennis (CVN74), currently homeported at Bremerton, total more than $200 million each annually.

The move also underscores the importance of completing the rebuilding of the shipyard's Pier Bravo, the carrier maintenance pier, in time for the Nimitz arrival, Rep. Dicks stated.  The congressman pushed for $91 million in the military construction appropriations bill last year to begin the project, and he noted that just this week the House approved next year's bill containing the remaining $69 million needed to complete the pier construction by late 2010. 

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